396 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



However, 25 feet farther up I was interrupted by a most unusual 

 phenomenon. 



Just over my head I approached a level crystal surface, as though I 

 were walking in a sea of liquid air and about to emerge from it. This 

 extended out over the valley to the west as far as the eye could reach, 

 and seemed to cut the court-house at Great Bend at its middle eleva- 

 tion. Part of the court-house and other buildings were reflected in 

 the sky and upside down. The city was also partly reflected from 

 below, showing that there was another stratum surface of cold air in 

 the bottom of the valley. 



As soon as my head emerged above the surface of the cold-air 

 stratum the city disappeared as if by magic; but the hills beyond 

 could be seen still more clearly than before. The tower of the court- 

 house and two or three church steeples and the belfry of the school- 

 house were about all that could be seen of the city. Stooping a little 

 so as to look from under the stratum surface, Great Bend was there 

 as before, triply to be seen ; but on straightening up, every time 

 it would immediately vanish. On standing up, Larned, 28 miles 

 distant, immediately came into view and was easily recognized ; 

 and even Garfield, 8 miles further, could be made out. Standing 

 thus and holding the thermometer overhead, the temperature was 

 noted at 25°. Placing it at the feet it dropped to 20°. This perform- 

 ance was repeated several times, always with the same result or with 

 only slight variation. 



Hurrying to the top of the bluff, the temperature was found to be 

 32°; and, on climbing to the top of a heap of stones on the summit 

 and holding the instrument at arm's length overhead, the temperature 

 was found to be 33°. 



Then a most extraordinary phenomenon presented itself. The city 

 of Atlanta, in Rice county, about a mile south of the present city of 

 Lyons, 24 miles distant, and the hills to the north and east, were 

 all in plain view over the tops of Plum Butte and other sand-hills 

 in Rice county. Superintendent Stephenson's great big shell of a 

 house on the high prairie, 8 miles north of Atlanta, was identi- 

 fied. A long rift of sky appeared in the eastern horizon ; and what 

 at first appeared to be a cloud, but quickly appeared to be land much 

 farther away than Rice county, lay in a low flat cloud half a degree 

 or so in diameter, about one-third of a degree above the eastern hori- 

 zon. The roseate glow of both horizons showed that the sun was 

 very close to the edge. The upper horizon was the redder. 



It still lacked nearly ten minutes of sunrise ; and I watched, for- 

 getting all else, to see the sun appear in the rift between the two 

 horizons. To my surprise he began to appear over the upper hori- 

 zon, fully eight minutes before his time, and looking like a long line 



