motes of tbe Iftfgbt 



may be low down, and the base spread well along 

 the horizon ; or it may be narrow, with the apex 

 nearly overhead, and so quite like an aurora. This 

 is the zodiacal light, a glow, it is said, "from 

 clouds of meteoric matter revolving around the 

 sun." It is, whatever its true character, a matter 

 of uncertainty as a twilight phenomenon, and sel- 

 dom does it re-light the landscape except for a 

 brief moment. The world again dimly stands 

 out, while it lasts, and then the darkness of the 

 night. 



These are matters of the universe and our little 

 world plays a pitifully small part in them ; but, if 

 our learned men are not wrong, a strictly local 

 disturbance may affect the twilights of regions 

 thousands of miles away. It is a miserable plan 

 to cry "coincidence" because an explanation 

 seems to us improbable, and a great deal of igno- 

 rance is due to our obstinacy. In August, 1883, 

 there was a terrible volcanic outburst at Krakatua; 

 an island was destroyed and great local disturb- 

 ance caused. Here, in the valley of the Delaware, 

 two months later, and from that time until the 

 early spring of 1884, we were favored with from 

 three to seven beautiful rosy twilights every week, 

 and an afterglow that lingered for hours, with a 

 ruddy tinge over the western sky and a bright 

 green eastern horizon. There would be some 

 variation from this, at times, but not often, if we 

 except sudden flashes of ruddy light, that sug- 

 3 



