598 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



GKEEN SUNS AND EED SUNSETS. 



By W. H. LAEEABEE. 



THE whole world enjoyed, during the closing months of 1883 and 

 through January, 1884, the spectacle of a succession of sunsets 

 and sunrises marked by a brilliant, gorgeous red coloration. The phe- 

 nomenon, if it had been only for a day or two, might not have excited 

 any particular remark, for in the United States the sight of a brilliant- 

 ly-colored sunset is not at all unusual ; but when it was found to be 

 continuous for months, and to extend to every part of the earth, the 

 impression became nearly universal that something uncommon was 

 going on in our atmosphere or in space. The phenomenon apparently 

 reached its culmination about the 27th of November, v/hen the western 

 sky was illuminated for more than an hour after sunset by a lurid 

 glow, as of some great conflagration ; and in many places the public 

 thought it actually was the mark of a fire, while in some towns fire- 

 alarms were sounded. The phenomenon first began to excite attention 

 in the Eastern States at about the time of its brightest manifestation, 

 in the last days of November. It was, however, remarked on the 

 Pacific coast about a week earlier ; in Europe early in the month ; and 

 at points in the Indian and Pacific Oceans as early as September. 

 Among the earliest published mentions of it were those from the isl- 

 ands of Rodrigues, Mauritius, and Seychelles, August 28th, Brazil, 

 August 30th, New Ireland, September 1st, the Gold Coast, Africa, 

 September 1st and 2d, and one that was made in connection Avith the 

 observation of a " blue sun " at Trinidad, September 2d, when, after 

 dark, says the report, "we thought there was a fire in the town, 

 from the bright redness of the heavens." At Ongole, India, after the 

 sun had set, green, " light yellow and orange appeared in the west, 

 a very deep red remaining for more than an hour after sunset " ; 

 whereas under ordinary conditions all traces of color leave the sky 

 in that latitude within half an hour after the sun disappears. Cap- 

 tain RoUand, of the French Messageries steamer Saghelien, passing 

 from near King George's Sound, Australia, to the Island of Reunion, 

 observed, from the 25th of September to the 12th of October, a red 

 light around the sun, which became more pronounced at sunset, and 

 persisted for a length of time after that hour in proportion as the 

 ship was in a higher latitude. " The colored part of the sky, which 

 was at times extremely lively, had, about a half -hour before sunset, 

 a very considerable surface, extending to a distance of forty-five 

 degrees from the sun." The same coloring was seen in the morn- 

 ing. A correspondent writing from Wailuku, Sandwich Islands, to 

 the " Hawaiian Gazette " of October 3d, speaks of the " most extraor- 

 dinary " sunsets they had been having for some time past, " fiery red, 



