GREEN SUNS AND RED SUNSETS. 599 



spreading a lurid glare over all the heavens, and producing a most 

 weird eflFect." The Attorney-General of West Australia wrote to Dr. 

 J. W. Judd, October 27th, describing the same glow ; and a letter from 

 Umballah, India, October 30th, says : " There has been for some time a 

 remarkable appearance in the sky every night. The sun goes down as 

 usual and it gets nearly dark, and then a bright red and yellow and 

 green and purple blaze comes in the sky and makes it lighter again. 

 It is most uncanny, and makes one feel as if something out of the com- 

 mon was going to happen." The writer of this article has noticed 

 from his own windows the interval of darkness between the setting of 

 the sun and the appearance of the glow remarked in the letter. 



The earliest observations of the glow in Europe appear to have 

 been made about the 9th of November, after which time references to 

 it and descriptions of it abound in the scientific and other journals. 

 These descriptions agree with each other as to all essential features, 

 and might be as well applied to the phenomenon as seen anywhere in 

 the United States. The sky is generally spoken of as cloudless where 

 the glow has appeared, although a few observers speak of light cirrus 

 clouds floating in the air or passing over the sun or near it ; and one 

 observer at Ootacamund, India, mentions a green cloud that passed over 

 the sun's disk, followed by a red one. 



The red light is regarded by those who have paid most attention 

 to the subject as associated with the blue or green sun which was ob- 

 served in many parts of the East Indies early in September. It was 

 noticed at Manila, in the Philippine Islands, on the 9th, when, during 

 a " light dry mist," " the sun appeared colored green and diffusing 

 over all the bodies it illuminated a strange and curious greenish 

 hue, to the great terror of the islanders " ; at Colombo, Ceylon, on the 

 same day, when the sun, about forty minutes before setting, emerged 

 from behind a cloud of a bright-green color. The whole disk was 

 distinctly seen, and the light was so subdued that one could look 

 steadily at it. The moon was also, to some extent, affected in the 

 same way. A correspondent of the " Ceylon Observer," writing on 

 September 12th from Puleadierakam, states that no light came from 

 the sun, although it was visible, until nearly seven o'clock in the 

 morning, and adds : " For the last four days, the sun rises in splendid 

 green when visible — that is, about 10° from the horizon. As he ad- 

 vances he assumes a beautiful blue, resembling burning sulphur. 

 When about 45° high, it is not possible to look at the sun with the 

 naked eye ; but, even when at the very zenith, the light is blue, vary- 

 ing from a pale blue early to a bright blue later on, almost similar to 

 moonlight even at midday. Then, as he declines, the sun assumes the 

 same changes, but vice versa. The heat is greatly modified, and there 

 is nothing like the usual hot days of September. The moon, now 

 visible in the afternoon, looks also tinged with blue after sunset, and 

 as she declines, assumes a most fiery color at 30° from the zenith." 



