Hbe Sfcg ant> its Colon 143 



from these minute globules give us the blue 

 coloring of the sky and are very much smaller 

 in diameter than a globule that is able to re- 

 flect the red ray. When these small globules 

 are condensed into cloud a great number are 

 combined into one globule, and they are of all 

 sizes, from the globule of evaporation to that 

 of the raindrop when precipitation takes place. 

 We have, then, in the various stages of cloud 

 formation all conditions present for reflecting 

 the various colors and combinations of colors 

 that are found in the solar spectrum. Hence 

 it is that, under certain conditions of atmos- 

 phere and cloud formation, we see at sunset 

 painted upon the sky those wonderful combi- 

 nations of colors, more beautiful and delicate 

 in shading, more* various in combination and 

 purer of tone, than any artist, however cun- 

 ning his fingers or brilliant his pigments, has 

 ever been able to truthfully reproduce. Even 

 when the sky is cloudless it often assumes a 

 brilliant hue, which is partly a reflection from 

 invisible moisture globules and partly due to 

 floating particles of dust that may have been 

 driven up from the surface of the earth, or 

 may be the ashes of meteorites disintegrated 

 by contact with the air. 



Some years ago, commencing in August, 

 1883, there was a wonderful exhibition of red 

 skies at sunset that lasted for several hours 

 after twilight ordinarily disappears. This 



