Influence of the Great Lakes on our Autumnal Sunsets. 387 
effect produced by them; while at and near the time of setting, the 
rays striking horizontally on the water, the direction of the reflected 
rays must of course be so also, and therefore pass over or through 
the greatest possible amount of atmosphere previous to their final 
dispersion. It follows that objects on the earth’s surface, if near the 
reflecting body, require but little elevation, to impress their irregu- 
larities on the reflected light; and hence any considerable eminences 
on the eastern shore of the great lakes, would produce the effect of 
lessening, or totally intercepting these rays at the moment the sun — 
was in a position nearly or quite horizontal. ‘The reflecting power 
of a surface of earth, though far from inconsiderable, is much less 
than that of water, and may in part account not only for the breaks 
in the line of radiance which exist in the west, but for the fact that 
the autumnal sunsets of the south are inferior in brilliance to those 
of the north. We have been led to this train of thought at this 
time, by a succession of most beautiful sunsets, which, commencing 
the last week in August, have continued through the months of Sep- 
tember and October, with a few exceptions, in consequence of the 
atmospheric derangement attending the usual equinoctial gales. 
It will be seen by a reference to a map of the United States, that 
from the residence of the writer, (Otisco, Onondaga Co. N. Y..,) 
the lakes extend on a great circle from north to south of west, and 
of course embrace nearly the whole extent of the sun’s declination, 
as observed from this place. ‘The atmosphere of the north then 
with the exception of a few months is open to the influence of re- 
flected light from the lakes, and we are convinced that most of the 
resplendent richness of our autumnal sunsets may be traced to this 
source. The successive flashes of golden and scarlet light that seem 
to rise and blend and deepen. in the west, as the sun approaches the 
horizon and sinks below it, can in no other way be so satisfactorily 
accounted for as by the supposition, that each lake, one after the 
other, lends its reflected light to the visible portion of the atmos- 
phere, and thus as one fades, another flings its mass of radiance 
across the heavens, and acting on a medium prepared for its recep- 
tion, prolongs the splendid phenomena. 
We have for years noticed these appearances and marked the fact, 
that in the early part of September, the sunsets are generally of un- 
usual brilliancy, and more prolonged than at other or later periods. 
They are at this season, as they are at all others, accompanied by 
pencils or streamers of the richest light, which diverging from the 
