108 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



THE DARK DAY IN CANADA. 



In some interesting and graphic reminiscences of Montreal sixty years ago, 

 Mr. J. H. Dorwin writes to the Montreal Star as follows : 



What was the strangest occurrence of that time, or rather the strangest 

 thing that ever happened in the history of this country, was what has been always 

 known as the "Phenomenon of 1819." On the morning of Sunday, November 

 8, 181 9, the sun rose upon a cloudy sky, which assumed, as the light grew upon 

 it, a strange greenish tint, varying in places to an inky blackness. After a short 

 time the whole sky became terribly dark, dense black clouds filling the atmos- 

 phere, and there followed a heavy shower of rain, which appeared to be some-' 

 thing of the nature of soapsuds, and was found to have deposited- after settling a 

 substance in all its qualities resembling soot. Late in the afternoon the sky 

 cleared to its natural aspect, and the day was fine and frosty. On the morning 

 of Tuesday, the loth, heavy clouds again covered the sky, and changed rapidly 

 from a deep green to a pitchy black, and the sun, when occasionally seen through 

 them, was sometimes of a dark brown or an unearthly yellow color, and again 

 bright orange, and even blood red. The clouds constantly deepened in color and 

 density, and later on a heavy vapor seemed to descend to the earth, and the day 

 became almost as dark as night, the gloom increasing and diminishing most fit- 

 fully. At noon lights had to be burned in the court-house, the banks, and public 

 offices of the city. Everybody was more or less alarmed, and many were the con- 

 jectures -as to the cause of the remarkable occurrence. The more sensible thought 

 that immense woods or prairies were on fire somewhere to the west; others said 

 that a great volcano must have broken out in the Province ; still others asserted 

 that our mountain was an extinct crater about to resume operations and to make 

 of the city a second Pompeii ; the superstitious quoted an old Indian prophecy 

 that one day the Island of Montreal was to be destroyed by an earthquake, and 

 some even cried that the world was about to come to an end. 



About the middle of the afternoon a great body of clouds seemed to rush 

 suddenly over the city, and the darkness became that of night. A pause and 

 hush for a moment or two succeded, and then one of the most glaring flashes of 

 lightning ever beheld flamed over the country, accompanied by a clap of thunder 

 which seemed to shake the city to its foundations. Another pause followed, and 

 then came a light shower of rain of the same soapy and sooty nature as that of 

 two days before. After that it appeared to grow brighter, but an hour later it was 

 as dark as ever. Another rush of clouds came, and another vivid flash of light- 

 ning, which was seen to strike the spire of the old French parish church and to 

 play curiously about the large iron cross at its summit before descending to the 

 ground. A moment later came the climax of the day. Every bell in the city 

 suddenly rang out the alarm of fire, and the affrighted citizens rushed out from 

 their houses into the streets and made their way in the gloom toward the church, 

 until Place d'Armes was crowded with people, their nerves all unstrung by the 

 events of the day, gazing at, but scarcely daring to approach the strange sight 



