564 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
digging for the relics of the Hellenic race. In reply Schliemann said his state- 
ments had been received with wonder, so nearly allied were all the characteristics 
he had mentioned, to ware found by him in his diggings. The position of the 
vase had been such as to warrant the belief that it had been buried i,ooo years. 
ASTRONOMY. 
. GLOWING SKIES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1883. 
The peculiar glowing appearance of the morning and evening sky since 
about the middle of November has aroused much scientific and popular curiosity 
all over the world, and we have received numerous letters and personal inquiries 
concerning it. For the purpose of giving our readers all the information possi- 
ble upon the subject, we present herewith a letter from Prof. C. W. Pritchett, of 
Morrison Observatory, and also extracts from several articles that have appeared 
in our exchanges. — [Ed. Review. 
Morrison Observatory, Glasgow, Mo., Dec. 17, 1883. 
Editor Review. — For several weeks I have watched with much interest 
the special phenomenon referred to in the extracts you sent me. Its persistence, 
intensity and duration, have alike claimed my attention. On some evenings and 
mornings the appearance has not only been gorgeous but even startling. On the 
evening of December 14th, while observing the Comet Pons-Brooks in the north- 
western sky, this red glow could be distinguished in the field of the telescope, as 
late as 6h. 30m. Valley Time. Investigations of the causes of the phenomenon, 
belong in part to meteorology, and in part to meteoric astronomy. In neither 
of these fields of inquiry am I an amateur. I can only subjoin a few notes, from 
my own observations. 
I think it evident, that the phenomenon is due to some attenuated form of 
matter in the upper regions of the atmosphere. This granted, the question 
arises, What and when ? We can scarcely think it is vapor, whose particles are so 
light and dispersive that they cannot be condensed into clouds ; for the sky has 
been unusually free even from "haze," for days and nights together. Again, 
granting the existence of such masses of unrecognized vapor in our atmosphere, 
they would be local, or at least confined to certain zones of the earth. This 
phenomenon, however, has been widely observed over all North America and in 
Europe. Again, vapor in the attenuated form could not persist so long, nor could 
it have the refractive and reflective power, which morning after morning, and even- 
ing after evening it has revealed to the most casual observer. That these parti- 
cles are at a great height, is evident from the fact that the glow frequently extended 
all around the horizon, to an altitude of 45°, and on several evenings it reached 
