Meeson. — On the recent Sun-glows. 865 



4. That the glows have differed from ordinary brilliant sunrises and 

 sunsets in respect of intensity, duration, area, and time of appearance. 

 Moreover, the colours of the after-glows have been in themselves very 

 exceptional, and they have succeeded one another with more regularity 

 than ordinarily occurs. 



5. That the period of their greatest intensity seems to have been from 

 the middle of November to the middle of January — the display on the 27th 

 November having been the most gorgeous of all. 



6. That the phenomena are very gradually disappearing, and becoming 

 less and less remarkable as the weeks roll on. At the present time they 

 are very intermittent, and, when visible at all, are exceedingly faint. 



Having described the phenomena, it remains for us now to consider 

 The various Theories 

 that have been advanced to account for the same, and we shall find that 

 they are numerous and in some cases sufficiently ridiculous. As Tyndall 

 says, "Man longs for causes, and the weaker minds, unable to restrain their 

 longing, often barter for the most theoretic pottage the truth which patient 

 enquiry would make their own." In the first place there is the " Super- 

 natural Theory.'" The world is in its death-throes. It has always been 

 foretold that portents in the sky and convulsions of nature should precede 

 the coming dissolution. Scientific men cannot account satisfactorily for the 

 heavenly splendours. It is only in their pride of intellect that they attempt 

 to do so. The sun-glows must be classed with the fearful earthquakes, the 

 terrific volcanic eruptions, the weird colours of the sun and moon; — the 

 spread of the destructive blights, the invention and employment of dyna- 

 mite for dastardly purposes, the growth of human wickedness, etc., etc., are 

 signs that the end of all things is near ! We all know the form this argu- 

 ment takes and how many good people there are who honestly advance it. 

 But it need not detain us here to-night. 



Then, there are those who thought that Biela's Comet, which was rush- 

 ing towards us in January last, might have exercized sufficient influence in 

 some mysterious way to produce the sun-glows ; and some New South 

 Welshman who probably had been sun-struck during the fervid days of 

 December last in his colony, attributed the world-wide appearances to the 

 sandy deserts in the interior of Australia. Another theory, scarcely more 

 respectable perhaps, is that the light is such as has been travelling to 

 us from distant suns for thousands of years, and has only just succeeded in 

 penetrating to our dark continents. In connection with which, what expla- 

 nation is given of the disappearance of the abnormal light does not appear. 

 Then, although the glows were repeatedly seen when there was not the 

 slightest magnetic disturbance, we have, of course, the electrical theory. 



