"... there being no phosphorescence in the water."
Vast shafts of light--though the captain uses the word
"ripples"--suddenly appeared. Shaft followed shaft, upon the surface of
the sea. But it was only a faint light, and, in about fifteen minutes,
died out: having appeared suddenly, having died out gradually. The
shafts revolved at a velocity of about 60 miles an hour.
Phosphorescent jellyfish correlate with the Old Dominant: in one of the
most heroic compositions of disregards in our experience, it was agreed,
in the discussion of Capt. Hoseason's paper, that the phenomenon was
probably pulsations of long strings of jellyfish.
_Nature_, 21-410:
Reprint of a letter from R.E. Harris, Commander of the A.H.N. Co.'s
steamship _Shahjehan_, to the Calcutta _Englishman_, Jan. 21, 1880:
That upon the 5th of June, 1880, off the coast of Malabar, at 10 P.M.,
water calm, sky cloudless, he had seen something that was so foreign to
anything that he had ever seen before, that he had stopped his ship. He
saw what he describes as waves of brilliant light, with spaces between.
Upon the water were floating patches of a substance that was not
identified. Thinking in terms of the conventional explanation of all
phosphorescence at sea, the captain at first suspected this substance.
However, he gives his opinion that it did no illuminating but was, with
the rest of the sea, illuminated by tremendous shafts of light. Whether
it was a thick and oily discharge from the engine of a submerged
construction or not, I think that I shall have to accept this substance
as a concomitant, because of another note. "As wave succeeded wave, one
of the most grand and brilliant, yet solemn, spectacles that one could
think of, was here witnessed."
_Jour. Roy. Met. Soc._, 32-280:
Extract from a letter from Mr. Douglas Carnegie, Blackheath, England.
Date some time in 1906--
"This last voyage we witnessed a weird and most extraordinary electric
display." In the Gulf of Oman, he saw a bank of apparently quiescent
phosphorescence: but, when within twenty yards of it, "shafts of
brilliant light came sweeping across the ship's bows at a prodigious
speed, which might be put down as anything between 60 and 200 miles an
hour." "These light bars were about 20 feet apart and most regular." As
to phosphorescence--"I collected a bucketful of water, and examined it
under the microscope, but could not detect anything abnormal." That the
shafts of light came up from something beneath the surface--"They first
struck us on our broadside, and I noticed that an intervening ship had
no effect on the light beams: they started away from the lee side of the
ship, just as if they had traveled right through it."
The Gulf of Oman is at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.
_Jour. Roy. Met. Soc._, 33-294:
Extract from a letter by Mr. S.C. Patterson, second officer of the P.
and O. steamship _Delta_: a spectacle which the _Journal_ continues to
call phosphorescent:
Malacca Strait, 2 A.M., March 14, 1907:
"... shafts which seemed to move round a center--like the spokes of a
wheel--and appeared to be about 300 yards long. The phenomenon lasted
about half an hour, during which time the ship had traveled six or seven
miles. It stopped suddenly."
_L'Astronomie_, 1891-312:
A correspondent writes that, in October, 1891, in the China Sea, he had
seen shafts or lances of light that had had the appearance of rays of a
searchlight, and that had moved like such rays.
_Nature_, 20-291:
Report to the Admiralty by Capt. Evans, the Hydrographer of the British
Navy:
That Commander J.E. Pringle, of H.M.S. _Vulture_, had reported that, at
Lat. 26 deg. 26' N., and Long. 53 deg. 11' E.--in the Persian Gulf--May 15,
1879, he had noticed luminous waves or pulsations in the water, moving
at great speed. This time we have a definite datum upon origin somewhere
below the surface. It is said that these waves of light passed under the
_Vulture_. "On looking toward the east, the appearance was that of a
revolving wheel with a center on that bearing, and whose spokes were
illuminated, and, looking toward the west, a similar wheel appeared to
be revolving, but in the opposite direction." Or finally as to
submergence--"These waves of light extended from the surface well under
the water." It is Commander Pringle's opinion that the shafts
constituted one wheel, and that doubling was an illusion. He judges the
shafts to have been about 25 feet broad, and the spaces about 100.
Velocity about 84 miles an hour. Duration about 35 minutes. Time 9:40
P.M. Before and after this display the ship had passed through patches
of floating substance described as "oily-looking fish spawn."
Upon page 428 of this number of _Nature_, E.L. Moss says that, in April,
1875, when upon H.M.S. _Bulldog_, a few miles north of Vera Cruz, he had
seen a series of swift lines of light. He had dipped up some of the
water, finding in it animalcule, which would, however, not account for
phenomena of geometric formation and high velocity. If he means Vera
Cruz, Mexico, this is the only instance we have out of oriental waters.
_Scientific American_, 106-51:
That, in the _Nautical Meteorological Annual_, published by the Danish
Meteorological Institute, appears a report upon a "singular phenomenon"
that was seen by Capt. Gabe, of the Danish East Asiatic Co.'s steamship
_Bintang_. At 3 A.M., June 10, 1909, while sailing through the Straits
of Malacca, Captain Gabe saw a vast revolving wheel of light, flat upon
the water--"long arms issuing from a center around which the whole
system appeared to rotate." So vast was the appearance that only half of
it could be seen at a time, the center lying near the horizon. This
display lasted about fifteen minutes. Heretofore we have not been clear
upon the important point that forward motions of these wheels do not
synchronize with a vessel's motions, and freaks of disregard, or,
rather, commonplaces of disregard, might attempt to assimilate with
lights of a vessel. This time we are told that the vast wheel moved
forward, decreasing in brilliancy, and also in speed of rotation,
disappearing when the center was right ahead of the vessel--or my own
interpretation would be that the source of light was submerging deeper
and deeper and slowing down because meeting more and more resistance.
The Danish Meteorological Institute reports another instance:
That, when Capt. Breyer, of the Dutch steamer _Valentijn_, was in the
South China Sea, midnight, Aug. 12, 1910, he saw a rotation of flashes.
"It looked like a horizontal wheel, turning rapidly." This time it is
said that the appearance was above water. "The phenomenon was observed
by the captain, the first and second mates, and the first engineer, and
upon all of them it made a somewhat uncomfortable impression."
In general, if our expression be not immediately acceptable, we
recommend to rival interpreters that they consider the localization--with
one exception--of this phenomenon, to the Indian Ocean and adjacent waters,
or Persian Gulf on one side and China Sea on the other side. Though we're
Intermediatists, the call of attempted Positivism, in the aspect of
Completeness, is irresistible. We have expressed that from few aspects
would wheels of fire in the air look like wheels of fire, but, if we can
get it, we must have observation upon vast luminous wheels, not
interpretable as optical illusions, but enormous, substantial things
that have smashed down material resistances, and have been seen to
plunge into the ocean:
_Athenaeum_, 1848-833:
That at the meeting of the British Association, 1848, Sir W.S. Harris
said that he had recorded an account sent to him of a vessel toward
which had whirled "two wheels of fire, which the men described as
rolling millstones of fire." "When they came near, an awful crash took
place: the topmasts were shivered to pieces." It is said that there was
a strong sulphurous odor.
22
_Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society_, 1-157:
Extract from the log of the bark _Lady of the Lake_, by Capt. F.W.
Banner:
Communicated by R.H. Scott, F.R.S.:
That, upon the 22nd of March, 1870, at Lat. 5 deg. 47' N., Long. 27 deg. 52' W.,
the sailors of the _Lady of the Lake_ saw a remarkable object, or
"cloud," in the sky. They reported to the captain.
According to Capt. Banner, it was a cloud of circular form, with an
included semi-circle divided into four parts, the central dividing shaft
beginning at the center of the circle and extending far outward, and
then curving backward.
Geometricity and complexity and stability of form: and the small
likelihood of a cloud maintaining such diversity of features, to say
nothing of appearance of organic form.
The thing traveled from a point at about 20 degrees above the horizon to
a point about 80 degrees above. Then it settled down to the northeast,
having appeared from the south, southeast.
Light gray in color, or it was cloud-color.
"It was much lower than the other clouds."
And this datum stands out:
That, whatever it may have been, it traveled against the wind.
"It came up obliquely against the wind, and finally settled down right
in the wind's eye."
For half an hour this form was visible. When it did finally disappear
that was not because it disintegrated like a cloud, but because it was
lost to sight in the evening darkness.
Capt. Banner draws the following diagram:
[Illustration]
23
Text-books tell us that the Dhurmsalla meteorites were picked up "soon,"
or "within half an hour." Given a little time the conventionalists may
argue that these stones were hot when they fell, but that their great
interior coldness had overcome the molten state of their surfaces.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of Dhurmsalla, these stones had
been picked up "immediately" by passing coolies.
These stones were so cold that they benumbed the fingers. But they had
fallen with a great light. It is described as "a flame of fire about
two feet in depth and nine feet in length." Acceptably this light was
not the light of molten matter.
In this chapter we are very intermediatistic--and unsatisfactory. To the
intermediatist there is but one answer to all questions:
Sometimes and sometimes not.
Another form of this intermediatist "solution" of all problems is:
Yes and no.
Everything that is, also isn't.
A positivist attempts to formulate: so does the intermediatist, but with
less rigorousness: he accepts but also denies: he may seem to accept in
one respect and deny in some other respect, but no real line can be
drawn between any two aspects of anything. The intermediatist accepts
that which seems to correlate with something that he has accepted as a
dominant. The positivist correlates with a belief.
In the Dhurmsalla meteorites we have support for our expression that
things entering this earth's atmosphere sometimes shine with a light
that is not the light of incandescence--or so we account, or offer an
expression upon, "thunderstones," or carved stones that have fallen
luminously to this earth, in streaks that have looked like strokes of
lightning--but we accept, also, that some things that have entered this
earth's atmosphere, disintegrate with the intensity of flame and molten
matter--but some things, we accept, enter this earth's atmosphere and
collapse non-luminously, quite like deep-sea fishes brought to the
surface of the ocean. Whatever agreement we have is an indication that
somewhere aloft there is a medium denser than this earth's atmosphere. I
suppose our stronghold is in that such is not popular belief--
Or the rhythm of all phenomena:
Air dense at sea level upon this earth--less and less dense as one
ascends--then denser and denser. A good many bothersome questions
arise--
Our attitude:
Here are the data:
Luminous rains sometimes fall (_Nature_, March 9, 1882; _Nature_,
25-437). This is light that is not the light of incandescence, but no
one can say that these occasional, or rare, rains come from this
earth's externality. We simply note cold light of falling bodies. For
luminous rain, snow, and dust, see Hartwig, _Aerial World_, p. 319. As
to luminous clouds, we have more nearly definite observations and
opinions: they mark transition between the Old Dominant and the New
Dominant. We have already noted the transition in Prof. Schwedoffs
theory of external origin of some hailstones--and the implications that,
to a former generation, seemed so preposterous--"droll" was the
word--that there are in inter-planetary regions volumes of
water--whether they have fishes and frogs in them or not. Now our
acceptance is that clouds sometimes come from external regions, having
had origin from super-geographical lakes and oceans that we shall not
attempt to chart, just at present--only suggesting to enterprising
aviators--and we note that we put it all up to them, and show no
inclination to go Columbusing on our own account--that they take bathing
suits, or, rather, deep-sea diving-suits along. So then that some clouds
come from inter-planetary oceans--of the Super-Sargasso Sea--if we still
accept the Super-Sargasso Sea--and shine, upon entering this earth's
atmosphere. In _Himmel und Erde_, February, 1889--a phenomenon of
transition of thirty years ago--Herr O. Jesse, in his observations upon
luminous night-clouds, notes the great height of them, and drolly or
sensibly suggests that some of them may have come from regions external
to this earth. I suppose he means only from other planets. But it's a
very droll and sensible idea either way.
In general I am accounting for a great deal of this earth's isolation:
that it is relatively isolated by circumstances that are similar to the
circumstances that make for relative isolation of the bottom of the
ocean--except that there is a clumsiness of analogy now. To call
ourselves deep-sea fishes has been convenient, but, in a
quasi-existence, there is no convenience that will not sooner or later
turn awkward--so, if there be denser regions aloft, these regions should
now be regarded as analogues of far-submerged oceanic regions, and
things coming to this earth would be like things rising to an attenuated
medium--and exploding--sometimes incandescently, sometimes with cold
light--sometimes non-luminously, like deep-sea fishes brought to the
surface--altogether conditions of inhospitality. I have a suspicion
that, in their own depths, deep-sea fishes are not luminous. If they
are, Darwinism is mere jesuitism, in attempting to correlate them. Such
advertising would so attract attention that all advantages would be more
than offset. Darwinism is largely a doctrine of concealment: here we
have brazen proclamation--if accepted. Fishes in the Mammoth Cave need
no light to see by. We might have an expression that deep-sea fishes
turn luminous upon entering a less dense medium--but models in the
American Museum of Natural History: specialized organs of luminosity
upon these models. Of course we do remember that awfully convincing
"dodo," and some of our sophistications we trace to him--at any rate
disruption is regarded as a phenomenon of coming from a dense to a less
dense medium.
An account by M. Acharius, in the _Transactions of the Swedish Academy
of Sciences_, 1808-215, translated for the _North American Review_,
3-319:
That M. Acharius, having heard of "an extraordinary and probably
hitherto unseen phenomenon," reported from near the town of Skeninge,
Sweden, investigated:
That, upon the 16th of May, 1808, at about 4 P.M., the sun suddenly
turned dull brick-red. At the same time there appeared, upon the western
horizon, a great number of round bodies, dark brown, and seemingly the
size of a hat crown. They passed overhead and disappeared in the eastern
horizon. Tremendous procession. It lasted two hours. Occasionally one
fell to the ground. When the place of a fall was examined, there was
found a film, which soon dried and vanished. Often, when approaching the
sun, these bodies seemed to link together, or were then seen to be
linked together, in groups not exceeding eight, and, under the sun, they
were seen to have tails three or four fathoms long. Away from the sun
the tails were invisible. Whatever their substance may have been, it is
described as gelatinous--"soapy and jellied."
I place this datum here for several reasons. It would have been a good
climax to our expression upon hordes of small bodies that, in our
acceptance, were not seeds, nor birds, nor ice-crystals: but the
tendency would have been to jump to the homogeneous conclusion that all
our data in that expression related to this one kind of phenomena,
whereas we conceive of infinite heterogeneity of the external: of
crusaders and rabbles and emigrants and tourists and dragons and things
like gelatinous hat crowns. Or that all things, here, upon this earth,
that flock together, are not necessarily sheep, Presbyterians,
gangsters, or porpoises. The datum is important to us, here, as
indication of disruption in this earth's atmosphere--dangers in entering
this earth's atmosphere.
I think, myself, that thousands of objects have been seen to fall from
aloft, and have exploded luminously, and have been called "ball
lightning."
"As to what ball lightning is, we have not yet begun to make intelligent
guesses." (_Monthly Weather Review_, 34-17.)
In general, it seems to me that when we encounter the opposition "ball
lightning" we should pay little attention, but confine ourselves to
guesses that are at least intelligent, that stand phantom-like in our
way. We note here that in some of our acceptances upon intelligence we
should more clearly have pointed out that they were upon the intelligent
as opposed to the instinctive. In the _Monthly Weather Review_, 33-409,
there is an account of "ball lightning" that struck a tree. It made a
dent such as a falling object would make. Some other time I shall
collect instances of "ball lightning," to express that they are
instances of objects that have fallen from the sky, luminously,
exploding terrifically. So bewildered is the old orthodoxy by these
phenomena that many scientists have either denied "ball lightning" or
have considered it very doubtful. I refer to Dr. Sestier's list of one
hundred and fifty instances, which he considered authentic.
In accord with our disaccord is an instance related in the _Monthly
Weather Review_, March, 1887--something that fell luminously from the
sky, accompanied by something that was not so affected, or that was
dark:
That, according to Capt. C.D. Sweet, of the Dutch bark, _J.P.A._, upon
March 19, 1887, N. 37 deg. 39', W. 57 deg. 00', he encountered a severe storm.
He saw two objects in the air above the ship. One was luminous, and
might be explained in several ways, but the other was dark. One or both
fell into the sea, with a roar and the casting up of billows. It is our
acceptance that these things had entered this earth's atmosphere,
having first crashed through a field of ice--"immediately afterward
lumps of ice fell."
One of the most astonishing of the phenomena of "ball lightning" is a
phenomenon of many meteorites: violence of explosion out of all
proportion to size and velocity. We accept that the icy meteorites of
Dhurmsalla could have fallen with no great velocity, but the sound from
them was tremendous. The soft substance that fell at the Cape of Good
Hope was carbonaceous, but was unburned, or had fallen with velocity
insufficient to ignite it. The tremendous report that it made was heard
over an area more than seventy miles in diameter.
That some hailstones have been formed in a dense medium, and violently
disintegrate in this earth's relatively thin atmosphere:
_Nature_, 88-350:
Large hailstones noted at the University of Missouri, Nov. 11, 1911:
they exploded with sounds like pistol shots. The writer says that he had
noticed a similar phenomenon, eighteen years before, at Lexington,
Kentucky. Hailstones that seemed to have been formed in a denser medium:
when melted under water they gave out bubbles larger than their central
air spaces. (_Monthly Weather Review_, 33-445.)
Our acceptance is that many objects have fallen from the sky, but that
many of them have disintegrated violently. This acceptance will
co-ordinate with data still to come, but, also, we make it easy for
ourselves in our expressions upon super-constructions, if we're asked
why, from thinkable wrecks of them, girders, plates, or parts
recognizably of manufactured metal have not fallen from the sky.
However, as to composition, we have not this refuge, so it is our
expression that there have been reported instances of the fall of
manufactured metal from the sky.
The meteorite of Rutherford, North Carolina, is of artificial material:
mass of pig iron. It is said to be fraudulent. (_Amer. Jour. Sci._,
2-34-298.)
The object that was said to have fallen at Marblehead, Mass., in 1858,
is described in the _Amer. Jour. Sci._, 2-34-135, as "a furnace product,
formed in smelting copper ores, or iron ores containing copper." It is
said to be fraudulent.
According to Ehrenberg, the substance reported by Capt. Callam to have
fallen upon his vessel, near Java, "offered complete resemblance to the
residue resulting from combustion of a steel wire in a flask of oxygen."
(Zurcher, _Meteors_, p. 239.) _Nature_, Nov. 21, 1878, publishes a
notice that, according to the _Yuma Sentinel_, a meteorite that
"resembles steel" had been found in the Mohave Desert. In _Nature_, Feb.
15, 1894, we read that one of the meteorites brought to the United
States by Peary, from Greenland, is of tempered steel. The opinion is
that meteoric iron had fallen in water or snow, quickly cooling and
hardening. This does not apply to composition. Nov. 5, 1898, _Nature_
publishes a notice of a paper by Prof. Berwerth, of Vienna, upon "the
close connection between meteoric iron and steel-works' steel."
At the meeting of Nov. 24, 1906, of the Essex Field Club, was exhibited
a piece of metal said to have fallen from the sky, Oct. 9, 1906, at
Braintree. According to the _Essex Naturalist_, Dr. Fletcher, of the
British Museum, had declared this metal to be smelted iron--"so that the
mystery of its reported 'fall' remained unexplained."
24
We shall have an outcry of silences. If a single instance of anything be
disregarded by a System--our own attitude is that a single instance is a
powerless thing. Of course our own method of agreement of many instances
is not a real method. In Continuity, all things must have resemblances
with all other things. Anything has any quasi-identity you please. Some
time ago conscription was assimilated with either autocracy or democracy
with equal facility. Note the need for a dominant to correlate to.
Scarcely anybody said simply that we must have conscription: but that we
must have conscription, which correlates with democracy, which was taken
as a base, or something basically desirable. Of course between autocracy
and democracy nothing but false demarcation can be drawn. So I can
conceive of no subject upon which there should be such poverty as a
single instance, if anything one pleases can be whipped into line.
However, we shall try to be more nearly real than the Darwinites who
advance concealing coloration as Darwinism, and then drag in proclaiming
luminosity, too, as Darwinism. I think the Darwinites had better come in
with us as to the deep-sea fishes--and be sorry later, I suppose. It
will be amazing or negligible to read all the instances now to come of
things that have been seen in the sky, and to think that all have been
disregarded. My own opinion is that it is not possible, or very easy, to
disregard them, now that they have been brought together--but that, if
prior to about this time we had attempted such an assemblage, the Old
Dominant would have withered our typewriter--as it is the letter "e" has
gone back on us, and the "s" is temperamental.
"Most extraordinary and singular phenomenon," North Wales, Aug. 26,
1894; a disk from which projected an orange-colored body that looked
like "an elongated flatfish," reported by Admiral Ommanney (_Nature_,
50-524); disk from which projected a hook-like form, India, about 1838;
diagram of it given; disk about size of the moon, but brighter than the
moon; visible about twenty minutes; by G. Pettit, in Prof.
Baden-Powell's Catalogue (_Rept. Brit. Assoc._, 1849); very brilliant
hook-like form, seen in the sky at Poland, Trumbull Co., Ohio, during
the stream of meteors, of 1833; visible more than an hour: large
luminous body, almost stationary "for a time"; shaped like a square
table; Niagara Falls, Nov. 13, 1833 (_Amer. Jour. Sci._, 1-25-391);
something described as a bright white cloud, at night, Nov. 3, 1886, at
Hamar, Norway; from it were emitted brilliant rays of light; drifted
across the sky; "retained throughout its original form" (_Nature_, Dec.
16, 1886-158); thing with an oval nucleus, and streamers with dark bands
and lines very suggestive of structure; New Zealand, May 4, 1888
(_Nature_, 42-402); luminous object, size of full moon, visible an hour
and a half, Chili, Nov. 5, 1883 (_Comptes Rendus_, 103-682); bright
object near sun, Dec. 21, 1882 (_Knowledge_, 3-13); light that looked
like a great flame, far out at sea, off Ryook Phyoo, Dec. 2, 1845
(_London Roy. Soc. Proc._, 5-627); something like a gigantic trumpet,
suspended, vertical, oscillating gently, visible five or six minutes,
length estimated at 425 feet, at Oaxaca, Mexico, July 6, 1874 (_Sci.
Am. Sup._, 6-2365); two luminous bodies, seemingly united, visible five
or six minutes, June 3, 1898 (_La Nature_, 1898-1-127); thing with a
tail, crossing moon, transit half a minute, Sept. 26, 1870 (London
_Times_, Sept. 30, 1870); object four or five times size of moon, moving
slowly across sky, Nov. 1, 1885, near Adrianople (_L'Astronomie_,
1886-309); large body, colored red, moving slowly, visible 15 minutes,
reported by Coggia, Marseilles, Aug. 1, 1871 (_Chem. News_, 24-193);
details of this observation, and similar observation by Guillemin, and
other instances by de Fonville (_Comptes Rendus_, 73-297, 755); thing
that was large and that was stationary twice in seven minutes, Oxford,
Nov. 19, 1847; listed by Lowe (_Rec. Sci._, 1-136); grayish object that
looked to be about three and a half feet long, rapidly approaching the
earth at Saarbruck, April 1, 1826; sound like thunder; object expanding
like a sheet (_Am. Jour. Sci._, 1-26-133; _Quar. Jour. Roy. Inst._,
24-488); report by an astronomer, N.S. Drayton, upon an object duration
of which seemed to him extraordinary; duration three-quarters of a
minute, Jersey City, July 6, 1882 (_Sci. Amer._, 47-53); object like a
comet, but with proper motion of 10 degrees an hour; visible one hour;
reported by Purine and Glancy from the Cordoba Observatory, Argentina,
March 14, 1916 (_Sci. Amer._, 115-493); something like a signal light,
reported by Glaisher, Oct. 4, 1844; bright as Jupiter, "sending out
quick flickering waves of light" (_Year Book of Facts_, 1845-278).
I think that with the object known as Eddie's "comet" passes away the
last of our susceptibility to the common fallacy of personifying. It is
one of the most deep-rooted of positivist illusions--that people are
persons. We have been guilty too often of spleens and spites and
ridicules against astronomers, as if they were persons, or final
unities, individuals, completenesses, or selves--instead of
indeterminate parts. But, so long as we remain in quasi-existence, we
can cast out illusion only with some other illusion, though the other
illusion may approximate higher to reality. So we personify no more--but
we super-personify. We now take into full acceptance our expression that
Development is an Autocracy of Successive Dominants--which are not
final--but which approximate higher to individuality or self-ness, than
do the human tropisms that irresponsibly correlate to them.
Eddie reported a celestial object, from the Observatory at Grahamstown,
South Africa. It was in 1890. The New Dominant was only heir presumptive
then, or heir apparent but not obvious. The thing that Eddie reported
might as well have been reported by a night watchman, who had looked up
through an unplaced sewer pipe.
It did not correlate.
The thing was not admitted to _Monthly Notices_. I think myself that if
the Editor had attempted to let it in--earthquake--or a mysterious fire
in his publishing house.
The Dominants are jealous gods.
In _Nature_, presumably a vassal of the new god, though of course also
plausibly rendering homage to the old, is reported a comet-like body, of
Oct. 27, 1890, observed at Grahamstown, by Eddie. It may have looked
comet-like, but it moved 100 degrees while visible, or one hundred
degrees in three-quarters of an hour. See _Nature_, 43-89, 90.
In _Nature_, 44-519, Prof. Copeland describes a similar appearance that
he had seen, Sept. 10, 1891. Dreyer says (_Nature_, 44-541) that he had
seen this object at the Armagh Observatory. He likens it to the object
that was reported by Eddie. It was seen by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell,
Sept. 11, 1891, in Nova Scotia.
But the Old Dominant was a jealous god.
So there were different observations upon something that was seen in
November, 1883. These observations were Philistines in 1883. In the
_Amer. Met. Jour._, 1-110, a correspondent reports having seen an object
like a comet, with two tails, one up and one down, Nov. 10 or 12, 1883.
Very likely this phenomenon should be placed in our expression upon
torpedo-shaped bodies that have been seen in the sky--our data upon
dirigibles, or super-Zeppelins--but our attempted classifications are
far from rigorous--or are mere gropes. In the _Scientific American_,
50-40, a correspondent writes from Humacao, Porto Rico, that, Nov. 21,
1883, he and several other--persons--or persons, as it were--had seen a
majestic appearance, like a comet. Visible three successive nights:
disappeared then. The Editor says that he can offer no explanation. If
accepted, this thing must have been close to the earth. If it had been a
comet, it would have been seen widely, and the news would have been
telegraphed over the world, says the Editor. Upon page 97 of this volume
of the _Scientific American_, a correspondent writes that, at Sulphur
Springs, Ohio, he had seen "a wonder in the sky," at about the same
date. It was torpedo-shaped, or something with a nucleus, at each end of
which was a tail. Again the Editor says that he can offer no
explanation: that the object was not a comet. He associates it with the
atmospheric effects general in 1883. But it will be our expression that,
in England and Holland, a similar object was seen in November, 1882.
In the _Scientific American_, 40-294, is published a letter from Henry
Harrison, of Jersey City, copied from the _New York Tribune_: that upon
the evening of April 13, 1879, Mr. Harrison was searching for Brorsen's
comet, when he saw an object that was moving so rapidly that it could
not have been a comet. He called a friend to look, and his observation
was confirmed. At two o'clock in the morning this object was still
visible. In the _Scientific American Supplement_, 7-2885, Mr. Harrison
disclaims sensationalism, which he seems to think unworthy, and gives
technical details: he says that the object was seen by Mr. J. Spencer
Devoe, of Manhattanville.
25
"A formation having the shape of a dirigible." It was reported from
Huntington, West Virginia (_Sci. Amer._, 115-241). Luminous object that
was seen July 19, 1916, at about 11 P.M. Observed through "rather
powerful field glasses," it looked to be about two degrees long and half
a degree wide. It gradually dimmed, disappeared, reappeared, and then
faded out of sight. Another person--as we say: it would be too
inconvenient to hold to our intermediatist recognitions--another person
who observed this phenomenon suggested to the writer of the account
that the object was a dirigible, but the writer says that faint stars
could be seen behind it. This would seem really to oppose our notion of
a dirigible visitor to this earth--except for the inconclusiveness of
all things in a mode of seeming that is not final--or we suggest that
behind some parts of the object, thing, construction, faint stars were
seen. We find a slight discussion here. Prof. H.M. Russell thinks that
the phenomenon was a detached cloud of aurora borealis. Upon page 369 of
this volume of the _Scientific American_, another correlator suggests
that it was a light from a blast furnace--disregarding that, if there be
blast furnaces in or near Huntington, their reflections would be
commonplaces there.
We now have several observations upon cylindrical-shaped bodies that
have appeared in this earth's atmosphere: cylindrical, but pointed at
both ends, or torpedo-shaped. Some of the accounts are not very
detailed, but out of the bits of description my own acceptance is that
super-geographical routes are traversed by torpedo-shaped
super-constructions that have occasionally visited, or that have
occasionally been driven into this earth's atmosphere. From data, the
acceptance is that upon entering this earth's atmosphere, these vessels
have been so racked that had they not sailed away, disintegration would
have occurred: that, before leaving this earth, they have, whether in
attempted communication or not, or in mere wantonness or not, dropped
objects, which did almost immediately violently disintegrate or explode.
Upon general principles we think that explosives have not been purposely
dropped, but that parts have been racked off, and have fallen, exploding
like the things called "ball lightning." Many have been objects of stone
or metal with inscriptions upon them, for all we know, at present. In
all instances, estimates of dimensions are valueless, but ratios of
dimensions are more acceptable. A thing said to have been six feet long
may have been six hundred feet long; but shape is not so subject to the
illusions of distance.
_Nature_, 40-415:
That, Aug. 5, 1889, during a violent storm, an object that looked to be
about 15 inches long and 5 inches wide, fell, rather slowly, at East
Twickenham, England. It exploded. No substance from it was found.
_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1864-54:
That, Oct. 10, 1864, M. Leverrier had sent to the Academy three letters
from witnesses of a long luminous body, tapering at both ends, that had
been seen in the sky.
In _Thunder and Lightning_, p. 87, Flammarion says that on Aug. 20,
1880, during a rather violent storm, M.A. Trecul, of the French Academy,
saw a very brilliant yellowish-white body, apparently 35 to 40
centimeters long, and about 25 centimeters wide. Torpedo-shaped. Or a
cylindrical body, "with slightly conical ends." It dropped something,
and disappeared in the clouds. Whatever it may have been that was
dropped, it fell vertically, like a heavy object, and left a luminous
train. The scene of this occurrence may have been far from the observer.
No sound was heard. For M. Trecul's account, see _Comptes Rendus_,
103-849.
_Monthly Weather Review_, 1907-310:
That, July 2, 1907, in the town of Burlington, Vermont, a terrific
explosion had been heard throughout the city. A ball of light, or a
luminous object, had been seen to fall from the sky--or from a
torpedo-shaped thing, or construction, in the sky. No one had seen this
thing that had exploded fall from a larger body that was in the sky--but
if we accept that at the same time there was a larger body in the sky--
My own acceptance is that a dirigible in the sky, or a construction that
showed every sign of disrupting, had barely time to drop--whatever it
did drop--and to speed away to safety above.
The following story is told, in the _Review_, by Bishop John S. Michaud:
"I was standing on the corner of Church and College Streets, just in
front of the Howard Bank, and facing east, engaged in conversation with
Ex-Governor Woodbury and Mr. A.A. Buell, when, without the slightest
indication, or warning, we were startled by what sounded like a most
unusual and terrific explosion, evidently very nearby. Raising my eyes,
and looking eastward along College Street, I observed a torpedo-shaped
body, some 300 feet away, stationary in appearance, and suspended in the
air, about 50 feet above the tops of the buildings. In size it was about
6 feet long by 8 inches in diameter, the shell, or covering, having a
dark appearance, with here and there tongues of fire issuing from spots
on the surface, resembling red-hot, unburnished copper. Although
stationary when first noticed, this object soon began to move, rather
slowly, and disappeared over Dolan Brothers' store, southward. As it
moved, the covering seemed rupturing in places, and through these the
intensely red flames issued."
Bishop Michaud attempts to correlate it with meteorological
observations.
Because of the nearby view this is perhaps the most remarkable of the
new correlates, but the correlate now coming is extraordinary because of
the great number of recorded observations upon it. My own acceptance is
that, upon Nov. 17, 1882, a vast dirigible crossed England, but by the
definiteness-indefiniteness of all things quasi-real, some observations
upon it can be correlated with anything one pleases.
E.W. Maunder, invited by the Editors of the _Observatory_ to write some
reminiscences for the 500th number of their magazine, gives one that he
says stands out (_Observatory_, 39-214). It is upon something that he
terms "a strange celestial visitor." Maunder was at the Royal
Observatory, Greenwich, Nov. 17, 1882, at night. There was an aurora,
without features of special interest. In the midst of the aurora, a
great circular disk of greenish light appeared and moved smoothly across
the sky. But the circularity was evidently the effect of foreshortening.
The thing passed above the moon, and was, by other observers, described
as "cigar-shaped," "like a torpedo," "a spindle," "a shuttle." The idea
of foreshortening is not mine: Maunder says this. He says: "Had the
incident occurred a third of a century later, beyond doubt everyone
would have selected the same simile--it would have been 'just like a
Zeppelin.'" The duration was about two minutes. Color said to have been
the same as that of the auroral glow in the north. Nevertheless, Maunder
says that this thing had no relation to auroral phenomena. "It appeared
to be a definite body." Motion too fast for a cloud, but "nothing could
be more unlike the rush of a meteor." In the _Philosophical Magazine_,
5-15-318, J. Rand Capron, in a lengthy paper, alludes throughout to this
phenomenon as an "auroral beam," but he lists many observations upon
its "torpedo-shape," and one observation upon a "dark nucleus" in
it--host of most confusing observations--estimates of height between 40
and 200 miles--observations in Holland and Belgium. We are told that
according to Capron's spectroscopic observations the phenomenon was
nothing but a beam of auroral light. In the _Observatory_, 6-192, is
Maunder's contemporaneous account. He gives apparent approximate length
and breadth at twenty-seven degrees and three degrees and a half. He
gives other observations seeming to indicate structure--"remarkable dark
marking down the center."
In _Nature_, 27-84, Capron says that because of the moonlight he had
been able to do little with the spectroscope.
Color white, but aurora rosy (_Nature_, 27-87).
Bright stars seen through it, but not at the zenith, where it looked
opaque. This is the only assertion of transparency (_Nature_, 27-87).
Too slow for a meteor, but too fast for a cloud (_Nature_, 27-86).
"Surface had a mottled appearance" (_Nature_, 27-87). "Very definite in
form, like a torpedo" (_Nature_, 27-100). "Probably a meteoric object"
(Dr. Groneman, _Nature_, 27-296). Technical demonstration by Dr.
Groneman, that it was a cloud of meteoric matter (_Nature_, 28-105). See
_Nature_, 27-315, 338, 365, 388, 412, 434.
"Very little doubt it was an electric phenomenon" (Proctor, _Knowledge_,
2-419).
In the London _Times_, Nov. 20, 1882, the Editor says that he had
received a great number of letters upon this phenomenon. He publishes
two. One correspondent describes it as "well-defined and shaped like a
fish... extraordinary and alarming." The other correspondent writes of
it as "a most magnificent luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a
torpedo."
26
_Notes and Queries_, 5-3-306:
About 8 lights that were seen in Wales, over an area of about 8 miles,
all keeping their own ground, whether moving together perpendicularly,
horizontally, or over a zigzag course. They looked like electric
lights--disappearing, reappearing dimly, then shining as bright as ever.
"We have seen them three or four at a time afterward, on four or five
occasions."
London _Times_, Oct. 5, 1877:
"From time to time the west coast of Wales seems to have been the scene
of mysterious lights.... And now we have a statement from Towyn that
within the last few weeks lights of various colors have been seen moving
over the estuary of the Dysynni River, and out to sea. They are
generally in a northerly direction, but sometimes they hug the shore,
and move at high velocity for miles toward Aberdovey, and suddenly
disappear."
_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1877-45:
Lights that appeared in the sky, above Vence, France, March 23, 1877;
described as balls of fire of dazzling brightness; appeared from a cloud
about a degree in diameter; moved relatively slowly. They were visible
more than an hour, moving northward. It is said that eight or ten years
before similar lights or objects had been seen in the sky, at Vence.
London _Times_, Sept. 19, 1848:
That, at Inverness, Scotland, two large, bright lights that looked like
stars had been seen in the sky: sometimes stationary, but occasionally
moving at high velocity.
_L'Annee Scientifique_, 1888-66:
Observed near St. Petersburg, July 30, 1880, in the evening: a large
spherical light and two smaller ones, moving along a ravine: visible
three minutes; disappearing without noise.
_Nature_, 35-173:
That, at Yloilo, Sept. 30, 1886, was seen a luminous object the size of
the full moon. It "floated" slowly "northward," followed by smaller ones
close to it.
"The False Lights of Durham."
Every now and then in the English newspapers, in the middle of the
nineteenth century, there is something about lights that were seen
against the sky, but as if not far above land, oftenest upon the coast
of Durham. They were mistaken for beacons by sailors. Wreck after wreck
occurred. The fishermen were accused of displaying false lights and
profiting by wreckage. The fishermen answered that mostly only old
vessels, worthless except for insurance, were so wrecked.
In 1866 (London _Times_, Jan. 9, 1866) popular excitement became
intense. There was an investigation. Before a commission, headed by
Admiral Collinson, testimony was taken. One witness described the light
that had deceived him as "considerably elevated above ground." No
conclusion was reached: the lights were called "the mysterious lights."
But whatever the "false lights of Durham" may have been, they were
unaffected by the investigation. In 1867, the Tyne Pilotage Board took
the matter up. Opinion of the Mayor of Tyne--"a mysterious affair."
In the _Report of the British Association_, 1877-152, there is a
description of a group of "meteors" that traveled with "remarkable
slowness." They were in sight about three minutes. "Remarkable," it
seems, is scarcely strong enough: one reads of "remarkable" as applied
to a duration of three seconds. These "meteors" had another peculiarity;
they left no train. They are described as "seemingly huddled together
like a flock of wild geese, and moving with the same velocity and grace
of regularity."
_Jour. Roy. Astro. Soc. of Canada_, November and December, 1913:
That, according to many observations collected by Prof. Chant, of
Toronto, there appeared, upon the night of Feb. 9, 1913, a spectacle
that was seen in Canada, the United States, and at sea, and in Bermuda.
A luminous body was seen. To it there was a long tail. The body grew
rapidly larger. "Observers differ as to whether the body was single, or
was composed of three or four parts, with a tail to each part." The
group, or complex structure, moved with "a peculiar, majestic
deliberation." "It disappeared in the distance, and another group
emerged from its place of origin. Onward they moved, at the same
deliberate pace, in twos or threes or fours." They disappeared. A third
group, or a third structure, followed.
Some observers compared the spectacle to a fleet of airships: others to
battleships attended by cruisers and destroyers.
According to one writer:
"There were probably 30 or 32 bodies, and the peculiar thing about them
was their moving in fours and threes and twos, abreast of one another;
and so perfect was the lining up that you would have thought it was an
aerial fleet maneuvering after rigid drilling."
_Nature_, May 25, 1893:
A letter from Capt. Charles J. Norcock, of H.M.S. _Caroline_:
That, upon the 24th of February, 1893, at 10 P.M., between Shanghai and
Japan, the officer of the watch had reported "some unusual lights."
They were between the ship and a mountain. The mountain was about 6,000
feet high. The lights seemed to be globular. They moved sometimes
massed, but sometimes strung out in an irregular line. They bore
"northward," until lost to sight. Duration two hours.
The next night the lights were seen again.
They were, for a time, eclipsed by a small island. They bore north at
about the same speed and in about the same direction as speed and
direction of the _Caroline_. But they were lights that cast a
reflection: there was a glare upon the horizon under them. A telescope
brought out but few details: that they were reddish, and seemed to emit
a faint smoke. This time the duration was seven and a half hours.
Then Capt. Norcock says that, in the same general locality, and at about
the same time, Capt. Castle, of H.M.S. _Leander_, had seen lights. He
had altered his course and had made toward them. The lights had fled
from him. At least, they had moved higher in the sky.
_Monthly Weather Review_, March, 1904-115:
Report from the observations of three members of his crew by Lieut.
Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N, of the U.S.S. _Supply_:
Feb. 24, 1904. Three luminous objects, of different sizes, the largest
having an apparent area of about six suns. When first sighted, they were
not very high. They were below clouds of an estimated height of about
one mile.
They fled, or they evaded, or they turned.
They went up into the clouds below which they had, at first, been
sighted.
Their unison of movement.
But they were of different sizes, and of different susceptibilities to
all forces of this earth and of the air.
_Monthly Weather Review_, August, 1898-358:
Two letters from C.N. Crotsenburg, Crow Agency, Montana:
That, in the summer of 1896, when this writer was a railroad postal
clerk--or one who was experienced in train-phenomena--while his train
was going "northward," from Trenton, Mo., he and another clerk saw, in
the darkness of a heavy rain, a light that appeared to be round, and of
a dull-rose color, and seemed to be about a foot in diameter. It seemed
to float within a hundred feet of the earth, but soon rose high, or
"midway between horizon and zenith." The wind was quite strong from the
east, but the light held a course almost due north.
Its speed varied. Sometimes it seemed to outrun the train
"considerably." At other times it seemed to fall behind. The mail-clerks
watched until the town of Linville, Iowa, was reached. Behind the depot
of this town, the light disappeared, and was not seen again. All this
time there had been rain, but very little lightning, but Mr. Crotsenburg
offers the explanation that it was "ball lightning."
The Editor of the _Review_ disagrees. He thinks that the light may have
been a reflection from the rain, or fog, or from leaves of trees,
glistening with rain, or the train's light--not lights.
In the December number of the _Review_ is a letter from Edward M.
Boggs--that the light was a reflection, perhaps, from the glare--one
light, this time--from the locomotive's fire-box, upon wet telegraph
wires--an appearance that might not be striated by the wires, but
consolidated into one rotundity--that it had seemed to oscillate with
the undulations of the wires, and had seemed to change horizontal
distance with the varying angles of reflection, and had seemed to
advance or fall behind, when the train had rounded curves.
All of which is typical of the best of quasi-reasoning. It includes and
assimilates diverse data: but it excludes that which will destroy it:
That, acceptably, the telegraph wires were alongside the track beyond,
as well as leading to Linville.
Mr. Crotsenburg thinks of "ball lightning," which, though a sore
bewilderment to most speculation, is usually supposed to be a correlate
with the old system of thought: but his awareness of "something else" is
expressed in other parts of his letters, when he says that he has
something to tell that is "so strange that I should never have mentioned
it, even to my friends, had it not been corroborated... so unreal that I
hesitated to speak of it, fearing that it was some freak of the
imagination."
27
Vast and black. The thing that was poised, like a crow over the moon.
Round and smooth. Cannon balls. Things that have fallen from the sky to
this earth.
Our slippery brains.
Things like cannon balls have fallen, in storms, upon this earth. Like
cannon balls are things that, in storms, have fallen to this earth.
Showers of blood.
Showers of blood.
Showers of blood.
Whatever it may have been, something like red-brick dust, or a red
substance in a dried state, fell at Piedmont, Italy, Oct. 27, 1814
(_Electric Magazine_, 68-437). A red powder fell, in Switzerland, winter
of 1867 (_Pop. Sci. Rev._, 10-112)--
That something, far from this earth, had bled--super-dragon that had
rammed a comet--
Or that there are oceans of blood somewhere in the sky--substance that
dries, and falls in a powder--wafts for ages in powdered form--that
there is a vast area that will some day be known to aviators as the
Desert of Blood. We attempt little of super-topography, at present, but
Ocean of Blood, or Desert of Blood--or both--Italy is nearest to it--or
to them.
I suspect that there were corpuscles in the substance that fell in
Switzerland, but all that could be published in 1867 was that in this
substance there was a high proportion of "variously shaped organic
matter."
At Giessen, Germany, in 1821, according to the _Report of the British
Association_, 5-2, fell a rain of a peach-red color. In this rain were
flakes of a hyacinthine tint. It is said that this substance was
organic: we are told that it was pyrrhine.
But distinctly enough, we are told of one red rain that it was of
corpuscular composition--red snow, rather. It fell, March 12, 1876, near
the Crystal Palace, London (_Year Book of Facts_, 1876-89; _Nature_,
13-414). As to the "red snow" of polar and mountainous regions, we have
no opposition, because that "snow" has never been seen to fall from the
sky: it is a growth of micro-organisms, or of a "protococcus," that
spreads over snow that is on the ground. This time nothing is said of
"sand from the Sahara." It is said of the red matter that fell in
London, March 12, 1876, that it was composed of corpuscles--
Of course: