TENTH EDITION
ON THE INFLUENCE
OF THE
BLUE COLOR OF THE SKY
IN
Deovloping Anmal and Vegetable Life,
AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE EXPERIMENTS OF
GE-.IT A. J. S:9IEASOiT'TOiT,
Between the Years 1861 and 1871,
AT PHILADELPHIA.'EAD BEFORE THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE,
ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 187x.
PHILADELPHIA:
INQUIRER. BOOK AND JOB PRINT, 304 CHESTNUT STREET.
18 7 L








ON THE INFLUENCE
OF THE
BLUE COLOR OF THE SKY
IN
Developing Animal anld Vegetable Life,
AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE EXPERIMENTS OF
G-Elq'; -A-. J. PIL.jIoAS q'TOSF-,
Between the Years 1861 and 1871,
AT PHILADELPHIA.
READ BEFORE THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE,
ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 187x.
PHILADELPHIA:
INQUIRER Boo00 AND JOB PRINT, 304 CHESTNUT STREET.
1871.








The following memoir was read by GEN. A. J. PLEASONTON,
before the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, on
Wednesday, the 3d of May, 1871, at their room, S. W. corner
of 9th and Walnut Streets, in the City of Philadelphia, upon
the following request:
1309 WALNUT ST., April 27th, 1871.
MR DEAR GENERAL:
Will it suit you, and will you do us the favor to explain your
process of using glass in improving stock to the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, on Wednesday next, the 3d of
May, at eleven o'clock, A. M., at their Room, S. W. corner of Ninth
and Walnut Streets, (entrance on Ninth street)? You were kind
enough to express to me. in conversation, your willingness to give
us the result of your experiments.
Yours, very truly,
W. 1. DRAYTON,
President.
GENERAL PLEASONTON.








PREFACE.
HAVING been much interested in the phenomena of the physics of the earth,
the author, in offering to his readers a second edition of his work, "On the
Influence of the Blue Color of the Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable
Life," may be indulged in his introduction into this preface of some views that
his observations have led him to entertain relative to the variations of temperature, and changes of our seasons, which are in harmony with the subjects treated.
by him in this work.
The first edition of the following memoir was printed for distribution
among scientific and literary institutions, and among persons of culture, for the
purpose of attracting the attention of those for whom it was intended, to the
subjects of which it treats.  It was hoped that its publication would invite
investigation into the nature, composition, and influences of those great forces
which, in the poverty of our language, we call imponderables, that is to say, not
to be weighed in the balance, and consequently never to be found wanting.
This expectation is likely to be realized, if we may judge from the general
interest that appears to be taken in the memoir, which has been manifested in
the numerous applications that have been made to the author, from various
parts of our country, for copies of it. The edition has now been distributed,
yet so many persons who have applied for copies of the memoir are, still without
it, that it has been deemed advisable to issue another edition.
If, by a course of study, and observation of the great forces of nature, as
they are exhibited, not in the laboratory, upon the minutest scale,, but in those
grand operations by which physical changes are at every moment developed
before'our eyes, we can succeed in penetrating the mysteries of their origin,
of their evolution, of their application,' and of their reciprocal conversions into
each other, we shall become indeed wise in our generation, and mankind in the
future will be able to rejoice in a development never yet reached in any preceding age.




By way of illustration of this idea, we may suggest that this planet is
surrounded, at variable altitudes above its surface, by a canopy of cold, increasing in intensity with its distance above the earth. Now, we may ask, what
produces the changes of our seasons? We answer, simply the -descent or ascent
of columns of this canopy of cold!
It has been observed, for  any years, that the first frost of the autumn
appears in Texas or Louisiana, or some other of the Gulf States, while at the
same time no frost is observable in other localities situated much farther to the
north-the commonly supposed place of departure of our winters. This frost,
therefore, must come from the descent of the cold of the higher atmosphere
immediately over the locality where it prevails. Following the valley of the
Mississippi and those of its tributaries, frost appears successively in various
places along those routes, till it reaches the vallies of the Northern Lakes,
running along which it is felt in Northern New York and the New England
States, and subsequently in the Middle and Southern Atlantic States. It does
not reach the vicinity of Philadelphia until some fifteen or twenty days after
it has shown itself on the Gulf of Mexico. Now would it not seem that the
influences producing this frost are telluric, and not exclusively solar, as hitherto
they have been supposed to be o
We know that in the ocean there are columns of fresh water which differ in
temperature from the surrounding sea water, and with. which they do not
mingle for a long time. So is it for a hundred or more miles at sea, distant from
the mouths of the great rivers Amazon, Orinoco, Mississippi, etc., whose fresh
waters do not mix with the salt waters surrounding them, owing to the difference
of their densities. In like manner the cold air of the upper atmosphere descends
in columns of various extent over particular localities, to vary the temperature
and change the seasons, on the surface of our earth, without mixing with the
warmer and more expanded air beneath, which it displaces.
The spring and summer seasons are produced by increased radiations from
the interior heat of the earth, forcing upwards the dense cold of winter, whose
particles are so close together as to prevent the intrusion among them of the
expanded warm air in its ascent. Much of the heat of the lower atmosphere is
also developed in the conversion of vapor into clouds by condensation from cold.
It is in this way that our seasons are changed. Let our savans discover
how and why these effects are produced. Until they do, it may be suggested
that they are owing to electrical atmospherical disturbances in the upper atmosphere, repelling the negative electricity of those regions, and forcing the cold




iii
air to the surface of the earth, where it displaces the warmer and more rarefied
and expanded air, and condenses in rain, snow and hail, the vapors it contains,
driving the displaced warmer air to the tropics, and the heat from the tropics
attracted to the condensed vapor in the clouds in the temperate zones to liquefy
them in rain, producing winter.
In the opposite manner the warm seasons of spring and summer are produced by the positive electricity of the surface-air of the earth becoming warmed
by increased radiation of heat from the interior of the earth, repelling itself,
and displacing the upper strata of cold air, till by induction of electricity the
temperature of the season is established.
Geologists tell us that in the early existence of this planet, the greater part
of the earth's surface was covered with ice, and that this period of time is called
the Glacial Period.
Let us imagine that the igneous action of the elementary substances of the
interior of the earth's crust, just before that period, might have been so intense
as by the radiation of its heat to the surface of the earth to rarefy the.lower
atmosphere, converting into vapor the water it contained, and forcing it upward
till the whole surface of the earth was almost incandescent.
To restore the equilibrium, the canopy of cold repelled by its own negative
electricity from above, which has been increased by the currents of polar electricity, largely developed by this central and interior igneous action-and
attracted by the positive electricity in the heated atmosphere below-descended
to the. surface of the earth, condensing the vapors of the atmosphere into rain,
and afterwards into hail and snow, driving the remainder of the warmer air
of what we call, now, the temperate zones, to the tropics, and covering the
surfaces of the earth, from the poles to the tropics, with a dense mantle of ice,
freezing the rivers, bays, and seas of those latitudes., The internal central fires
thus concentrated, in due season increased their radiation of heat, and melted
the superjacent ice, which, breaking from the sides of glaciers in large masses,
slid and rolled to the ocean, there becoming icebergs, and carrying with them
those immense boulders which, torn from the mountain sides by the adhesion
of the ice, have left the traces of their furrows on the slopes of the mountains,
and have marked their courses till, by the melting of the bergs; they have
been dropped in the ocean, which subsequently, by its subsidence, have left
them dry on the land. If such was the cause of the glacial period, it would
require no great stretch of fancy to comprehend the deluge of Deucalion or
that of our great ancestor Noah, when the rain descended for forty days;




iv
occasioned no doubt by a lesser descent of the canopy of cold (limiting its
effect to the condensation of the vapors of the atmosphere into rain) than
that which produced the glacial period.
If such effects follow from such causes, we need not be at a loss to account
for the changes of our seasons, or the daily variations of temperature in every
locality.
This edition of our memoir has been printed upon tinted paper with blue
ink, as an experiment, in an attempt to relieve the eyes of the reader from the
great glare, occasioned by the reflection of gas light at night from the white
paper usually employed in the printing of books. If it shall succeed we may
hope to see the tinted paper introduced for all books and periodicals.
PRILADELPHIA, July 29, 1871.




Mr. President and Gentlemen of The Philadelphia Society for
Promoting Agriculture.
At. the request of my old friend and your respected President, I have attended your meeting this morning to impart to
you the results of certain experiments that I have made within
the last ten years in attempts to utilize the blue color of the
sky in the development of vegetable and animal life.
I may premise that for a long time I have thought that the
blue color of the sky, so permanent and so all-pervading, and
yet so varying in intensity of color, according to season and
latitude, must have some abiding relation and intimate connection with the living organisms on this planet.
Deeply impressed with this idea, in the autumn of the year
1860, I commenced the erection of a cold.grapery on my. farm
in the western part of this city. I remembered that while a
student of chemistry I was taught that in the analysis of the
ray of the sun by the prism, in the year 1666, by Sir Isaac Newton, he had resolved it into the seven primary rays, viz: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, and had discovered that these elementary rays had different indices of refraction; that for the red ray at one side of the solar spectrum being
the least, while that of the violet at the opposite side thereof was
the greatest, from which he deduced his celebrated doctrine
of the different refrangibility of the rays of light; and further, that
Sir John Herschel in his subsequent investigation of the properties of light had shown that the chemical power of the solar
ray is greatest in the blue rays, which give the least light of any of
the: luminous prismatic radiations, but the largest quantity of solar heat, and that later experiments established the fact of the
stimulating influence of the blue rays upon vegetation. Having
concluded to make a practical application of the properties of
the blue and violet rays of light just referred to in stimulating vegetable life, I began to inquire in every accessible direction if
this stimulating quality of the blue or violet ray had ever received any practical useful application. My inquiries developed
the facts that various experiments had been made in England
and on the European continent with glass colored with each of




6
the several primary rays, but that they were so unsatisfactory
in their results that nothing useful came of them so far as any
improvement in the process of developing vegetation was concerned. Finding no beaten track, I was left to grope my way
as best I could under the guidance of the violet ray alone.
My grapery was finished in March, 1861. Its -dimensions were,
84 feet long, 26 feet wide, 16 feet high at the ridge, with a double-pitched roof It was built at the foot of a terraced garden, in:the direction of N. E. by E. to S. W. by W. On three sides of it
there was a border 12 feet wide, and on the fourth or N. E. by
E. side the border was only five feet wide, being a walk of the
garden. The borders inside and outside were- excavated 3 feet
6 inches deep, and were filled up with the usual nutritive matter, carefully prepared for growing vines. I do not think they
differed essentially from  thousands of other borders which
have been made in many parts of the world. The- first question to be solved on the, completion of the frame of the
grapery, was the proportion of blue or violet glass to be used
on the roof. Should too much be used, it would reduce the
temperature too much, and cause a failure of the experiment;
if too little, it would not afford a fair test. At a venture I.
adopted- every eighth row of glass on the roof to be violet
colored, alternating the rows on opposite sides of the roof, so
that the sun in its daily course should cast a beam of violet
light on every leaf in the grapery. Cuttings of vines of some
twenty varieties of grapes, each one year old, of the thickness
of a pipe-stem, and cut close to the pots containing them, were
planted in the borders inside and outside of the grapery, in
the early part of April, 1861. Soon after being planted the
growth of the vines began. Those on the outside were
trained through earthen pipes in the walls to the inside, and
as they grew they were tied up to the wires like those which
had been planted within. Very soon the vines began to- attract great notice of all who saw them from the rapid growth
they were making. Every day disclosed some new extension,
and the gardener was kept busy in tying up the new wood
which the day before he had not observed. In a few weeks
after the vines had been planted, the walls and inside of the
roof were closely covered with the most luxurious and healthy
development of foliage and wood.
In the early part of September, 1861, Mr. Robert Buist, Sr.,
a noted seedsman and distinguished horticulturist from whom
I had procured the vines, having heard of their wonderful
growth, visited the grapery. On entering it he seemed to be




7'
lost in amazement at what he saw; after examining it very carefully, turning to me, he said, "General! I have been cultivating
plants and vines of various kinds for the last forty years; I have
seen some of the best vineries and conservatories in England and
Scotland, but I have never seen anything like this growth."
He then measured some of the vines and found them fortyfive feet in length, and an inch in diameter at the distance of
one foot above the ground-; and these dimensions were the
growth of only five months! He then remarked, "I visited
last week a new grapery near Darby, the vines in which I furnished at the same time I did yours; they were of the same
varieties, of like age and size, when they were planted as yours;
they were planted at the same time with yours. When I saw
them last week, they were puny spindling plants not more
than five feet long, and scarcely increased in diameter sinde
they were planted-and yet they have had the best possible
care and attendance!"
The vines continued healthy and to grow, making an abundance of young wood during the remainder of the season of
1861.
In March of 1862 they were started to grow, having been
pruned and cleaned in January of that year. The growth in
this second season was, if anything, more remarkable than it
had been in the previous year. Besides the formation of new
wood and the display of the most luxuiriant foliage, there was
a wonderful number of bunches of grapes, which soon assumed
the most remarkable proportions-the bunches being of extraordinary magnitude, and the grapes of unusual size and development.
In September of 186'2 the same gentleman Mr. Robert Buist,
Sr., who had visited the grapery the year before came againthis time accompa nied by his foreman. The grapes were then
beginning to colorand to ripen rapidly. On enteringthe grapery,
astonished at the wonderful display of foliage and fruit which it
presented, he stood for a while in silent amazement; he then
slowly walked around the grapery several times, critically examining its wonders; when taking from his pocket paper and
pencil, he noted on the paper each bunch of grapes, and estimated its weight, after which aggregating the whole, he came to
me and said, "General! do you know that you have 1200 pounds
of grapes in this grapery?" On my saying that I had no idea
of the quantity it contained, he continued, "you have indeed: Chat weight of fruit, but I would not dare to publish it, for no




8
one would believe me." We may well conceive of his astonishment at this product when we are reminded that in grapegrowing countries where grapes have been grown for centuries, that a period of time of from five to six years will elapse
before a single bunch of grapes can be produced from a young
vine-while before him in the second year of the growth of
vines which he himself had furnished only seventeen months
before, he saw this remarkable yield of the finest and choicest
varieties of grapes. He might well say that an account of it
would be incredible.
During the next season (1863) the vines again fruited and
matured a crop of grapes estimated by comparison with the
yield of the previous year to weigh about two tons; the vines
were perfectly healthy and free from the usual maladies which
affect the grape. By this time the grapery and its products
had become partially known among cultivators, who said that
such excessive crops would exhaust the vines, and that the
following year there would be no fruit, as it was well known
that all plants required rest after yielding large crops; notwithstanding, new wood was formed this year for the next year's
crop, which turned out to be quite as large as it had been in
the season of 1863, and so on year by year the vines have continued to bear large crops of fine fruit without intermission
for the last nine years. They are now healthy and strong,
and as yet show no signs of decrepitude or exhaustion.
The success of the grapery induced me to make an experiment with animal life. In the autumn of 1869 I built a piggery and introduced into the roof and three sides of it violetcolored and white glass in equal proportions-half of each
kind. Separating a recent litter of Chester county pigs into
two parties, I placed three sows and one barrow pig in the
ordinary pen, and three other sows and one other barrow pig
in the pen under the violet glass. The pigs were all about
two months old.:The weight of the pigs was as follows, viz:
Under the violet glass, No. 1 sow, 42 lbs., No. 2, a barrow pig,
451 lbs., No. 3, a sow, 38 lbs., No. 4, a sow 42, lbs., their aggregate weight 167k lbs. The weight of the others in the
common pen was as follows, viz: No. 1., a sow, 50 lbs., No. 2,
a sow, 48 lbs., No. 3, a barrow big, 59 lbs., No. 4, a sow, 46
lbs; their aggregate weight was 203 lbs. It will be observed
that each of the pigs under the violet glass was lighter in
weight than the lightest in weight pig of those under the sunlight alone in the common pen. The two sets of pigs were
treated exactly alike; fed with the same kinds of food at




equal intervals of time, and with equal quantities by measure
at each meal, and were attended by the same man. They
were put in the pens on the 3d day of November, 1869, and
kept there until the 4th day of March, 1870, when they were
weighed again. By some misconception of my orders, the
separate weight of each pig was not had. The aggregate
weight of the three sows under the violet light on the 3d of
November, 1869, was 122 lbs; on the 4th of March, 1870, it
was 520 lbs., increase 398 lbs.
The aggregate weight of the three sows in the old pens on
the 3d of November, 1869, was 144: lbs., and on the 4th of
March, 1870, it was 530 lbs., increase 386 lbs., or 12 lbs. less
than those under the violet glass had gained.
The weight of the barrow pig in the common pen on the
3d of November, 1869, was 59 lbs., and on the 4th of March,
1870, it was 210 lbs., increase 151 lbs. The weight of the
barrow pig under the violet light, on the 3d of November,
1869, was 451 lbs., and on the 4th of March, 1870, it was 170
lbs., increase 1241 lbs. The large increase of the weight of
the barrow pig in the common pen is to be attributed to his.
superior size and weight on being put in the same common
pen with the three sows, and which enabled him to seize upon
and, appropriate to himself more than his share of the common food.
If the barrow pig under the violet light had increased at
the rate of increase of the barrow pig in the common pen, his
weight on the 4th March, 1870, would have been only 16184
lbs. instead of his actual weight of 170 lbs.-showing his rate
of increase of weight to have been 83 lbs. more than that of
the other barrow pig.
If the barrow pig under the sunshine in the common pen
had increased at the rate of increase of the barrow pig under
the violet glass, his weight on the 4th of March, 1870, should
have  been 224140 lbs. instead of 210 lbs., his actual weight-at
that date.
By these comparisons it seems obvious that the influence of'the violet-colored glass was very marked, although it must be
borne in mind that owing to the great declination of the sun
during the period of the experiment and the consequent comparative feebleness of the force of the actinic or chemical rays
of the blue sky at that time, the effect was not so great as it
would have been at a later period of'the season; but the time




10
of the experiment was selected for that very reason. The
animals were not fed to produce fat or increase of size, but
simply to ascertain, if practicable, whether by the ordinary
mode of feeding usual on farms in this country, the development of stock could be hastened by exposing them in pens to
the combined influence of sunlight and the transmitted rays
of the blue sky.
My next experiment was with an Alderney bull calf born on
the 26th of January, 1870; at its birth it was so puny and feeble that the man who attends upon my stock, a very experienced hand, told me that it could not live. I directed him
to put it in one of the pens under the violet glass. It was done.
In 24 hours a very sensible change had occurred in the animal.
It had arisen on its feet, walked about the pen, took its food
freely by the finger, and manifested great vivacity. In a few
days its feeble condition had entirely disappeared. It began
to grow, and its development was marvelous. On the 31st
March, 1870, 2 months and 5 days after its birth, its rapid
growth was so apparent, that as its hind quarter was then:
growing, I told my son to measure its height, and to note
down in writing the height of the hind quarter, and the time
of measurement-which he did. On the 20th of the following May (1870), just fifty days afterwards, my son again measured the hind quarter, and found that in that time it had
gained exactly six inches in' height, carrying its lateral development
with it. Believing the question solved, the calf was turned into
the barn-yard, and when mingling with the cows he manifested
every symptom of full masculine vigor, though at the time he
was only four months old. Since the 1st of April of this year,
when he was just 14 months old, he has been kept with my
herd of cows, and has fulfilled every expectation that I had
formed of him. He is now one of the best developed animals
that can be found any where.
These, gentlemen, are the experiments about which your
curiosity has been excited. If by the combination of sunlight
and blue light from the sky, you can mature quadrupeds in
twelve months with no greater supply of food than would be
used for an immature animal in the same period, you can
scarcely conceive of the immeasurable value of this discovery
to an agricultural people. You would no longer have to wait
five years for the maturity of a colt;- and all your animals
could be produced in the greatest abundance and variety. A
prominent member of the bar a short time since told me that
his sister, who is a widow of a late distinguished general in




1l
the army, had applied blue light to the rearing of poultry,
-with the most remarkable success, after having heard of my
experiments. In regard to the human family, its influence
would be wide spread-you could not only in the temperate
regions produce the early maturity of the tropics, but you
could invigorate the constitutions of invalids, and develop in
the young, a generation, physically and intellectually, which
might become a marvel to mankind. Architects would be
required to so arrange the introduction of these mixed rays of
light into our houses, that the occupants might derive the
greatest benefit from their influence. Mankind will then not
only be able to live fast, but they can live well and also live
long.
Let us attempt an explanation of this phenomenon. It is
well known that differences of temperature evolve electricity,
as do also evaporation, pressure suddenly produced or suddenly
removed, in which may be comprised a blow or stroke, as, for
instance, from the horseshoe in the rapid motion of a horse on
a stone in the pavement, striking fire, which is kindled by the
electricity evolved in the impact, or, again, from the collision
of two silicious stones in which there is no iron, is electricity
produced.
Friction even of two pieces of dried wood excites combustion by the evolution of hydrogen gas which bursts into flame
when brought into contact with the opposite electricity evolved
by the heat. Chrystallization, the freezing of water, the
melting of ice or snow-every act of combination in respiration, every movement and contraction of organic tissues, and,
indeed, every change in the form of matter evolve electricity,
which in turn contributes to form new modifications of the
matter which has yielded it.
The diamond, about whose origin so much mystery has
always existed, it is likely, is the product of the decomposition
of carbonic acid gas in the higher atmosphere by electricity,
liberating the oxygen gas, converting it into ozone, fusing the
carbon, and by the intense cold there prevailing, which is of
opposite electricity, chrystallizing the fused carbon, which is
precipitated by its gravity to the earth.
To the repellent affinity of electricity are we indebted for
the expansive force of steam whose power wields the mighty
trip hammer, propels the ship through the ocean, and draws
the train over the land-and to the opposite electricities of the
heated steam and the cold water introduced into the boiler.to




12replenish it, do we owe those terrible explosions in steam
boilers whose prevention has hitherto defied human skill.
But the most interesting application of electricity, is in
nature's development of vegetation. Let us illustrate it:
Seed perfectly dried, but still retaining the vital principle,
like the seed of wheat preserved for thousands of years in
mummy cases in the catacombs of Egypt, if planted in a soil
of the richest alluvial deposits, also thoroughly dried, will: not
germinate. Why? Let us examine. The alluvial soil is
composed of the debris of hills and mountains containing an
extensive variety of metallic and metalloid compounds mingled with the remains of vegetable and animal matter in a
state of great comminution, washed by the rains and carried
by freshets into the depressions of the surface of the earth.
These various elements of the soil have different electrical
attributes. In a perfectly dry state no electrical action will
occur among them, but let the rain, bringing with it ammonia
and carbonic acid, in however minute quantities, from the
upper atmosphere, fall upon this alluvial soil, so as to moisten
its mass within the influence of light, heat, and air, and plant
your seed within it, and what will you observe? Rapid germrination of the seed. Why? The slightly acidulated, or it may
be alkaline water of the rain has formed the medium to excite
galvanic currents of electricity in the heterogeneous matter of
the alluvial soil-the vitality of the seed is developed and
vegetable life is the result. Hence vegetable life owes its
existence to electricity. Herein consists the secret of successful agriculture. If you can maintain the currents of electricity at the roots of plants by supplying the acidulated or
alkaline moisture to excite them during droughts, you will
secure the most abundant and unvarying crops. To do this,
your soil should be- composed of the most varied elements,
mineral, earthy, alkaline, vegetable, and animal matter in a
state of greatly comminuted decomposition.
The poverty of soils arises from the homogeneous character
of their composition. A soil altogether clayey, or composed of
silicious sand, or the debris of limestone, or of alkaline substances exclusively, must necessarily be barren for the want
of electrical excitement, which no one of the said elements
will produce; but commingle them all with the addition of
decomposed vegetable and animal matter, and you will form a
soil which will amply reward the toil of the husbandman.
What do you suppose has produced the giant trees of Cali



18
fornia?  Electricity!  Since the west coast of America has
been known to Europeans, and perhaps for centuries before, it has been subjected to the most devastating earthquakes.  From  the Straits of'Magellan to the Arctic
Ocean, traces of volcanic action are everywhere visible. Its
mountains have been upheaved, broken, torn asunder, and
sometimes, like Ossa upon Pelion, one has been superimposed
on another.
All volcanic countries are noted in the temperate regions,
where they produce anything, for the exuberance of their
vegetable productions. Etna has been famous for its large
Chestnut trees, which have given a name Catania to the town
near its base.
The mineral richness of California has doubtless, by the
debris of its mountains, carried into the valleys where grow
these large trees, furnished an immense deposite of various
matter which, under the favorable circumstances of the localities, have maintained for ages a healthful electrical excitement
resulting through centuries of undisturbed growth in these
vegetable wonders.
Who is there that has not been struck with admiration in
looking upon the firmament, when the atmosphere was clearest, and was unclouded by the slightest vapor,-when, in the
brightness of sunlight, it would put on its livery of blue, and
display its resplendent and glorious beauties?  How many
myriads of mankind, in all ages, have gazed upon this imagnificent arch, of what men call "sky;" and how few have ever
asked the question, Why is the sky blue? and why should its
intensity of blue vary in different latitudes, and in different
seasons?
HIUMBOLDT said he had never seen its blue so intense as in
the tropics and under the equator. Arctic navigators have also
declared, that in the arctic regions the intensity of the blue
color of the sky was amazing. Here are two extremes of latitude displaying the same effect; and in our own temperate region many have observed a variation in the intensity of the
blue of the sky, in different seasons, extending from the early
spring until the close of autumn, but never equaling in depth
of color what is represented of it, either in the tropics or in
the arctic or antarctic regions.
On no part of our planet is the development of vegetable
life so grand, so various, so excessive and so constant as in the




14
tropics and in the equatorial regions. While this wonderful
display of vegetation is observed in these regions, the exuberance of animal life and the rapid growth of vegetable life in
the arctic regions are said to be unequaled in any other part
of our world. Let us see if these results in the two natural
kingdoms may not be attributed largely to the same cause.
Recent discoveries have shown that the Zodiacal light over
the equator and the aurorae borealis and australis are evolutions of electricity. In the arctic regions there is little doubt
that the aurora are constantly evolved, though they are not
always visible. They have been seen to emerge from the surface of the ocean, at short distances from the observers, and
ascending into the upper regions of the atmosphere, to present
those corruscations of brilliant light, shooting as it were to
the equatorial regions, in rapid flashes, for which they have
been noted wherever observed.
In the equatorial regions it is well known that at certain
periods of the year the accumulation of electricity in the upper
atmosphere is so excessive, that the earth is shaken with thunderbolts, and the air illuminated by day as well as night with
constant sheets of electric flame, as they rush with frightful
velocity to their great centre of' attraction, the earth and ocean
in those regions. Whence does this electricity come, and
where does it go?
If we may be permitted to form a conjecture, we might
suggest that the sixty odd primary elements which enter into
the composition of the crust of our planet-such as carbon,
sulphur, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, the metals,
the metalloids, etc.-having been endowed by the Creator with
different electrical qualities and conditions-when they were
assembled together in this planet, evolved in the interior thereof electricity, light, heat, and magnetism in certain or variable
qualities and quantities. These constitute the forces which
in all probability cause the rotation of the earth upon its axis,
and assist in its revolution around the sun. The electricity of
the interior of the earth is supposed to be positive electricity
-which, as soon as evolved there, would be repelled according
to the law of electricity of the same character repelling itself
-towards the poles of the earth, and escaping there, would
be attracted by the negative electricity which surrounds the
upper atmosphere, and would display itself by night as aurore,
corruscating toward the equator, to be there attracted by the
heated equatorial regions, and descending to the earth, to be




15
again absorbed by it, for further use. This escape of polar,
electricity into the upper atmosphere, and forming. at night
the aurorae, when visible, and by day the blue firmament or
sky, will account for the intensity of the blue color of the sky
both in the arctic regions and the equatorial regions.
This positive electricity of the central interior of the earth,
repelling itself towards the poles, and from there into the atmosphere through the arctic and antarctic oceans, and attracted
there by the negative electricity of the upper atmosphere,
forms, by the union of the two electricities, the auroras, causing those crackling detonations heard during the prevalence
of the most brilliant auroras, in high latitudes and evolving
light, which, seen through the vaporous atmosphere of those
latitudes, is displayed by refractions of its rays in the luminous corruscations of varying tints as the rays of the sun or
moon are converted into the tints of the rainbow.
The negative electricity of those frigid regions attracted to
the equator through the upper atmosphere is there concentrated in enormous quantities, which are conducted and discharged into the earth or ocean in the tropics, by the incessant
fall of water in rain during the rainy seasons, every drop of
water being a conductor of electricity, and every leaf of vegetation assisting in the conduct and distribution of this wonderful force into the earth.
As under certain circumstances electricity becomes magnetism, and this again is converted into electricity, we can comprehend how the auroral rays in some instances, following the
law of dia-magnetism, are attracted in the northern hemisphere
towards the southwest-magnetic currents flowing from east
to west in opposition to the earth's motion from west to east;
hence in the auroras you have rays shooting to the zenith over
the equator, and others moving southwest, and others again
due west.
The simultaneous appearance of auroras frequently observed
in opposite hemispheres in corresponding latitudes would go
to show their origin from a common impulse in the central interior repelling them towards the poles from under the equator.
We now come to a presumed explanation of one of the reasons for the blue color of the sky.
The sun's ray, or what is called the white light of the sun,
was resolved by means of a glass prism, by Sir ISAAC NEWTON,
into the seven primary rays of light, viz., red, blue, violet, etc.,




16
and their combination again produced the white light- showing both synthetically and analytically of what the sun's light
was composed.
It was announced in England about the beginning of this
century, that the red ray of light was heating, the yellow ray
was. illuminating, and the blue ray in a remarkable degree stimulated
the development of vegetable life.
From this discovery we can imagine the immense influence
which the intensely blue color of the sky in the equatorial
regions has and always has had in conjunction with the sun's
white light, and the heat and moisture of those regions, upon
the development there of vegetable life.
This intensely blue color of the sky in the arctic regions
may also serve to explain the exuberance of animal life there.
It being known that the deeper water of the arctic ocean is
much warmer than the surface water which is often frozen,
furnishes abundant food for its inhabitants. The increased
temperature of this deep water is probably derived from radiation of heat from the interior of the earth under it —as all
those regions are more or less volcanic; witness Iceland, Jean
Mayer, Spitsbergen, etc. The laws of animal and vegetable
life being very analogous, what would stimulate one would
probably have a similar effect upon the other.
In the arctic waters you have warmth, food, light and electricity, escaping through the waters into the air, and all stimulating life.
Whoever has noticed the color of the electric spark in atmospheric air, from an electrical machine, will readily recognize its likeness of color to the blue color of the sky.
If experiments should be instituted to ascertain the electrical condition of the sky, as associated with its blue color, and they
should satisfactorily establish the connection, the result would
prove to be one of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon
mankind. What strength of vitality could be infused into the
feeble young, the mature invalid, and the decrepit octogenarian!  How rapidly might the various races of our domestic
animals be multiplied, and how much might their individual
proportions be enlarged!
One of the most beautiful illustrations of the mighty influence of the blue color of the sky upon vegetation, is to be
found in the green color of the leaves of plants. It is known
that blue and yellow when mixed produce green, which is




17
darker when the blue is in excess over the yellow, and the reverse when the yellow predominates. Now let us observe the
process of germination. Seeds are planted in the soil —at first
a white worm-like thread at the lower part of the seed appears;
it is white, and contains all the primary rays of light; it is the
root of the plant, and remaining under the soil continues white.
At the upper.end of the seed also appears a white swelling,
which continues to grow upward till it approaches the surface
of the soil, when a change occurs in its color. This is the leaf;
it absorbs yellow from the soil which is brown (composed of
yellow and black), and as it comes within the influence of the
blue sky, it absorbs from it the blue light, which mixing with
the yellow already absorbed, produces at first a yellowish-green,
which finally assumes the deeper tinge of green that is natural
to the plant. The plant blossoms, forms its seeds and seedvessels, and having fulfilled its mission, the blue color of the
leaves is eliminated, the leaves become yellow, and absorbing
the carbon of the plant, they change their color to brown; the
sap-vessels of the leaves are choked by the carbon; the leaves
are dead and fall to the ground. Thus the blue ray is the
symbol of vitality-the yellow ray that of decay and death.
Robert Hunt, in his Researches on Light, says "that the
rays of greatest refrangibility, viz., the violet, &c., favor disoxygenation, but the rays of least refrangibility, viz., red,
orange, &c., favor oxygenation."
"The experiments of Seunebier show that the most refrangible of the solar rays, viz., the violet, are the most active in
determining the decomposition of carbonic acid gas by plants."
These experiments have been confirmed by Mr. Robert
Hunt, who says, "that experiments have been made with absorbent media, and the light which has been carefully analyzed, permeating under the influence of blue light, in every
instance oxygen gas has been collected, but not any under the
energetic action of yellow or red light. * * It is only the green
parts of plants which absorb carbonic acid: the flowers absorb
oxygen gas. Plants grow in soils composed of divers materials, and they derive from these by the soluble powers of
water, which is taken up by the roots, and by mechanical
forces carried over every part, carbonic acid, carbonates
and organic matters containing carbon. Evaporation is continually going on, and this water escapes freely from the leaves
during the night when the functions of the vegetable, like
those of the animal world, are at rest, and carries with it carbonic acid. Water and carbonic acid are sucked up by ca



18
pillary attraction, and both evaporate from the exterir part of
fhe leaves."
"There is no reversion of the processes which are necessary
to support the life of a plant. The same functions are operating in the same way by day and by night, but differing
greatly in degree. During the hours of sunshine the whole
of the carbonic acid absorbed by the leaves or taken up with
water by the roots is decomposed, all the functions of the
plant are excited, the processes of inhalation and exhalation
are quickened, and the plant pours out to the atmosphere
streams of pure oxygen at the same time as it removes a large
quantity of deleterious carbonic acid from it. In the shade
the exciting power being lessened, these operations are slower,
and in the dark they are very nearly, but certainly not quite,
suspended."
"Although a blue glass or fluid may appear to absorb all
the rays except the most refrangible ones, which have usually
been considered as the least calorific of the solar rays; yet it is
certain that some principle has permeated the glass or fluid which
has a very decided and thermic influence. Numerous experiments have been tried with the seeds of mignonette, many
varieties of the flowering pea, the common parsley, and cresses
under the various tints of glass-with all of them the seeds
have germinated, but except under the blue glass these plants
have all been marked by the extraordinary length to which
the stems of the cotyledons have grown, and by the entire absence of the plumula-no true leaves forming, the cotyledons
soon perish and the plant dies; under the blue glass alone has
the process gone on healthfully to the end."
"The changes which take place in the seed during the process of germination have been investigated by Saussure:
oxygen gas is consumed and carbonic acid is evolved; and the
volume of the latter is exactly equal to the volume of the
former. The grain weighs less after germination than it did
before; the loss of weight varying from one-third to one-fifth.
This loss of course depends on the combination of its carbon
with the oxygen absorbed, which is evolved as carbonic acid."
"For the discovery that oxygen gas is exhaled from the
leaves of plants during the daytime, we are indebted to Dr.
Priestley; and Seunebier first pointed out that carbonic acid
is required for the disengagement of the oxygen in this process. M. Theodore de Saussure and De Candolle fully established this fact."
The experiments of Sejinebier show that the most refrangi



19
ble of the solar rays, viz., the violet, are the most active in determining the decomposition of carbonic acid by plants.
"We have now certain knowledge. We know that all the
carbon which forms the masses of the magnificent trees of the
forests and of the herbs of the fields has been supplied from
the atmosphere, to which it has been given by the functions
of animal life6 and the necessities of animal existence. Man
and the whole of the animal kingdom require and take from
the atmosphere its oxygen for their support. It is this which
maintains the spark of life, and the product of this combustion
is carbonic acid, which is thrown off as waste material, and
which deteriorates the air. The vegetable kingdom, however,
drinks this noxious vapor; it appropriates one of the elements
of this gas-carbon-and the other-oxygen-is liberated
again to perform its services to the animal world."
"The animal kingdom  is constantly producing carbonic
acid, water in the state of vapor, nitrogen, and in combination
with hydrogen, ammonia. The vegetable kingdom continually consumes ammonia, nitrogen, water, and carbonic acid.
The one is constantly pouring into the air what the other' is
as constantly drawing from it, and thus is the equilibrium of
the elements maintained."
"Beccaria examined the solar phosphori, and ascertained
that the violet ray was the most energetic, and the red ray the
least so, in exciting phosphorescence in certain bodies."
"M. Biot and the elder Becquerel have proved that the
slightest. electrical disturbance is sufficient to produce these
phosphorescent effects. May we not therefore regard: the
action of the most refrangible rays, viz., the violet, as analogous to that of the electric disturbance? May not electricity
itself be but a development of this mysterious solar emanation?"
It has been long known to chemists that a mixture of chlorine and hydrogen gases might be preserved in darkness
without combining for some time, but that exposure to diffused
day light gradually occasioned their combination, and which
is effected with the greatest speed by the extreme blue and indigo
rays. M. Edmond Becquerel in 1839 first called attention to
the " electricity developed during the chemical action excited
by solar agency."
The experiments of Dr. Morichini, repeated by MM. Carpa
and Ridolfi, that violet rays magnetized a small needle, were
successfully confirmed.by Mrs. Somerville.




20
"Light is not solely a radiant visible element. It has other
properties which cannot be overlooked. It oxidizes, colors,
bleaches. Light becomes absorbed-light changes into heat,
and heat into electricity; in fact, light in its radiant visible
character only shows one of its many phases. Light holds
many forces within its beams. It has properties, powers of its
own;which neither mathematician nor optician can grasp. It
is a great chemical agent. Colors are produced by a change
resulting from a polaric act of arrestation-yellow  and fred
yellow belong to the acids; blue and red blue to the alkalies.
The undulatory theory explains the radiant visible property
of light, but it does not explain its chemical effects, the optical polarity of a chrystal and its connection with the polaric
condition of itcononstituents-the diffraction; inflection, interferences, the oxidation of surfaces as the cause of natural colors, the presence of the chemical action of light, the presence
of heat, electricity, magnetism; yet light produces all these
phenomena; it vitalizes, and the organic action of light is
witnessed in the fauna and flora around."
We have seen that blue light, and the violet ray which is a
compound of it, and the red ray —being the most refrangible
rays of the solar spectrum —excite magnetism,-and electricity,
by which carbonic acid gas evaporated from growing plants
is decomposed and oxygen thereof liberated to be absorbed
again in maturing the flowers, fruit and seed of the plant, thus
stimulating the active energies of the plant into its fullest and
most complete development. Now this is just what I think is
done in the vegetable world by the blue light of the firmanent.
That blue light of the firmanent, if not itself electro-magnetism, evolves those forces which compose it in our atmosphere,
and applying them at the season, viz., the early spring, when
the sky is bluest, stimulates, after the torpor of winter, the
active energies of the vegetable kingdom, by the decomposition of its carbonic acid gas-supplying carbon for the plants
and oxygen to mature it, and to complete its mission.
In the experiment which I have made in the cultivation of
grapes under violet light, I have endeavored to combine with
it the blue light of the firmanent, causing the other rays of the
solar spectrum to be absorbed while the blue and violet rays
were permitted to permeate the violet glass into the grapery.
The difference of temperature under the white glass and under
the violet glass of the grapery is supposed to have excited
currents of electricity sufficient to decompose more rapidly the
carbonic acid gas that had been evaporated from the leaves of
the vines, than would have been done under the influence of




21
the sunshine alone-thus stimulating the increased absorption
of oxygen, and the deposit of carbon in the vines, and constantly and quickly renewing the evaporation of carbonic acid
gas. The result has been seen in the wonderfully large product of firuit, accompanied by a prodigious formation of new
wood, to yield the crop of fruit for the ensuing year.
The investigations that have been made during the present
century regarding light have developed the existence of some
remarkable attributes;, one of the most astonishing is the discovery that there is no heat per se in the sun's ray, though it
is one of the causes which produce heat. This is established
beyond dispute by the existence of the intense cold which prevails in the upper atmosphere, increasing with its altitude, and
through which all the sunlight which reaches the earth must
pass, but whose temperature it cannot alter. Hence you have
at the present time the line of perpetual snow, according to
Professor Agassiz, at an elevation of 15,000 feet at the equator.
of 6,000 feet at the latitude of 45~, and gradually approaching
the surface of the earth till it reaches it at 60~ of north latitude, beyond which ice prevails nearly to the pole.
Aeronauts have remarked also at great altitudes above the
earth that the thermometer had ceased to mark any variation
of temperature when exposed in the full sunshine or in shadow.
A curious illustration of the fact that something more is
needed than sunlight to produce heat is to befound in the fact
stated by the famous arctic navigator, Dr. Scoresby, as well as
by others, that when, after a long night in the arctic regions,
the sun had appeared, though the thermometer was below 32~
of Fahrenheit, and everything around was frozen hard, he
observed that the pitch with which the seams of the planks of
the ship had been payed, on the side of the ship exposed to
the sun, was melted, notwithstanding the great declination of
the sun and the small angle of incidence, that the nearly horizontal rays of it made as they fell upon the pitch, while that
in the shade on the other side of the ship was so hard that it
was with difficulty broken with a hatchet-other objects on the
ship manifesting at the same time the low temperature marked
by the thermometer. I am not aware that anlly explanation of
this phenomenon has ever been attempted. I may, therefore,
offer to suggest that the pitch being an electric or non-colductor of electricity and negatively electrified when the sun's
ray positively electrified fell upon it, an explosion took place,
heat was evolved, and the pitch was melted —thus proving that




22
heat from sunshine is produced by the contact of an electricity
opposed to that of the sun's rays.
As a corollary from what has just been stated, it may be
observed that the heat' of the equatorial and tropical oceans is
not derived from the sun. We do not heat our houses by
kindling fires at the tops of our chimneys or boil our water
from above, but rather we descend into our cellars, and make
our fires for that purpose in the furnaces constructed there.
Besides, we know that fiom the surface of the water, if at rest,
and from its many surfaces, if agitated by winds, the rays of
the sun would be reflected in all possible angles corresponding
to the angles of incidence of the rays themselves, and the heat
would be lost in space. Whence comes, then, this ocean heat
in the tropics, finding  its vent in the arctic and antarctic
regions through the Gulf Stream  of the Atlantic, and the
Japan Stream laving the shores of northeastern Asia, and the
south-eastern current running along the south-western coast
of South America to the Antartic seas? Does it not come by
radiation from the interior of the earth from those great fires
which, by the elastic gases and vapors engendered there, in
many parts of the world upheave mountains and islands, and
forming chimneys for themselves in their summits, belch. out
that superfluous heat, light, electricity, and magnetism which
radiation to the surface of the earth at times is inadequate to
discharge? And are not these great ocean currents of heated
water merely channels or flues of radiation of heat from beneath, by which, for climatic purposes, the Omnipotent Creator
has devised the means of distributing this interior heat over
the surface of our planet?
All admit the existence of those great forces of nature in
the interior of the earth, manifested through volcanic action
in those imponderable elements of heat, light, electricity, and
magnetism. Why are those forces there?  May they not be
the forces which turn the earth on its axis, and aid in propelling it around the sun? May not the frigid zones north and
south furnish the cold cushions of water in the extreme depths
of the ocean, of the- uniform temperature of 39"~ of Fahrenheit, and of nearly the greatest density known to that element,
for the purpose of restraining and controlling the radiation of
that great interior heat of the earth, which otherwise might
be wasted?
Dr. Winslow, in his treatise on light, its influence on life
and health, says: " Accurate calculations have been made as to
the temperature of the ocean. The results obtained clearly
establish that the lowest degrees of temperature are obtainable




23
on the surface of the water; and that about ten feet below the
surface the thermometer rises several degrees,-900 is said by
Mr. Agassiz (son of Professor Agassiz,) to be the highest temperature he has known the ocean to attain; at very great
depths of the ocean a uniform temperature of about 39~0 has
been found."
The low temperature of the surface water of the ocean is.
attributable to the evaporation which is constantly going on,
carrying off the atmospheric heat adjacent, and proving conclusively that the Gulf and other warm ocean currents do not
derive their heat from the sun.
These reflections have forced themselves upon me, while
pondering over some of the great revelations of nature.
In a recent report of the Secretary of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, he states-" On the 15th of June the sun
is more than 230 north of the equator, and therefore it might
be inferred that the intensity of heat should be greater at this
latitude than at the equator; but that it should continue to
increase beyond this even to the pole, may not at first sight appear
so clear. It will, however, be understood when it is recollected that though in a northern latitude the obliquity of the
ray is greater, and on this account the intensity should be less,
yet the longer duration of the day is more than sufficient to
compensate for this effect and produce the result exhibited."
It strikes me that this explanation is not sound. I remember several years ago, at Philadelphia, on the afternoon of a
day in August, when the thermometer was at 94~, that in fifteen minutes the thermometer fell 40~, which was owing no
doubt to a descending column of cold air from the upper atmosphere, attracted by some local electrical disturbance. The
continuous heat of the preceding summer months could no
more prevent this thermal change at Philadelphia than could
the long day with the oblique sun's rays increase the intensity
of the heat in high northern latitudes.
Professor Maury says-" The summer temperature as observed on the very borders of the Polar ocean is absolutely
marvelous. Observations made with a view of determining
this accurately have for some years been taken in Alaska.
One of the observers in the northern district of Yukon states
in the' Agricultural Report' for' 1868,'I have seen the thermometer at noon at Fort Yukon, not in the direct rays of the
sun, standing at 1120; and I am informed by the commander
of the post that several spirit thermometers graduated to 1200
had burst under the scorching sun of the arctic midsummer,
which can only be appreciated by one who has eldured it. In




24
midsummer, on the Upper Yukon, the only relief from the
intense heat under which vegetation attains an almost tropical
luxuriance, is the two or three hours during which the sun
hovers near the northern horizon, and the weary voyager in
his canoe blesses the transient coolness of the midnight air.'"
According to M. de Humboldt, the sky is bluer between the
tropics than in the higher temperate latitudes, but paler at sea
than in the interior of countries; the blue is less intense at
the horizon than at the zenith. The early maturity of human
life in the tropics i: to be attributed to the stimulating influence of the enormous quantities of electricity, which, continually passing, by davy as well as by night in the auroras from the
poles; —to the eq.ator, and descending to the earth' in those regions,:in those dazzling sheets of lightning flame, so terrifying
to all,:wh6ohave witnessed them, and conducted by the incesaii;tL rains prevailing there in certain seasons of the year-deoxygenate the enormous volumes of carbonic acid gas generated by the exuberant vegetation, as well in its growth as in
its decay,  thus supplying excessive quantities of oxygen gas to
stimulate and support the animal life, as well as carbon to the
fresh vegetation which is being continually renewed-the circle of development and decay in the vegetable kingdom being
thus always preserved.
We have thus seen-that the magnetic, electric, and thermic
powers of the Sun's ray reside in the violet ray, which is a
compound of the blue and red rays. These constitute what are
termed the chemical powers of the sunlight. That they are
the most important powers of nature, there can be no doubt,
as without them life cannot exist on this planet. Without these
chemical powers there could be no vegetation. Without vegetation there could be no insect life, and no development of
the higher order of animal existence. The earth would be
without form and void, and we can now understand the potential meaning of the first sublime utterance of the Almighty in
forming this earth, when he said "Let there be Light," and
there was Light.
From the foregoing premises we deduce the following conclusions:
1. Heat is developed by opposite electricities in conjunction
and in proportion to the quantity and intensity of those electricities in contact with each other, will be the intensity of the
heat.
2. The blue color of the sky, for one of its functions, deoxygenates carbonic acid gas, supplying carbon to vegetation
alnd sustaining both vegetable and animal life with its oxygen.