Show NATURES FREAKS Sand Storms the Brocken Specter and the Silver Thaw In some of the desert regions of the west notably the Painted desert of Arizona those prankish phenomena called sand storms are frequent Sometimes they rise seemingly to the cloud and obtain a diameter of fifteen or twenty feet A spot of ground becomes be-comes excessively heated causing the air above it to ascend This occasions an influx of the atmosphere from all sides but unequally the result being a gyratory motion visible i the sand or dust raised into the air In other words a sort of natural chimney is created through which there is a powerful up draught Such whirling columns have a very weird appearance asthey move hither and thither sometimes some-times many of them at once across the desert One might imagine them to be animated by evil spirits and It is no wonder that people in India call them devils A peculiar phenomenon observed obsered in various places but most perfectly among the mountains of the Brocken in Germany is the socalled Brock en specter I is an enlarged shadow of the observer cast by the sun near sunrise sun-rise or sunsent upon the fog which envelops him Its enormous size makes the apparition rather startling Presumably Pre-sumably it is due to the fact that the shadow is thrown upon the particles of moisture suspended in the air all all along to the limit of vision One of the most wonderful of atmospheric atmos-pheric freaks at this wintry season is the silver thaw which clothes the trees in shining coats of ice every twig sparkling in the sunlight Yet few take the trouble to inquire how this comes to pass I Is very simple At the beginning of a thaw the air laden with water passes over the boughs and twfgs and the moisture i contains is frozen upon them Every year stories of great hail stones are circulated in the newspapers Some as big as elephants are said to have fallen in India and they have beem fairly well authenticated Unfortunately however these were doubtless aggregations gations of hail tone partly melted to getherpWashington Star |