In our houses we should have little light except when the sun shone
directly into them, and even then every spot out of its direct rays
would be completely dark, except for light reflected from the walls. It
would be necessary to have windows all around and the walls all white;
and on the north side of every house a high white wall would have to be
built to reflect the light and prevent that side from being in total
darkness. Even then we should have to live in a perpetual glare, or shut
out the sun altogether and use artificial light as being a far superior
article.
Much more important would be the effects of a dust-free atmosphere in
banishing clouds, or mist, or the "gentle rain of heaven," and in giving
us in their place perpetual sunshine, desert lowlands, and mountains
devastated by unceasing floods and raging torrents, so as, apparently,
to render all life on the earth impossible.
There are a few other phenomena, apparently due to the same general
causes, which may here be referred to. Everyone must have noticed the
difference in the atmospheric effects and general character of the light
in spring and autumn, at times when the days are of the same length,
and consequently when the sun has the same altitude at corresponding
hours.
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