384 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1884. 



Clement Ley's theory that the sunsets are due to ice spiculse. {Na- 

 tvre, XXIX, p. 175.) 



Mr. Bishop, of Honolulu, made the observations of the sunset colors 

 on September 5, 1883, and immediately suggested that they were due 

 to clouds of dust from Krakatoa which had come around westward 

 three-fourths the circumference of the earth. (Nature, xxix, p. 171.) 



A number of interesting items were published at the May meeting of 

 the Mauritius Meteorological Society. {Nature, vol. xxx, p. 279.) 



An excellent map of the Krakatoa region is given in Nature, xxix, 

 p. 228. 



The Royal Society has appointed a special committee, of which Mr. 

 G. J. Symons, of Loudon, is the chairman, to collect data. 



The report of the French mission sent to Krakatoa in June, 1884, is 

 briefly summarized at Nature, vol. xxx, p. 372; the report of Mous. R. 

 D. M. Verbeek is translated in full in vol. xxx, p. 10. 



392. .Mr. S. E. Bishop, of Honolulu, from observations at Strong's 

 Island, latitude 5"^ X. and longitude 102^ E., fixes September 7 at that 

 place, or Se])tember G of London reckoning, as the date when the cop- 

 pery sunset became visible, which, with some other data, gives him the 

 conclusion that this stream of smoke was progressing westward at the 

 rate of 01 miles per hour. J. Joly, of Dublin, from observations by 

 Captain Thomson, of the Medea, computes 17 and 21 miles as the 

 height of the column of dust seen to shoot up from Krakatoa on Au- 

 gust 20. [Nature, xxx, pp. 23 and 72.) 



393. Rev. Samuel Haughton gives a computation of the depression 

 of the sun and the height of the dust, and argues the incredibility of 

 certain phenomena, especially Mr. Bishop's results. {Nature, xxix, p. 

 470.) 



394. A. Ringwood read before the Canterbury Philosophical Insti- 

 tute of New Zealand a paper on red sunsets, giving an interesting sum- 

 mary of previous records. {Nature, xxx, p. 301.) 



395. A i)revious eruption of Krakatoa had occurred in May, 1883; 

 but from a letter from Robert Leslie it appears that the remarkable 

 sunsets were observed still earlier by Mr. Neisou at the iS'atal Observ- 

 atory, where they increased in intensity from Februar}- to June, 1883. 

 {Nature, xxx, p. 463.) But the descri[)tions of the phenomena are not 

 such as to assure us that the twilight phenomena at Natal were at all 

 equivalent to those seen later in the year in northern latitudes. 



398. Tissaudier communicates to the Paris Academy a comparison 

 between the atmospheric conditions of 1831 and 1883. The eruptions 

 at Sicily in the former year were analogous to those of Krakatoa, and 

 were followed by corresponding optical phenomena. {Nature, xxix, j) 

 376.) 



397. M. Gay, on June 23, read a paper to the Paris Academy on i^er- 

 sisteut rain and its possible connection with recent volcanic eruptious. 



