340 IN STARRY REALMS. 



Who is there that does not remember the wondrous love- 

 liness of the twilights and the after-glows during that 

 remarkable winter! These appearances at sunrise and 

 sunset are only the more generally recognised of a whole 

 system of strange optical phenomena. One of the most 

 striking indications of the presence of the dust-stream in 

 its first voyage round the earth was given by the strange 

 blue hue it imparted to the sun. The dust-stream was also 

 visible in its rapid voyages as a lofty haze or extensive 

 cloud of cirro-stratus. Then, too, strange haloes were 

 often seen, there were occasional blue or green moons, 

 and the sun was sometimes glorified by a corona that 

 had its origin in our atmosphere. Everywhere in the 

 world there were remarkable features in the sky that 

 winter : from Tierra del Fuego to Lake Superior ; from 

 China to the Gulf of Guinea ; from Panama to Aus- 

 tralia. Wherever on land there were inhabitants with 

 sufficient intelligence to note the unusual, wherever on 

 the sea there were mariners who kept a careful log, from 

 all such observers we learn that in the autumn and winter 

 months following the great eruption of Krakatoa, there 

 were extraordinary manifestations witnessed in the 

 heavens. 



Just one point more in conclusion. We have recorded 

 the great volcanic outbreak of Krakatoa, and we have 

 recorded a wonderful series of optical phenomena. It 

 remains to say a word as to the proof that the latter were 

 indeed the consequence of the former. As the Committee 

 have begun their book with pictures of sun-glows, and as 

 they have occupied more than half of the work with 

 descriptions of the purely optical effects, it seems as if 



