3 2S IN STARRY REALMS. 



he finds that from the anti-pole they will again commence 

 to diverge. Again they will expand, again they will 

 reach the equator, and again will they gradually draw into 

 concentration at the original pole. Nor will the process 

 even here end. From the second confluence there will be 

 a new divergence, and thus the oscillations will be sent 

 quivering from one pole of the globe to the other, until 

 they gradually subside by friction. 



This comprehensive series of phenomena wherein the 

 atmosphere of the entire globe participates in an organized 

 vibration has, so far as we know, only once been witnessed, 

 and that was after the greatest outbreak at Krakatoa, at 

 ten o'clock on the morning of August 27. But the ebb 

 and the flow of these mighty undulations are not imme- 

 diately appreciable to the senses. The great wave, for 

 instance, passed and re-passed and passed again over 

 London, and no inhabitant was conscious of the fact. 

 But the automatic records of the barometer at Greenwich 

 show that the vibration from Krakatoa to its antipodes, 

 and from the antipodes back to Krakatoa, was distinctly 

 perceptible over London, not less then six or seven times. 

 The instruments at the Kew Observatory confirm those at 

 Greenwich, and if further confirmation were required it 

 can be had from the barograms at many other places in 

 England. This is truly a memorable incident, and the 

 scientific value of the labours of those who so diligently 

 obtain automatic barometric records year after year would 

 be amply demonstrated, if demonstration were required, 

 by this single discovery of the great Krakatoa air- wave. 



From all parts of Europe, from Berlin to Palermo, from 

 St. Petersburg to Valencia, we obtain the same indications. 



