May i, 1S84] 



NA TURE 



15 



down, not however without having still violently roared in 

 the evening and night of August 27 to 28. The detona- 

 tions were scarcely less strong at Buitenzorg from ten to 

 one o'clock than in the morning. But after the 28th 

 nothing more was heard of the mountain. The tidal 

 registrations at Tandjong Priok exhibit still a few small 

 oscillations till August 30 at twelve o'clock in the day, but 

 after that the condition of the water also became normal. 

 Notwithstanding this I found that there must have been a 

 serious eruption a considerable time after August 28, and 

 shortly before I visited the island. 



On October 1 1 I left Batavia with my staff.and after having 

 visited various points in the Straits of Sunda, arrived at 

 Calmeyer on the 1 5th. We stopped a few hours in order to 

 survey the island, which isaperfectly bare bank of pumice- 

 stone, divided into seven parts by encroachments of the 

 sea ; the temperature was 42 Celsius, a heat which almost 

 stupefied us. Here already my attention was drawn to 

 the fact that the white or pale gray pumice-sand was 

 covered by a o'2 metre thick layer of darker coloured very 

 fine ash, which exhibited numerous fissures on the surface, 

 produced in the process of drying, and therefore had 

 probably fallen there as wet mud. I did not, however, 

 then attach any special importance to this pheno- 

 menon. 



On the i^th I arrived at Krakatoa and remained there 

 till the iSth. When in surveying the mountain on the 

 17th we had climbed to the top, and began the steep 

 descent on the south side, I observed with astonishment 

 that on the ordinary gray pumice-stone material two black 

 streaks were visible, which began 600 metres above the 

 sea, therefore about 200 metres lower than the top, and 

 could be traced in a tolerably straight line over a length 

 of 1300 metres till 100 metres above the sea. These 

 black streaks proved to be two mud streams, which had 

 flowed down the slope of the mountain and had covered 

 the white pumice-stone to the thickness on an average of 

 0'2 to 03 metre and a breadth of 1 to 5 metres. The most 

 remarkable fact was, however, that these mud streams 

 were not only traced down the back of the mountain but 

 had also flowed into the deep ravines of pumice-stone 

 material, as can be distinctly seen. Therefore those mud 

 streams did not arrive there till the crevices in the 

 pumice-sand already existed, and as several weeks must 

 have been required for the water to hollow out these 

 ravines the mud eruption cannot immediately have 

 followed the eruptions of August. The very fine dark gray- 

 mud was still damp at the time of my visit, and could be 

 kneaded with the hand, which also proves that the 

 streams were of recent origin. 



In this eruption very curious objects were ejected, i.e. 

 very smooth, round balls resembling marbles, to the size 

 of 1 h to 6 centimetres in diameter. They are full of acids, 

 they contain 55 per cent, carbonate of lime, 26 per cent, 

 silica, 11 per cent, alumina, and 5 per cent, water. These 

 calcareous lumps of marl must be derived from layers of 

 marl which exist at the bottom of the Straits of Sunda 

 in the neighbourhood of Krakatoa, and the slime or dust 

 of which has been shot out of the crater in a rapid re- 

 volving motion. The balls, which are rare, arc never 

 found inside but only on the top of the pumice-stone dust, 

 generally half sunk in the sand ; they evidently belong to 

 the last ejections. Whether the mud streams also contain 

 lime I have not been able to ascertain, as a piece brought 

 as a sample has unfortunately been lost. 



The last mud eruption, which must have been very im- 

 portant, since on Calmeyer, 12 kilometres from Krakatoa, 

 the upper black layer is o'2 metre thick, and the mud 

 must have been thrown over the top, which is S30 metres 

 high, to the back of the mountain, whence it poured down, 

 probably took place only six days before my arrival, 

 namely on October 10, at about gh. 30m. in the evening, 

 because on that evening at about ten o'clock a consider- 

 able tide wave arrived at Tjikawoeng in Welkomstbaai 



(Welcome Bay), the only tide wave which was observed 

 since August 28. A rumbling sound in the direction of 

 Krakatoa was then heard in that place, as well as a little 

 more northward at Soemoer. The wave overflowed the 

 shore to a distance of 75 metres beyond the tide-mark at 

 Tjikawoeng, but has not been observed at other points ot 

 the coast, as the devastated coast country was not yet in- 

 habited and was quite abandoned at night. We find in 

 this another proof that the falling down of large quantities 

 of ejected substances round Krakatoa suffices to form im- 

 portant waves in the Straits of Sunda. 



The eruption on October 10 seems to have been the 

 last. But this eruption was scarcely noticed, and it is 

 therefore possible that subsequent feebler volcanic 

 actions may have remained quite unobserved. When I 

 visited Krakatoa there was nowhere any sign of activity. 

 On October 18 we left Krakatoa, and we arrived on the 

 evening of the 19th at Vlakken Hoek, where nothing was 

 noticeable. It is not likely, therefore, that the rumbling 

 sounds which were heard that evening at Tangerang and 

 Mauk coming from the west should have proceeded 

 from Krakatoa. It would, however, be very interesting 

 to visit Krakatoa once more in order to be able to trace 

 whether any more changes have taken place since 

 October iS. 



Though there is no fear of any serious eruption of 

 Krakatoa after the terrific activity of the volcano and the 

 subsidence of the greater part of the island, still much that 

 is interesting may be learnt yet from less important sub- 

 sequent volcanic actions, as we see in the instance of the 

 lumps of marl. 



With the detailed report a large map of Krakatoa will 

 appear, as well as maps of Calmeyer, the devastated parts 

 of Merak, Java's First Point, Sebesi, Seboekoe, Telok 

 Betong, and Kalianda ; moreover tables indicating the 

 pressure at the gas-works at Batavia, and of the self- 

 registering tidal apparatus at Tandjong Priok and at 

 Soerabaja ; a small " ash map" and other supplements, 

 and finally a few coloured drawings of Krakatoa and the 

 devastated districts, where in a few moments tens of thou- 

 sands of people lost their lives on the memorable 27th ot 

 August, 1883. R. D. M. Verbeek 



Buitenzorg, February 19, 1884 



THE LATE MONSIEUR DUMAS 



AT the funeral of this eminent chemist addresses were 

 given by the representatives of various official bodies. 

 From these we subjoin the following extracts, affording as 

 they do an idea of the estimation in which M. Dumas was 

 held by his contemporaries, and of the position to which 

 he is entitled in the science of the present century. 



M. le Comte d'Haussonville, Director of the French 

 Academy, said : — 



"Who was more worthy than Jean Baptiste Dumas of 

 the high distinctions conferred on him by the Academy 

 of Sciences ! By us he was welcomed at a time when his 

 name already ranked amongst the most illustrious of our 

 times, when he had already been hailed as a master by 

 associates destined soon to become masters in their turn. 

 To their authoritative voice, rather than to me, must 

 belong the duty of recording the signal services rendered 

 to science by our regretted colleague, whose mortal re- 

 mains lie at our feet. They will tell you with a fulness 

 far beyond my power how, under the first inspiration ot 

 his soul, he understood how to vary his experiments and 

 verify his assumptions. And with what supreme delight, 

 says one of our confreres, who had the honour to receive 

 him into the Academy, he pierced with eagle-eye into the 

 depths of the divine laboratory, beyond which there is 

 naught but the infinite, the unfathomable, the unapproach- 

 able"! Speaking of his own work, he himself thus ex- 

 presses himself:—' Above the sphere of phenomena which 

 we study, and where such a vast field of discovery still 



