Photo by George C. Martin 

 POI^EMONIUM IN BI,OOM AT BASi; OF ASH-COVE;re;d CLIFF NEAR KODIAK, 



SFPTFMBFR 4, I912 



extraordinary eruption of Tomboro, 

 Sumbawa, of which it is said "this erup- 

 tion was the greatest since that of Skap- 

 tar Jokull, in 1783." For three days 

 there zvas darkness for a distance of 300 

 fniles. After these extraordinary erup- 

 tions there were noted in Europe streaky 

 skies, haziness, long twilights, and red 

 sunsets; so that "the year 1815 is the 

 most remarkable as regards sunset lights 

 recorded up to that date." 



THF DRY FOG OF 1 83 1 AND 1883 



Passing on to the year 183 1, there oc- 

 curred three moderate eruptions and 

 three more of the very first magnitude. 

 Graham's Island was thrown up, and 

 eruptions took place in the Babujan 

 Islands and at Pichincha. 



Arago says: "The extraordinary dry 

 fog of 1831 was observed in the four 

 quarters of the world. It was remarked 

 on the coast of Africa on August 3, at 

 Odessa on August 9, in the south of 

 France and at Paris on August 10, in 

 the United States on August 15. The 

 light of the sun was so much diminished 

 that it was possible to observe its disk 



all day with the unprotected eye. On 

 the coast of Africa the sun became visi- 

 ble only after passing an altitude of 15° 

 or 20°. M. Rozet, in Algeria, and others 

 in Annapolis, United States, and in the 

 south of France saw the solar disk of an 

 azure greenish or emerald color. The 

 sky was never dark at night, and at mid- 

 night, even, in August, small print could 

 be read in Siberia, at Berlin, Genoa, etc. 

 On August 3, at Berlin, the sun must 

 have been 19° below the horizon when 

 small print was legible at midnight." 



Passing over, among many others, for 

 lack of space, the great eruptions of 

 Hecla in 1845 ^^'^ 1846, and those of 

 Vesuvius and Merapi in 1872, we come 

 to the tremendous explosion of Kraka- 

 toa of August 27, 1883, and the eruption 

 of St. Augustine, in Alaska, October 6, 

 1883. The extraordinary atmospheric 

 phenomena which closely followed these 

 remarkable volcanic eruptions were so 

 evidently in the relation of effects to 

 causes that there can be no doubt as to 

 the reasonableness of ascribing the haze 

 of the past summer to the volcanic erup- 

 tion in Alaska, provided that eruption 



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