Art. XX. — The Recent Red Sunsets. 

 By Mr. Ellery, F.R.S. 



[Oral communication 15th November, 1883.] 



I HAVE received a good deal of correspondence in reference 

 to the recent peculiar sunsets, which it appeared have been 

 seen in many other parts of the world, and have created a 

 great deal of interest. I have received a letter from Mr. 

 Bosisto, reporting the fact that, when about seven hundred 

 miles from the Straits of Sunda, the vessel on which he was 

 a passenger passed through a floating mass of pumice dust 

 and ashes, with an occasional charred tree. Similar volcanic 

 debris had been reported by other ships. I have received 

 several letters giving different theories of the sunsets. One 

 theory which has appeared in the papers was that so much 

 matter has been taken up outside of the earth's surface as 

 to form another moon. This peculiar sunset has been 

 noticed all over the Southern Hemisphere ; and a very 

 unusual state of the upper atmosphere has certainly existed 

 in the Northern Hemisphere, for we have news of a green 

 sun in India frightening the people out of their lives, and 

 this has been attributed to volcanic action. Mr. Moncure 

 Conway told me that in coming through the tropics from 

 America in September the passengers were astonished at 

 seeing the sun assume a steel-blue colour, which it retained 

 all day long, and that on one occasion it was quite green at 

 the time of setting. These appearances are not remark- 

 able, and are not uncommon in the Arctic regions. The 

 green sun was fully accounted for by aqueous vapour in 

 different forms in the atmosphere. It has been said by 

 some writers lately that the sun, if looked at through the 

 steam issuing from the funnel of a steam-engine, would 

 appear green, but I have never tried that experiment. 

 There is no doubt, however, that the sun did assume all 

 kinds of curious colours under different atmospheric con- 

 ditions. I have myself seen it looking as described by Mr. 

 Conway, a steel-blue, when there was a hazy horizon. It 

 has been stated by Mr. Lockyer that the sunsets are 

 owing to the volcano in the Straits of Sunda, I think we 

 might all rest satisfied that that will not explain them at 

 all. If the volcano in the Straits of Sunda caused the 





