OF SELBORNE 233 



meteors and tremendous thunder-storms that affrighted and dis- 

 tressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, 

 or smokey fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this island, 

 and in every part of Europe, and even beyond it's limits, was a 

 most extraordinary appearance, unlike anything known within 

 the memory of man.i By my journal I find that I had noticed 

 this strange occurrence from June 23 to July 20 inclusive, during 

 which period the wind varied to every quarter without making 

 any alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as 

 a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the 

 ground, and floors of rooms ; but was particularly lurid and blood- 

 coloured at rising and setting. All the time the heat was so 

 intense that butchers' meat could hardly be eaten on the day 

 after it was killed ; and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and 

 hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic, and riding 

 irksome. The country people began to look with a superstitious 

 awe at the red, louring aspect of the sun ; and indeed there was 

 reason for the most enlightened person to be apprehensive ; for, 

 all the while, Calabria and part of the isle of Sicily, were torn 

 and convulsed with earthquakes ; and about that juncture a 

 volcano sprung out of the sea on the coast of Norway.^ On this 



' [This has become a classical passage, and is often quoted in illustration of 

 the phenomena which attended the great eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 (See 

 Report of the Krakatoa Committee of the Royal Society, 1888). It is believed that 

 hazes with red after-glows and other optical effects spread over wide areas after 

 volcanic eruptions in which much fine dust is shot into the air. Three instances 

 have been noted, belonging to the years 1783, 1831 and 1883. 



The great eruption of Skaptar JokuU in Iceland is supposed to be connected 

 with the dry fog of 1783. The eruption began in May, and continued for nearly 

 two years. In the end of May a dry fog was observed at Copenhagen, which 

 gradually spread to North Africa, Asia and North America. In Caithness the 

 crops were destroyed, and.^j783 was long remembered as the ' ' year of the ashie ". 



The year 1831 was marlied by great eruptions in the Mediterranean (Graham 

 Island), Equador and the Bahujan Islands. Red after-glows were seen in England, 

 South Europe and Washington. 



During the Krakatoa eruption (August 26-27, 1883) much fine volcanic dust 

 filled the air along the neighbouring coasts. On 8th September dust fell upon the 

 deck of the Scotia, which was 3,700 miles from the volcano. The dust-haze spread 

 at a rate of over 70 miles an hour, at first westward, but afterwards northward and 

 southward. Within the equatorial belt it was often so dense as to hide the sun 

 when near the horizon. In November and December unusual twilight effects 

 were seen in England, the red after-glows in particular being generally remarked. 

 Similar appearances were noted in Honolulu, the United States, Chili, Brazil, New 

 Zealand, Australia, the Cape, Iceland, and many parts of Europe. The density 

 of the haze at different places and the dates of occurrence were believed to indicate 

 propagation from Krakatoa.] 



^ [White's information may have been taken from Sir W. Hamilton's account, 

 printed in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixxiii., and largely quoted in the 



