Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-03-08

T. hiu1, Australia, Notth and South America,
South Africa and Eutape. not, however. reach
ing thr latter unul November Al New
Ireland GOO mile, due rasl irom ktatatoa
it was seen on September isi IN India,
nearest tu the source, the phenomenon was
Wcatl} intensified, the sun being dim anil of
g,,sg hue through The day. ior several days.
ihOi Microscopic inspection of the dust
melted ouf oi new fallen SNOW At Mnddd,
Amat'uam, aud Philadelphia shows II tp he
identical in matter and structure with ashes
from the kmtatoa cmpuon Among the
common iom. In both arc minute particles N
,ol,an, glasa.
fomH MAJOR Whympcf ~ the uppcr
slope, VI thlnbpm,o in 1880 observed the
sun through smoke nom sudden eruption of
totopaN Tho suns dish appeared queen.
wh,l, The aky glowcd with like marvellous
succession II tulor aa thoac with which W.
are now familiar
Atcr the eruption of Gmhamh Island In the
Mediterranean. similar sunsets wcfc seen At
Malta. Hon. II NJ Whitney, during his
recent rcsiden,c IN kau, W., familiar with
similar anrisrs sud sunsets, caused by smoke
lrom kilnuea. These phenomena arc peculiar
TO volcanic haze in the uppe, air.
a little reflection must convince any one
familiar with Astronomical facts, " the i'm.
possibility 81 any such haze proceeding from
th, contact of the earth with stream OF cloud
NJ ncbuluus matter, not 0ihetiohe Vribls.
Tcnuous as this haze Is, it /, hundictls of times
Hs dense as the tail ul comet uf the hghcst
brillnncy. In 1901, the caiih passed through
the tail ot an enormous comet. No unpsunl
appearance occurred in our skics on the night
u contact. The contact was utterly imper.
teptlblc, But the following night after we
had cleared the tail, It hung ns an enormous
belt oi light across the heavens II was
porcntously conspicuous. Now here arc
masses OF strange vapor covering the globe,
lancicd To proceed from some imagined body
ol cosmic yapor Who has ever seen such n
vast cloud beyond the earth. rejecting the
sunlight throughout the night, as it necessarily
would do with terrific splendor, had i, any
existence outside Of untaught imagnations ?
Molcor-streams are composed of millions Of
detached minute bullets, mainly iron, hundreds
Of miles apart. They are utterly invisible,
until striking our atmosphere at an average
speed of 20 miles second, they are igniled
| 10y the friction. and burn up, few OF the
larger ones falling to the ground, bu, most Of
| them leaving their ashes IN the air, forming
metcoric dust. There never was enough Of
this in the air to form perccptiblc haze, even
after the most brilliant metcor-ran known
No ncbulous or fog masses capable OF striking
the earth, except comets, are known. Such
objects like clouds are exceedingly con.
| spicuous. and could not approach and depart
without being observed.
| The foregoing considerations were obvious
10 the present writer from the time Of the first
appearance of these phenomena, forbidding to
imputc them to any other than terrestrial
source. As no euptions had occurred on
Hawaii and as the haze evidenced an enor.
nous extension in all directions, a more dis
tant source was looked for, and on the arrival
OF news OF the colossal eruption of Kraka,oa,
nine days previous, i, was felt that the pro-
bicm was solved. Full details OF that eruption
have proved its dimensions to have been even
greater than first believed. Both the height
Of the column, and the quantity of gaseous
ejecta, were fully adequate to produce the
marvellous results at which the world has
been wondering. S. L. BISHOP.
LApropos Mr.. Bishops interesting article
the following pleasant paragraph, clipped from
the California Farmer, is here appended "ust
for fun y: One of the distinguished European
astronomers gives the world his opinion that
our Golden Sunsets are caused by the ashes
and cinders waited into the air from the
volcanic regions Of Java. This is, we believe,
the first instance that science scientific men
have ever intimated that the earth or earth's
movements had the power to M'olO dnA into
hie eyes offhe San.'1