The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-12

These sunsets, 1t is now hardly neces-
 safy to state, were caused by the im-
 palpable dust and vapor particles 1 which had been ejected from Krakatoa
 to a height of twenty miles or more
 rom the surface of the earth, and were
 stlll floating in the upper air. l The eruption caused great seismic
 wave of the sea- which overwhelmed
 the Villages on the neighboring shores
 and drowned upward of thirty thous- 1 and persons The height of the crest I of this wave has been variously esti- l mated, but at Telok Betong, in Suma- tra, the water reached within six feet | of the Residency, which stands on a hill seventy-eight feet above the sea,
 and the Dutch man of war Berouw, anchored off the coast, was carried-by
 the wave up the valley nearly two miles inland, and was left, high and dry more than thirty feet above the seq level.
 If man were to tell us that while
 walking down Piccadilly he had heard
 an explosion which had taken place at Guildford, or any town situated some
 thirty miles away, we should probably
 think that he was under msappre-
 hension. But if he told us that he had
 heard one that occurred at Newcastle on-Tyne, at distance of three hundred miles, we should have no doubt as to the condition of his mind. It is never the less, a fact that the explosion of Krakatoa was heard not only thirty and three hundred miles away but also at a distance of three thousand miles. It was heard in India, and it was heard in Australia, and also in the island of Rodriguez, which is about 2,96 miles from Krakatot in a direct line. Moreover, the seismic wave of the sea referred to was noticed not only in South Africa, but also at Cape Horn, which Is 7,500 miles dis I tant from the Straits of Sunda. But perhaps the most extraordinary of all. the phenomena connected with this cataclysm of nature was the atmos- pheric disturbance, or air wave, pro- duced by the explosion. The air wave, it is stated, went three times around the earth and it has been remarked that the character of this disturbance would seem almost incredible, were it not for the fact that 1t is attested by
 
 logical station on the worlds surface From this the time of it's genesis | could easily be calculated with tolera- ble eXactitude. It Is given by Lieu 1 tenant General Strachey as two hours | and ffty-six minutes Greenwich mean time, which in local time would cor- spond with 9:5S o'clock on the morning f of August 27
 It may be mentioned that, although | the great explosion did not take place | until 9:5S a. n,, during the whole of the | preceding night contiuous roar, like | the discharge of heavy cannon or thun- der, had been heard, so that the people | in the towns and villages of Java and l Sumatra were terrified. and did not dare to go to bed Even on the pre- vious day, the 26th, the sky, we are told, presented the most terrible ap- the dense masses of cloud over the island, clouds of black matter were rushing across the sky rapidly recurring detonations were heard con and large pieces of pumice, quite warm rained down at distance of ten miles
 It is hardly matter to be wondered at, when we are told that at Carimon, Java, S55 miles distant, native boats were dispatched to assist an imaginary vessel in distress, and at Achern, 1,073 miles distant, 1t was supposed that fort was being attacked, and the troops were put under arms. The result of the eruption was that the whole of the northern part of the island, seven square miles in extent, was com pletely blown away, and where there was formerly dry land there are now of ninty fathoms and in some parts 160 fathoms or more. More over, the bed of the sea some five or six miles to the north appears to have )een raised many fathoms. It is un- necessary 10 point out how stupendous must have been the force generated lnder Krakatoa at the time of this eruption, seeing that it was able to fit millions of tons, and sent up a stream of pumice and vapory particles 0 a height of twenty miles above the urface of the earth. We are naturally ed to inquire what was this force, and low was it generated.
 The primary source from which pro- eeds the energy which produces vol anic action is unquestionably the in- ernal heat of the earth. At the base f the crater of a volcano Is the top or of the channel or pas age whereby communication is main- aimed with the heated interior, and vhen water from the sea, or from the springs, percolates trough the ground, and finds its way own to this channel and to the hot z nolten rocks below, it at once gener | tes steam, and those of us who have cen unfortunate enough to have had
 kitchen boiler burst know something f the explosive power of steam, even l small quantities. But the following with reference to this a ubject will give our readers a clear a exception of the subsequent stages of a II eruption when sea or other water caches the heated rocks below vol ano: F 'The water combines with the mate f al of the rock, and by this combina- on the melting point of the rock is educed; it only requires the sujection { the hydrated compound to such heat 5 would be supplied by the anhydrous | was in a fluid condition to disengage cam and other gases in enormous = and tn prOhupo Ol1thI1rcts