The Washington times., 1915-04-30


they could cause rain by detonating ex-
plosives, has been revived. The war
in Europe is charged with the great
drought in the United States.
1t is not nearly so silly discussion as
some cynical people would assume,
either.
March and April of this year. taken
together, have been the dricst March and
April In the history Of weather obser-
walton along most Of the Atlantic coast
region.
Some Of the scientists connected with
the Naval Observatory have ventured
that the war might be responsible. The
scientists of the Weather Bureau scout
the idea.
Yet the best Weather Bureau authori-
ties agree that great volcanic explosions
have, many times in history, produced
profound and continuing effects on
weather throughout the world.
Forms Like Umbrella.
Volcanoes fill the atmosphere with
impalpable dust, hurling it many miles
upward. above the cloud line, where 1t
IL suspended in the air for two or three
years. and forms sort of umbrella,
shutting off some Of the solar radiation.
Might not q succession OF lHuCu
or explosions. filling the air with dust,
have a like effect or perhaps some
different effect that would, neverthe-
less, be noted in meteorological condi-
tons? That Is the subject of the pres
ent debate among scientists and quasi
sc.entists and the Naval Observatory
Is making very careful observation of
al the phenomena that might possibly
have relation to the battles In Europe.
One of these. asked today about his
u, ca oIy, taI fnaf QIl h.
tect was under observation and study.
and that II was hoped to determine
whether weather conditions. either To-
cal or general. were affected by great
battles 1t was we'll known, he explain
ed, that volcanoes produce these effects.
Thus far the inquiry has not gone far
enough to justify any expression OF
definite opinion whether the heavy
rains IN Europe and the extraordinary
drought in Eastern United states have
relation to the consumption OF explo-
sives on the battle lines: but he ad-
mitted some disposition to believe there
might be such relationship.
OF all the great volcanic disasters IN
history, the one whose effect on wealth
er has been most clearly established by
scientific investigation Is that Of kra-
katoa, in 1883. Krakatoa Is on a little
island in the Straits Of Sunda. Dutch
East Indies. On the night of August
1921, 1889. 1t blew up, with an eXplo-
eion that cost nearly 10000 lives, sent
tidal waves all over the world pro-
duced a tremendous barometric pres,
sure wave that travelled twice around
the world left the little island reduced
from twelve to six square miles IN
area. and blew, it has been calculated
43 cubic miles of solid matter into the
atmosphere.
Ashes In Sheets.
Half Of this solid matter. Or more.
came down in great sheets Of ashes and
debris; but the rest was suspended In
minute particles high in the upper
atmosphere Speaking of this explosion
and it's effects, DR.. w. J. Humphreys,
of the United States Weather Bureau
who. by the way, was member or
scientific expedition that studied kra-
katoa afterward-said today:
"The explosion sent this great mass
of very fine material into the air prob
ably from fifteen to twenty miles The
cloudline Is at about six miles. Any
such particles which did not get above
the cloudline would very soon gather
moisture and become so heavy that
they would fall. But being driven far
above the moisture line. they were held
In suspension; they foated off in the
upper currents of air. and very shortly
spread all over the world. a dust cloud
that absorbed to itself an appreciable
proportion of the suns radiation and
kept 1t from the earth's surface.
over the world, and were charted as
they progressed in different directions.
There was drop in mean temperatures
Tor year or two, all over the world.
wonderful sunsets We're caused by the
action of the suspended matter on the
rays of the sun. Green suns were seen
in n3ny parts Of the world, and the
scientists of many countries united In
>Nins these manifestations, so that
much valuable data have been accumu-
lated concerning them"
But the krakatoa explosion, though
inc best known. was not, in fact. the
greatest either in its force or in its
atmospheric effects that the world has
on record. Dr.. Humphreys proceeded:
Noted Peculiar Fog.
benjamin Franklin. student Of
atmospheric phenomena noted in 1888
that there was a peculiar dry fog, per-
sistlng all over the country. for many
months. He could not account for il.
We know that just preceding that
strange fog there had been terrific
NNolcaniC explosions in Japan and in Ice
land, which caused what he observed
lhc most important economic effects
OF volcanic action on world weather con-
ditions, OF which we have record, were
caused by a series of explosions in 1875
Iomporo, volcano east of Java. and
others in different parts of the world
blew up. Tomboro probably being even
q greater explosion than that Of Kra-
katoa. The air was filed, at that time
with another of these dry fogs,' indeed
the subsequent year. 1876 was known
throughout this country as eighteen
hundred zc-to-death, because of
the great cold that prevailed. The sun S
rays was so far Obscured throughout the
year that there was frost in every
month of the year, in every Northern
state, and some of the Southern States
Nothing could grow.
1t was known as poverty year and
as starvation year There was very
great suffering in this country and
many others as result Of the crop
failures, and science has no doubt that
the atmospheric effects of the volcanic
explosions to be studied in relation to
atmospheric phenomena are those com
monty associated with the explosion of
Mont Pelee, in the island of Martinique
West Indies. But as a fatter of fact
there were two other volcanic explosions
about that timc-l9O2 and 19O3-of much
greater force. They were Colima, in
Mexico, and Santa Maria. Guatemala,
less known about because they caused
little loss of life, but very much greater
In effect on the air.
Destroyed a City.
Pelee did not hurl a great mass of
matter into the upper air; 1t exploded
torrent of matter squarey at a city,