A paper written by Benjamin Franklin in 1783 blamed the unusually cool summer of 1783 on volcanic dust coming from Iceland , where the eruption of Laki volcano had released enormous amounts of sulfur dioxide , resulting in the death of much of the island 's livestock and a catastrophic famine which killed a quarter of the Icelandic population .
A paper written by Benjamin Franklin in 1783 blamed the unusually cool summer of 1783 on volcanic dust coming from Iceland , where the eruption of Laki volcano had released enormous amounts of sulfur dioxide , resulting in the death of much of the island 's livestock and a catastrophic famine which killed a quarter of the population .