Their first
appearance in Australia was on September 15th, and at the Cape of Good
Hope on the 20th. On the latter day they were observed in California and
the Southern United States. They were first seen in England on November
9th. Elsewhere in Europe and the United States they appeared from
November 20th to 30th.
The effect lasted in some instances as long as an hour and
three-quarters after sunset. In India the sun and skies assumed a
greenish hue, and there was much curiosity regarding the cause of the
"green sun." Another remarkable phenomenon of this period was the great
prevalence of rain during the succeeding winter. This probably was due
to the same cause; that is, to the fact of the air being so filled with
dust; the prevailing theory in regard to rain being that the existence
of dust in the air is necessary to its fall. The vapor of the air
concentrates into drops around such minute particles, the result being
that where dust is absent rain cannot fall.
As regards the sunsets spoken of, there are three similar instances on
record. The first of these was in the year 526, when a dry fog covered
the Roman Empire with a red haze. Nothing further is known concerning
it. The other instances were in the years 1783 and 1831. The former of
these has been traced to the great eruption of Skaptur Jokull in that
year. It lasted for several months as a pale blue haze, and occasioned
so much obscurity that the sun was only visible when twelve degrees
above the horizon, and then it had a blood-red appearance.
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