A CORNISH DUSTFALL.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 931, 10 June 1914, Page 6

A CORNISH DUSTFALL.

Eruption o( Krakntoa In 1001 Sea.tr jtered Duit All Over Central £s!;. Europe. • .„ .

In the course of a paper on "The Cornish Dustfall of January, 1902," read before the Royal, Meteorological society at 70 Victoria street recently, Mr. H. It. Mill said that since the Krakatoa eruption.!" 'SB3, when the volcanic dust thrown into the air made itself apparent for many months all over the world in a long series of brilliant sunsets, the most remarkable instance of far-traveled dust was that which occurred in March, 1901, reports the London Telegraph. In Italy the rain fell so thickly charged with red sand that the peasants took it for blood and f>ecame panic-slrick;n. For three days the dust cloud traveled northward over central Europe, substantial traces falling as far north as the Danish islands, and instances in which it reached parts of England and Scotland had been recorded. A large quantity of similar dust fell about January 21 last in Cornwall over an area of 2,000 square miles, and the conclusion r.eemed to be that about his time the atmosphere over the extreme west of Europe consisted of air which had com£ from the African deserts, carrying with.it a quantity of fine dust, of which a mere vestige—some 100,000 tons Or so—had been caught in its fall and carried to the shores of the channel. There seemed to be little doubt that the 'farmers of the west of England had this spring plowed many tons of the sand of the Sahara into their furrow's.