Jökull - 01.01.2001, Page 78

S. P. van Swinden
tumn of the aforementioned year a dense and constant
haze had been observed, to the extent that the sun and
moon, rising and setting, were marked with red color;
the preceding spring had been very dry, very warm.
I have never seen this book, and among those writ-
ers I am acquainted with, I have been able to discover
nothing about this, except that the year 1652 was men-
tioned also as a remarkable for earthquakes; evidently
these were observed adequately on 4 February, chiefly
in various locations of Switzerland, Tigur, Basil and
etc.
With the appearance of the haze in 1783 I remem-
bered without prompting, that in 172122 over a vast
tract of land the sun on 1 June had been seen as white,
destitute of rays. Moreover I found in a book by the
Abbot Richard, entitled “A Natural History of the Air”
vol. 5, p. 165, that in this year for two whole months
the sun was seen dimly, of a bloody color, and this
across clouds, which were present in the upper part of
the atmosphere. In the same year moreover in April,
Hungary and Persia experienced strong earthquakes;
in July, Basil and other places in Switzerland.
As far as the causes of these phenomena are con-
cerned, I confess that I have been able to discover
nothing thus far which would satisfy me absolutely.
The phenomenon was universal, and in fact it was
looked for to be from a common cause, and I confess,
that I was prone to thinking, that this [haze] depended
also, in whatever way, from the earthquakes, which
ran riot in Sicily, Calabria, and other places, perhaps
through the whole earth.23 For the simultaneity of
the phenomena, and more general observation, render
it probable that dense haze often follow remarkable
earthquakes. Finally at the same time, in which this
haze began to run riot everywhere, a new mountain
catching fire in Iceland erupted,24 and a new island
appeared near Iceland.25 This mountain sited in the
south-east part of Iceland, in middle of the mountains
called Skaftan,26 began to throw up flames on 8 June
1783; moreover sulfurous flames, smoke, ashes, such
that it obscured the air and from 15 June the sun was
not visible and when seen for a very brief time as it
was rising or setting, it was perceived as a piece of
burning charcoal, without any brightness.
Moreover this haze also had a certain influx on
the electricity of the atmosphere. For everywhere
there were more frequent than usual thunderstorms,
stronger, which happened here in the first days of Au-
gust and September. But this would fit well with our
conjecture, that this vapor evidently had been pro-
duced by earthquakes, since the electricity plausibly
drove it into certain parts. Finally certain modifica-
tions were present, first in special phenomena, then in
times, in which the haze began to appear and with-
draw in various places, which most certainly draw
their origins from local causes.
But other things, and hardly less momentous ques-
tions, namely what was the nature of this haze, re-
main. We saw that in certain places it had as compan-
ion a very strong sulfurous odor; that it was only ele-
vated to a designated altitude, not very great; and on
that account occupied a lower part of the atmosphere,
and finally that the pressure and the weight of the air
were very great at this time. But look at the other
observations, which Dr. Dom. du Vasquier, undertook
in Switzerland near the city of Neufchatel, who gave
exceptional work to the composing of designs of the
descriptions. These observations I shall describe in
the words of Rev. Meuran, who shared them with me.
So of course he wrote in French:
“Paintings left exposed in the meadow during
foggy days were discolored. The red of the paintings

In 1721 a fairly large explosive eruption occurred at the Katla volcano in Iceland.
Or “at random through the whole Earth.”

Here van Swinden is referring to the Laki eruption.

Here van Swinden is referring to the submarine eruption that occurred in late winter

50 nautical miles SW of Reykjanes in SW–Iceland.
It formed a small island named Nýey that disappeared in the same year because of wave action.

“Skaftan”, or correctly Skaftá, is a large glacial river that runs along the northern and western margins of the Síða highlands. It is obvious
that van Swinden is referring to the Síða highlands, but names got misplaced. Although Laki mountain is the only sizeable topographic
feature transected by the erupting fissures, it is impossible that the mountain mentioned here by van Swinden is Laki, because it was not
known until 1794 that the fissures had erupted through it (e.g., Pálsson, 1794). Swinden’s source of information on the events in Iceland is
unknown, but most likely someone in Copenhagen (i.e., Sæmundur Hólm?).
78 JÖKULL No. 50