Abstract
THE publication of the first part of Verbeek's “Krakataõ,” which chiefly contained the history of the great eruption of 1883, had raised many expectations regarding the promised description and discussion of the phenomena then observed. In his completed work, which contains 25 coloured drawings and 43 large and small maps, those expectations are fully realised. Immediately after the great outburst of August, 1883, the Dutch Indian Government sent him to visit Krakataõ and to investigate the causes and effects of this awful catastrophe, more sudden and destructive than the famous eruption of Vesuvius. The great facilities they placed at his disposal enabled him to do this in the most satisfactory manner, and the really beautiful character of his completed work reflects the greatest credit not only on the learned author, but on the zeal and public spirit of the Dutch-Indian Government, who have aided him in making so valuable a contribution to scientific knowledge. So much interest has been taken by the general public, as well as by men of science, in this remarkable eruption, that we feel certain they also will welcome this volume, since it is lucid in style and profusely illustrated. With an expression of his gratitude to various institutions and individuals who have rendered him valuable assistance, the author gives in the preface a list of the weights and measures, together with a summary of the most recent ideas that geological science has received from the Krakataõ eruption.
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Krakataõ . Nature 32, 601–604 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032601b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032601b0