104 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



examination, the new openings, fourteen in number, were 

 found to be in the Raudaskal valley, about four miles north- 

 east of Ilekla. Here there liad oceurred a considerable out- 

 flow of lava, which still continued to pour forth a month after 

 the first outbreak. The locality is described by Mr. G. F. 

 Rodwell, who visited it on August 12, at which time the new 

 crater and the ejected lava were still giving off vapors. The 

 deposit of new lava is from 10 to 100 feet in thickness, and, 

 as mapped, it covers an irregular area of about 2-i- Danish 

 miles in length by about half a mile wide. The principal 

 one of the new craters was 90 feet in depth and about 100 

 feet in circumference. The fact is also noted that Mt. Hekla 

 is not a conical peak with a single crater, like Etna or Vesu- 

 vius, but rather an elevated volcanic rift with several open- 

 ings, and that the new openings are ranged along a prolon- 

 gation of the line thus marked (JVature, vol. xviii., pp. 59C, 

 641). 



On the evening of April 12, 1878, a severe earthquake de- 

 stroyed the town of Cua, on the river Tuy, about 26 English 

 miles southwest of Caracas, in Venezuela. The town was 

 the centre of a flourishing agricultural district, and had about 

 3000 inhabitants. The shock occurred some minutes before 

 a quarter to nine, being felt at Caracas at 8h. 41m. 34s., and in 

 a few seconds all the centre of Cua, which was built on a 

 small hill about 20 meters over the lower part, was in ruins. 

 Only this upper part, about one square mile in extent, was 

 destroyed, the lower part suffering but little. The centre of 

 disturbance cannot have been very deep, as the destruction 

 was so limited, although the transverse wave was felt 100 

 miles distant. The shocks continued for several days, but 

 without further damage. About 300 persons were killed, 

 and the loss of property was 300,000. The direction of the 

 shock was from E.N.E. (Nature, vol. xviii., p. 130). 



On August 26, 1878, earthquake shocks were felt about 9 

 and 11 A.M. in Belgium, Holland, and Rhenish Prussia; ob- 

 served with especial care at Cologne. 



On October 2, 1878, at 6 P.M., a severe earthquake oc- 

 curred at the village of Jucuapa, and at many other towns in 

 the southern portion of the Republic of Salvador, in Central 

 America, attended by great loss of life and property. The 

 neighboring volcanoes of Izalco and Santa Ana were ac- 



