54 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



o 



lias revealed an entirely new type of volcanic eruption, in 

 which the lavas, instead of finding vent at the surface of 

 the ground, ceased to rise while still several thousands of 

 feet under ground, and lifted the superincumbent strata so 

 as to make for themselves deep-seated subterranean reser- 

 voirs, within which they congealed, to be revealed only after 

 the erosions of subsequent ages. The volcanoes of Iceland 

 have been investigated by Professor Johnstrup, whose re- 

 port is published by the Danish government. 



EARTHQUAKES. 



A violent earthquake occurred at 8.30 P.M. May 9th on the 

 southern coast of Bolivia and Peru, destroying many small 

 towns. It was central near Iquique, and was accompanied 

 by an oceanic wave about sixty-five feet high at the cen- 

 tral stations. This wave reached San Luis Obispo and Hon- 

 olulu simultaneously at about 5 A.M. of the 10th (Honolulu 

 time), doing much damage in tjie Sandwich Islands, where 

 much activity had been previously observed in the volca- 

 noes (see Monthly "Weather Iteview, May; Am. Journal of 

 Science; and Petermann's Mittheilungen, Dec. 1877). 



A new electric seismograph of much completeness has 

 been invented by Secchi. Some such instrument is much 

 to be desired for use on our Pacific coast. 



TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 



An interesting memoir is published by AVijkander on 

 magnetic perturbations and their connection with the aurora 

 borealis. This is mainly an historical introduction to the im- 

 portant observations published by the Swedish expedition 

 to Spitzbcrgen in 1872-73. The connection was first noted 

 by Celsius and Hjorter (1741) in Sweden, at whose request 

 Graham (1761), in England, made corresponding observations, 

 so that the simultaneity of the phenomena was at once re- 

 vealed. The Swedish expedition lias established the fact 

 that the magnetic disturbances which attend an aurora have 

 their origin, or act as if they originated, at points on a zone 

 that extends from British America northeast to North Cape 

 and then around the globe, apparently not far from the zone 

 of greatest auroral frequency as established by Loomis or 

 Fritz. The cause of these disturbances is to be looked for 



