VOLCANOES, THEIR ACTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 49 



from the examination of sections of them. This was first attempted 

 at the suggestion of Goethe, in the case of the Kammerbuhl, a small 

 hill in Bohemia, concerning which it was disputed whether its mate- 

 rials had been derived from the combustion of coal or from aqueous 

 precipitation, or whether they were of volcanic origin. An excava- 

 tion to the core of the hill, finished in 1837, showed that the center of 

 the mass was filled with a plug of basalt, which was connected with 

 a small lava-stream flowing down the side of the hill ; while the bulk 

 of the hill was composed of volcanic scoriae and lapilli (Fig. 4). Nat- 



Fig. 4. Section of the Kammerbuhl, in Bohemia, a a. metamorphic rocks ; b, basaltic scoria; ; 

 c, solid plug of basalt rising through the center of the volcanic pile ; d d, lava-stream com- 

 posed of the same rock ; e e, alluvial matter surrounding the old volcano. (The dotted lines 

 indicate the probable former outline of the volcano.) 



ural sections are not rare. A very fine one is afforded by the penin- 

 sula of Vulcanello, in the Island of Vulcano (Fig. 5). The peninsula 

 consists of three volcanic cones, united at their base, with the lava- 



Fig. 5. View of Vulcano, with Vulcanello in the Foreground, taken from the South 



End of the Island of Lipari. 



streams which have flowed from them. One half the cone on the left 

 side of the picture has been completely washed away by the sea, so 

 that a perfect section of the internal structure is exposed, as in the ac- 

 companying figure (Fig. 6). This section shows 1. The loose scoriae 

 and lapilli, d, which, in falling through the air, have arranged them- 

 selves in tolerably regular layers on the sides of the cone ; 2. Lava- 

 VOL. xx. 4 



