472 SCIENTIFIC liECORI) FOR 1885. 



VULCANOLOGY. 



The volcanic activity during 1885 continued to be of a very moderate 

 character, as had been the case in 1884, and again the East Indies ap- 

 pears to have been the scene of its most violent development. 



In April, 1885, the state of Krakatoa caused some anxiety, as subter- 

 ranean sounds were heard in the neighborhood day after day, but no 

 outbreak occurred, (^atwre, xxxii : 161.) 



On April 17 and 18 a violent eruption of Smeru, the largest and most 

 active volcano in Java, occurred, by which the side of the mountain for 

 one third of the way down was described as burst open and emitting 

 lava and mud. {J^ature, XXKII : 101.) , 



Several other Javanese volcanoes also manifested signs of activity, 

 which was again further reported as recurring in June and July, es- 

 pecially by another eruption of Smeru on July 8 and 9. Accounts of 

 these eruptions are meager and vague, but they apparently involved 

 the destruction of many coffee plantations, and some loss of lite. {N'a- 

 ture, XXXII : 401; La Nature, ii: 102.) 



On May 2, 1885, lava began to flow from a rent in the side of the cone 

 of eruption of Vesuvius, and continued for some days. According to 

 Joliustoii Lavis, who visited the spot, this outburst of lava did not in- 

 dicate any great increase of volcanic activity, but was sim])ly the break- 

 ing through the cone of a dike which had been in process of slow forma- 

 tion during several years, being thus a repetition of what ha])pened in 

 December, 1881. {Nature, xxxii: 55, 108.) The lava came near the 

 station of the mountain railway, but did not damage the road, although 

 its use was interrupted for a time. {La Nature, i: 398.) 



On the morning of July 23, 1885, an eruption of Cotopaxi occurred, 

 with considerable emission of lava, which caused some damage and loss 

 of life, but it is not yet known how great. {Nature^ xxxii : 375, 428.) 



Grewingk, the volcano at Bogosloff Island, was seen by Lieutenant 

 Stoney's exploring party in the summer of 1885. It was emitting less 

 smoke than in the previous year, but no other important change was 

 noticed. {Science, vi : 279.) 



Advices from Alaska in the summer also rejiort the volcano of Cher- 

 nabura, or St. Augustin, in Cook's Inlet, as still pouring out smoke 

 and steam from innumerable fissures. {Science^ vi: 95.) 



The New Zealand Herald, of Il^ovember 3, 1885, contained an account 

 of a new volcano which has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. It burst 

 forth on October 12 or 13, 1885, about fourteen or fifteen miles north- 

 northwest of the island of Honga Tonga in the Friendly Group. It was 

 visited on October 14 by a party from Tonga, and was found to have 

 formed an island two or three miles long and some sixty feet high. As 

 it was in continuous eruption, of course a close examination was im- 

 possible. The position of this new volcano is in latitude 20'^ 21' south, 

 longitude 175c> -J,6' west. {Science, vii: 09.) 



