2 >\: C}fi^Mo^ Journal of Science [Vol. XIX, No. 1, 



The expeditions of 1915-1916 owed their inception to the 

 foresight of Mr. Frederick V. Coville, of the Board of Managers, 

 who first recognized the unique opportunity presented by the 

 revegetation of the ash for the solution of many problems of 

 great importance to agriculture connected with the trans- 

 formation of the raw rnineral ash into a humous soil. It was 

 primarily for the study of these problems that the project 

 was undertaken, for no one at that time suspected the existence 

 of the volcanic wonders which were to prove of wider general 

 interest than the specific objective of the expeditions. 



Although it has been the intention of the society to provide 

 for the comprehensive study of all the scientific problems 

 growing out of the eruptions, the members of the expeditions 

 have been able to realize this ideal only in part. The scientific 

 problems presented in this remarkable district are so manifold 

 that it has always been necessary to forego the study of many 

 important aspects of the eruption. The eruption was, more- 

 over, so vast a cataclysm that its comprehension passes the 

 -power of the human mind. The members of the expeditions 

 have always felt that the results attained were to be measured 

 only by their own limitations of vision and of strength for 

 following up the opportunities that lay around them on every 

 hand. 



Good progress has, however, been made along a number of 

 major lines, including the botany of the region ; its revegetation 

 so far as that has progressed; the geology of the volcanic 

 district; studies of the volcanic phenomena in some detail; the 

 chemical condition of the ash plains in relation to their coloniza- 

 tion by plants; chemical and thermometric examinations of 

 the volcanic emanations in co-operation with the Geophysical 

 Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution; the zoology of the 

 district, the insects especially having received attention thus 

 far; while beginnings have been made in the study of the soil 

 bacteriology and mycology of the devastated areas. 



For various reasons the publication of the papers embodying 

 the results of these investigations has been somewhat delayed, 

 but it is now proposed to issue, as rapidly^ as possible, a series 

 of contributions' of which this is the first, making known the 

 results which have been obtained. Inasmuch as the National 

 Geographic Society has no organ of its own suitable for such 



