Feb. 13, 1879] 



NATURE 



343 



Geophilus. My find, however, took place under such 

 circumstances, and these interfered so much with my 

 investigation, that I feel justified in describing them more 

 minutely. For some considerable time I had been 

 afflicted with a chronic affection of the eyes, and conse- 

 quently commenced in the spring of the present year a 

 journey to our south-eastern steppes in order to turn my 

 attention to anthropological studies. Instead of taking 

 with me as in previous years all the apparatus necessary 

 for microscopical research, I took this time on my journey 

 only anthropological measuring instruments. When, 

 then, I was in the neighbourhood of Manytsch, nearly in 

 the heart of the Kalmuk steppes, and was visiting a small 

 forest plantation, I discovered quite unexpectedly a num- 

 ber of eggs of Geophilus which had been deposited under 

 the bark of a rotten tree-stem where the females were 

 watching over them. I gathered up the precious material, 

 and having packed it carefully in two bottles, set off with 

 all speed to Astrachan, in order there to set about the 

 microscopic investigation of the ^gg^. But when, after 

 four days' travelling I arrived in a Russian village, Jandiki, 

 near the shore of the Caspian Sea, and inspected my two 

 bottles, I found in them only a couple of dead, opaque 

 eggs, all the others having entirely disappeared. Fortu- 

 nately I succeeded in Jandiki, where there is also a small 

 plantation, in obtaining fresh material of the same kind, 

 and this I brought in good condition to Astrachan, 

 making the journey by steamboat. In the town of 

 Astrachan I was able to borrow a Hartnack's microscope 

 from a medical man practising there, and on a second 

 journey took it with me to Jandiki, In this way I was 

 enabled to make out the chief features of the develop- 

 mental history of Geophilus by the use of my less 

 seriously affected left eye. At the same time, in spite of 

 the very favourable character of the Geophilus eggs for 

 microscopic research, I could not bring my work to the 

 desired degree of completeness." 



Determination and pluck have their scope in embryo- 

 iogy ! E. Ray Lank ester 



OX THE RECENT ERUPTION AND PRESENT 

 CONDITION OF VESUVIUS 



A T the end of the great eruption of 1872 the crater of 

 -^^ Vesuvius was left as a wide and deep abyss, the floor 

 •of which did not possess a very high temperature, and 

 was free from fumarole. Gradually, however, fumarole 

 appeared, the temperature increasedj and large quantities 

 of steam and carbonic acid were evolved. The tempera- 

 ture continued to increase and sulphurous acid made its 

 appearance, finally in 1875 the evolution of carbonic acid 

 diminished, and that of hydrochloric acid commenced. 

 This is always the commencement of the highest stage of 

 fumarole activity. In January, 1S75, when I ascended the 

 mountain, large quantities of sulphurous acid were being 

 ■evolved, and it was quite impossible to descend into the 

 -crater. On December 18, 1875, a deep chasm opened in 

 the bottom of the crater, at the bottom of which glowing 

 lava could be seen. This was the commencement of a 

 new period of eruption, which Palmieri predicted would 

 last a long time, and which is still going on. The lava 

 gradually rose to the top of the chasm, and a new eruptive 

 cone was soon afterwards formed on the floor of the great 

 crater. Small quantities of lava issued from time to time 

 from the new cone, and spread over the interior of the 

 crater, until on the night of November i, 1878, it rose to 

 the lowest portion of the edge of the crater, and began to 

 flow down the great cone of \'e5uviu3 in a north-westerly 

 direction. The lava continued to flow in a somewhat 

 •mtermittent manner until nearly the end of the year, but 

 It did not go beyond the foot of the cone. 



On December 29 last I visited the new cone. I left 

 Naples at 8.45 A.M., drove to Portici, and walked to 



Resina. Left Resina on foot at 10 A.M., came upon the 

 lava of 145 1 (according to the guide, but I suspect it was 

 lava of 163 1 ) at 10.30, then bore somewhat to the west, 

 and struck the lava of 1858. Reached the obserratory at 

 1 1. 1 5 A.M., the foot of the cone at 11.45, and the summit 

 of the cone at 12.40 p.m. Thus the ascent of the cone 

 occupied fifty-five minutes, including about ten minutes 

 of rest. The angle is approximately 32", and the ash of 

 which the cone is composed is very loose. On arriving 

 at the summit we turned to the west, and walked along 

 the edge of the great crater, until we came to its south- 

 western extremity, beyond which it is broken down by 

 the recent flow of lava. Then we descended the crater 

 by a very precipitous path, and presently found ourselves 

 upon the new lara, surrounded on three sides by precipi- 

 tous walls of apparently not more than 100 feet in height. 

 Facing due north-east, we had on our right the new cone 

 of November, 1878, and on our left the stream of lava 

 which had issued from it, and which was still very hot, 

 and in some places could be seen to be red hot a little 

 distance beneath the surface. Occasionally a puff of very 

 hot air was blown into our faces from the hotter portions 

 of the lava. In many places hot fumes of hydrochloric 

 acid escaped from the lava, and great ca\'ities (in one or 

 two cases small caverns), from whence the hot acid 

 vapours issued, were coated with briUiant red and yellow 

 sublimates of sesquichloride of iron. These sublimates 

 are constantly spoken of as sulphur. I am inclined to 

 assert that in more than ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, they are sesquichloride of iron formed either 

 by direct sublimation of previously formed chloride from 

 lower recesses in the lava bed, or by the action taking 

 place then and there of the hot hydrochloric acid 

 upon the exposed surfaces of the lava. Sublimations 

 of salt were also apparent in certain portions of the lava, 

 bed. Prof. Palmieri informs me that he has detected 

 sulphates in the sublimates, also lithium and boracic acid. 

 I have not yet had time to examine various specimens 

 of sublimates, which were collected from the new lava, 

 and were placed in a dry bottle as soon as I reached 

 Naples. 



Prof. Palmieri has kindly furnished me with a MS. ac- 

 count of "II Vesuvio dopo la grande eruzione del 1872," 

 from which some of the above facts were derived. My 

 own recent experience on the mountain does not, how- 

 ever, allow me to agree with him when he says : 

 " Comunque sia, in tutto il tempo trascorso il cratere ha 

 di mostrato poca attivita dinamica. Pochi brani di lava 

 gettati fino all' altezza di 20 o 30 metri, soffii piu o meno 

 vigorosi e qualche rara detonazione ban rappresentato il 

 vigore della forza eruttiva." The new cone, when I saw 

 it, was pouring out vast volumes of smoke and steam, 

 detonations occurred at frequent intervals, and loud 

 noises as if of the lava surging within the crater. At 

 intervals, also, the smoke was intensely illuminated as if 

 the lava had leapt up within the cone. The cone dis- 

 charged a perpetual shower of red-hot pieces of lava of a 

 more or less cindery character, and certainly to a height 

 far exceeding the "20 o 30 metri" of Prof. Palmieri. It 

 is difficult to judge of heights under such circumstances, 

 but many of the fragments appeared to be projected 

 to a height equal to that of an ordinary sky-rocket. 

 The ejected masses nearly all fell on one side of 

 the cone, and helped to raise it. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, a sudden burst would come which scattered the 

 red-hot masses in all directions. We approached as 

 near as we could to the cone, and stood upon the 

 bank of cinders {^vide the accompanying woodcut) in 

 immediate contact with it, and not a dozen yards 

 fro.-n its vomiting crater. Showers of red-hot stones 

 were projected from the crater, many of which fell 

 into it again, and the rest for the most part on the 

 side remote from us. There came a suiden burst, how- 

 ever, which shook the ground under our feet, and scat- 



