558 



NATURE 



\ April 26, 1877 



was seen to rise, and the reflection of subterraneous fire could 

 be seen from Acireale. 



Vesuvius. — With the exception of a small eruption on July 18, 



1874, this mountain had only given off clouds of smoke, and 

 had come to complete inactivity by the end of that year. From 

 January 3 to 6, 1875, slight earthquakes and subterraneous noises 

 were remarked, but they remained without further consequences. 

 Only in December the inclination to activity seemed to return. 

 In the interior of the large crater of the last eruption considerable 

 changes took place, a great portion, towards the south-east, fell 

 in, and thick clouds of black smoke rose at this spot. On the 

 20th the glow of fire was seen in the crater, and all other pheno- 

 mena increased in intensity, however, without it coming to an 

 eruption by the close of the year. 



Iceland. — The eruptions which occurred in this country during 

 1875 are the most important ones of all. They were numerous 

 and followed each other in quick succession, some of them with 

 extreme intensity. The first one was a side-eruption of the 

 Vatna, which began with vehement earthquakes on January 2. 

 A broad stream of rc^-hot lava broke forth on the following day 

 and continued to flow until the third week of February. About 

 this time a second eruption began in another locality. This was 

 preceded by a copious fall of ashes spreading over Kelduverfet. 

 The crater of this second eruption lies within one of the largest 

 prehistoric lava- fields, called Odarhaun. A third eruption took 

 place on March 10 to the north of the latter; no less than sixteen 

 small craters ejected masses of red-hot slakes, and more to the 

 west a broad stream of incandescent lava flowed for several days 

 to a distance of 600 yards. The fourth eruption was perceived 

 on the whole of the island. It occurred on March 29 on the 

 Vatna, and was accompanied by loud reports and • subterraneous 

 noise. The most remarkable phenomenon in this eruption was 

 an enormous fall of ashes, which was so dense in Oesterland that 

 the sun was darkened and lights had to be lit. The ferry on the 

 Yokul river could not penetrate for several days the enormous 

 masses of floating pumice-stone. The fall lasted five hours in the 

 Yokul Valley, three in the Fljotr Valley, and two at Seydisfjord. 

 A strong west wind carried particles of these ashes to enormous 

 distances, i.e., to Norway and Sweden. (We have repeatedly 

 reported on the ashes found in those countries at that time, and 

 upon their origin. ) Another prolonged eruption took place on 

 April 4. The active crater this time lay to the south of Burfell, 

 and the phenomenon was accompanied by violent explosions and 

 the ejection of high garbs of incandescent slakes. It lasted about 

 twelve days. The next eruption happened between April 20 and 

 24 in the so-called Oster Mountains. Matter was ejected to 

 an enormous height and streams of lava overflowed the environs 

 to a distance of fifteen miles at a breadth of from 800 to 2,000 

 metres. Towards the end of June another new crater formed 

 and several lava streams broke forth near Thingo, between 

 Vivatn and the Yokulsan. The last eruption, another very 

 violent one, occurred on August 15 at the same place as the last. 

 Twenty different columns of smoke were ejected, and on the 

 next day slakes and red-hot lava followed. 



Klo'et. — This volcano, one of the less-known mountains of 

 Java, had a great eruption early in 1875, according to news 

 dated February 3. An enormous stream of lava completely 

 destroyed the settlement of Blikar, besides causing great damage 

 in other localities. 



Ceboruco. — This Mexican mountain (situated at lat. 2i°25'N.), 

 which rises to a height of 480 metres (1,525 metres above sea- 

 level) was believed extinct since the discovery of America, its 

 first historical eruption taking place in 1870. Another great 

 eruption followed on February 11, 1875, together with violent 

 earthquakes, which particularly damaged St. Cristobal and 

 Guadalaxara. On the evening of February 10 a fall of ashes 

 occurred, and a high garb of fii'e rose in the night. 



Mauna Loa. — A crater on the summit of the Mauna Loa, 

 called Mukunweoweo, had an eruption of lava on August 11, 



1875, ^'it more detailed accounts have not reached Dr. Fuchs. 

 This is the same crater which sometimes causes the whole island 

 of Hawaii to be covered with the so-called " hair of the Goddess 

 Pele," a fine thread-like obsidian, resembling fine threads of 

 cotton. 



Tongariro.—'Y\i\% volcano, situated in New Zealand, was active 

 in the second half of 1875, and from time to time ejected lava 

 and slakes. At intervals great geyser eruptions occurred, and at 

 one time more than fifty jets of hot water, surrounded by vast 

 columns of steam, were counted. 



Santorin. — Since the last eruption the'fumaroles on the island 

 of Santorin were extremelv active. On October 10, 1875, M. 



Fouque observed numerous openings ejecting gases, not differing 

 much from air in a chemical sense. During the night they 

 showed the reflection of fire, and the stones surrounding the 

 openings were red-hot. A second group of fumaroles yielded 

 sulphurous, carbonic, and hydrochloric acids, their tempera- 

 ture varying from no" to 310° C. Yet another group ejected 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid, and water-vapour, at a 

 temperature of 90°-99° C. 



Speaking of earthquakes. Dr. Fuchs gives a complete list of all 

 the earthquakes and terrestrial shocks which were felt in different 

 parts of the globe during 1875, and they amounted to no less 

 than ninety-seven in number, occurring on 100 different days. 

 We regret that our space does not permit us to enumerate them, 

 but compels us to confine ourselves to an account of the distri- 

 bution of their number over the diiferent months. Thus we 

 have in January, 15 ; February, 7 ; March, 12 ; April, 7 ; May, 

 9 ; June, 10 ; July, 6 ; August, 5 ; September, 3 ; October, 2 ; 

 November, 9 ; December, 12. Of fifty-two of which exact de- 

 tails could be obtained, thirty-six occurred in the night. On ten 

 days earthquakes occurred simultaneously in different localities, 

 and fourteen distinct places were repeatedly visited by them 

 during the year. The most lamentable of all — real catas- 

 trophes — were those of Cucuta, on May 16-18, destroying several 

 towns and numerous villages, and of St. Cristobal and Guada- 

 laxara (February 11), which reached from the Pacific Ocean to 

 Leon. Very severe were the earthquakes of the Lifu Island 

 (March 28), of Uschak (May 3-5 and 12), of Lahore (December 

 12), and of Porto Rico (December 21). Altogether Dr. Fuchs 

 estimates the number of lives lost in these earthquakes at 20,000, 

 not to speak of the great damage to property. In conclusion 

 the author gives an account of those earthquakes which were in 

 evident connection with the eniptions of neighbouring volcanoes ; 

 and also mentions a few whose causes were undoubtedly not 

 volcanic but mechanical phenomena. In a short appendix Dr. 

 Fuchs gives some details of an eruption which occurred between 

 September 7, 1873, and January 22, 1874, on the Island of 

 Vulcano (one of the Lipari Isles), in continuation of his Report 

 for 1874. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 

 Broca's Stereograph. — A very ingenious instrument for 

 taking mathematically accurate drawings of human crania and 

 other objects of natural history, known as Broca's stereograph, 

 has been lately presented to the College of Surgeons by the 

 President, Mr. Prescott Hewett, which will prove a useful 

 adjunct to the systematic study of the important anthropo- 

 logical collection now contained in the museum. It was exhi- 

 bited and its use demonstrated by Prof. Flower at his conclud- 

 ing lecture on the Comparative Anatomy of Man. \ Among 

 recent additions to this department of the collection are the 

 valuable series of skulls of natives of New Guinea, collected by 

 Dr. Comrie, Staff-Surgeon R.N. of H.M.S. Basilisk, described 

 in the last number of the Journal of the Anthropological Insti- 

 tute ; also four of natives of the Navigation or Samoan Islands, 

 presented by Dr. Pye Smith. On several occasions during the 

 course. Prof. Flower pointed out the necessity of far larger series .|j 

 of human skeletons and skulls than are at present contained in 

 our museums, before our knowledge of physical anthropology ,j 

 can be placed on a satisfactory basis, as the individual variations 

 are so great that it is only when a considerable series of any race 

 are brought together that their true characteristics can be deter* 

 mined. 



Tendrils of Climbing Plants. — M. Casimir de Candolle 

 publishes some interesting observations on the tendrils of climb- ^ 

 ing plants in the Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles 

 (January). The experiments the author made were suggested 

 to him by reading Mr. Darwin's work on the movements and 

 habits of these plants. With regard to the manner in which the 

 curves of the tendrils which are fixed at both ends are formed, 

 M. de Candolle arrives at the following conclusions : — When 

 tendril of Bryonia, isolated or not, is fixed at both its ends, iti 

 upper part soon assumes the shape of a sinuous curve with, 

 double curvature, just like that of free tendrils. But this curve 



