456 



NATURE 



[August 7, 19 19 



C. K. Hampshire and C. E. G. Hawker, in "A 

 Note on Vitamines : A Suet Emulsion for Infant- 

 feeding," describe the preparation of a substitute for 

 cream, which proved to be palatable and well-tolerated 

 by infants. 



Other papers contributed were "A Note on Japanese 

 Chiretta," by V. Cofman ; "Note on Tinctures of 

 Iodine," by F. Burrows and H. Droop Richmond; 

 and "The Examination of Valerianates," by H. Droop 

 Richmond and W. T. T. Ainsworth. 



A MODEL OF THE VOLCANO KILAUEA, 



HAW AIL 

 TV/rODELS of land-forms are not new, but the 

 ■*■*-*■ art of reproducing the features in a naturalistic 

 way without exaggeration of the vertical scale has 

 not been attempted until recent years. A. Heim, of 

 Zurich, was a pioneer in this work about twenty years 

 ago. Mr. George C. Curtis was a student of Heim. 

 Before attempting the difficult task of making a 

 naturalistic reproduction of Kilauea, Mr. Curtis had 

 made many models of note. Among the most im- 

 portant of these are the models of the cities of Boston 

 and Washington, and the models of Bora Bora and 

 Funafuti, coral atolls of the Pacific. 



views had been available when the modelling was 

 started, the work would have taken only a year and 

 a half instead of forty months, as was actually the 

 case. In the future the naturalistic modelling of land- 

 forms will depend largely on kite or aeroplane views 

 for its accurate and speedy accomplishment. 



The model of Kilauea is circular in form, 14 ft. in 

 diameter, and has an area of modelling representing 

 about 13 sq. miles. The scale is i : 1500, or 

 I in. = 125 ft. The sizes of the men on the edge of 

 the Halemaumau crater, the buildings, trees, and auto- 

 mobiles on the roads, give a good idea of the scale. 

 This model, like the other naturalistic models of Mr. 

 Curtis, has no exaggeration of the vertical scale. For 

 the first time in model-making a cycloramic back- 

 ground has been used. It gives the feeling of vast- 

 ness that we should naturally have if looking from a 

 balloon on the country below\ As the observer looks 

 downward on this model he is virtually half a mile 

 high in the air. Those who are familiar with Kilauea 

 assert that the reproduction is as faithful to the actual 

 ground as it is possible to make it. Although it has 

 been impossible to represent every tree on the ground, 

 many thousands of trees have been made by hand 

 and each one placed in the plaster. The details of 

 the lavas are remarkably true to nature. 



Fig. I.— Genera! View of the Model. The observer looks northward across the great lava sink. In the middle foreground 

 are the extinct pit crater of Keanakakoi and the border of the Kau desert ; to the right a small exiinct pit crater. In 

 the left middle distance is the aciive crate of Haltmaumau (Hou.se of Eternal Fire). On ihe right of the main sink 

 soire down-fauUcd blocks may be seen. The Volcano House with its group of buildings is situated behind these. 

 Note the dense f> rest on the left. On the right is the extinct crater of Kilauea Iki separated from the main sink by the 

 down-faulted block of Byron's Ledge. On the left and on the cycloramic background rises ftlauna Loa, 10,000 fi. above 

 Kilauea and twenty-five miles away. 



In February, 1913, the present writer engaged Mr. 

 Curtis to make a model of the volcano Kilauea, on 

 the Island of Hawaii, for the Geological Museum at 

 Harvard University. Mr. Curtis went to Hawaii in 

 March, and spent three months at the volcano, 

 making a supplementary survey and taking panoramic 

 photographs and colour sketches of the ground. The 

 staff of the Kilauea Observatory, Prof. T. A. Jaggar 

 and Mr. H. O. Wood, aided Mr. Curtis In every way 

 possible. After the actual work of modelling had 

 been started at Boston, Mr. Curtis found it almost 

 impossible to reproduce the frozen lavas of the great 

 sink of the volcano with the photographs that he 

 had. Mr. J. Fred Haworth, a merchant of Pitts- 

 burgh, had become a master In kite-photography. He 

 was glad of the oooortunlty to go to Kilauea and 

 take idte views of the volcano, and this he finally did 

 at his own expense. Without these views from the 

 air it is very doubtful whether Mr. Curtis could have 

 perfected the work undertaken. With these kite 

 views, however, the modelling of the frozen lavas 

 became much simplified. In waiting for the kite 

 views the work on the model was delaved. If these 



In addition to the many features of interest to the 

 yulcanologlst and the student of structural and 

 dynamical geology, the model shows very well the 

 effects of climatic control on the vegetation, due to 

 trade winds and altitude. To the east and north-east 

 of the Volcano House the forest is of a tropical nature 

 in its luxuriance. To the west and south-west the 

 vegetation disappears rapidly, so that on the \vestern 

 part of the model there appears nothing but a desert 

 of volcanic ash. Three types of climate are shown: 

 the top of Mauna Kea is frequently snow-covered; 

 near the north and east coast and as far as the Vol- 

 cano House is a tropical forest where the rainfall 

 reaches t-he large amount of 300 in. a year; and west 

 of the Volcano House is a desert where the rainfall 

 may not reach i^ in. a year. 



A model of this kind is expensive, and such models 

 will never be cheap. With the use of kite or aero- 

 plane photographs, however, the cost should be cut 

 down by half. Museum staffs will ask the important 

 question : Is the work worth while? Those who are 

 oualified to answer this question have answered in 

 the affirmative. The advantages of a good naturalistic 



NO. 2597, VOL.. IO3I 



