332 



NA TURE 



[August 4, 1892 



violent as during the first few days of the outbreak. Rocks and 

 masses of volcanic dibris were ejected from the crater to a 

 great height, as well as a quantity of fine ash, which fell in 

 showers over the country. The cloud of smoke over the summit 

 increased, and the subterranean rumblings were so loud and fre- 

 quent as to make the windows in the houses rattle. The lava 

 streams were also extending. Similar reports were issued on 

 the three following days ; but on July 31 a general decrease in 

 the volume of the lava was noted. On August i it was stated 

 that the eruption seemed to be subsiding. No underground 

 rumblings were heard, the smoke issuing from the crater was 

 white, and the lava streams moved very slowly, and, in fact, 

 almost stopped. On August 2 the volcano showed some signs 

 of renewed activity, and the lava streams began to flow afresh. 

 The underground rumblings were not, however, so loud as 

 before. 



Some information as to the volcanic eruption in Great Sangir 

 is given in letters sent from Menado, the chief Dutch settle- 

 ment in the north of the Celebes, from which Sangir is about 

 300 miles distant. The letters are dated June 12, and were 

 printed in the Handehhlad, of Amsterdam, on July 27. Accord- 

 ing to a summary in a Reuters telegram, the disaster came with 

 appalling suddenness. At ten minutes past six on the evening 

 of June 7, unannounced by the slightest shock of earthquake, 

 subterranean rumblings, or other seismic warning, a terrific 

 eruption began from the great volcano Gunona Awa, which is 

 not far from Tarvena, the capital of the island. Ashes in im- 

 mense masses and stones of considerable size soon fell all over 

 the island. Hundreds were killed by this shower, and even 

 those who reached the shelter of their homes were not safe, for 

 nearly everywhere in the country districts the light wooden 

 houses collapsed under the weight of the stones and ashes which 

 quickly settled on the roofs. In the immediate vicinity of the 

 mountain, on the slopes of which are numerous farms and vil- 

 lages with extensive plantations, immense destruction was 

 caused by the great streams of lava, which flowed with astonish- 

 ing rapidity down into the surrounding valleys. Houses were 

 carried away with all their contents, and many of the occupants 

 met a terrible death in these rivers of molten rock. Besides the 

 hundreds who are known to have lost their lives on the low- 

 lands, between five hundred and a thousand more who were 

 engaged in the rice-fields on the mountain slopes have not been 

 heard from. The crops have been destroyed, the cocoa-nut 

 trees have suffered severely, and in many parts of the island the 

 wells have become dry. 



At the time of our last issue the weather was very settled, 

 and the air very dry, scarcely any rain having fallen for some 

 days. On Friday, however, July 29, the anticyclone began to 

 give way, and the low pressure over the Bay of Biscay extended 

 northwards and over the eastern parts of England, causing 

 thunderstorms in the southern counties. By Sunday, the dis- 

 turbed weather had extended over the whole country, and rain 

 had fallen at most places, but the area of low barometer was 

 passing away to the eastward, and during the early part of this 

 week the type of weather again became anticyclonic generally, 

 but the sky became cloudy, and rain fell in places ; while on 

 "Wednesday a depression lay over the North of Scotland, 

 which appeared likely to spread southwards. Temperatures 

 have ranged from 70° to 75° and upwards in the southern 

 districts, but have been considerably lower in the north ; the 

 daily maxima frequently not reaching 60°. The Weekly Weather 

 Report showed that for the week ending July 30 the temperature 

 only slightly exceeded the average in the North of Scotland. 

 Rainfall was much below the mean, amounting to six to nine- 

 tenths of an inch in most districts, while reckoning from the 

 beginning of the year there is a deficit in every district, amount- 

 ing to as much as 7*4 inches in the south-west of England. 

 NO. I 188, VOL. 46] 



The Austrian Meteorological Society has issued an appeal for 

 contributions towards the support of the meteorological obser- 

 vatory on the summit of the Sonnblick. The observatory was 

 established by M. Rojacher in 1886, and completed at the ex- 

 pense of the Austrian Society and the German and Austrian 

 Alpine Club ; it has since been maintained at the expense 

 of these two institutions, together with a subvention from the 

 Ministry of Instruction, and aided by a small reserve from the 

 original building fund. The recent death of M Rojacher, and 

 the removal of the Alpine Club from a house on the summit, has 

 thrown such additional expense on the Austrian Society as to 

 endanger the efficient maintenance of the Observatory. The 

 station has already rendered good service to science and has 

 somewhat modified the theory of the nature and origin of 

 storms ; several physicists have also conducted experiments 

 there on radiation, atmospheric electricity, and other subjects of 

 considerable importance. We. hope, therefore, that the appeal 

 of the Society for funds for the efficient maintenance of the 

 station will meet with entire success. 



The trustees of the South African Museum, in their report for 

 the year 1891, record a serious loss in the mineralogical series of 

 the Museum's collection. On the night of September 7 and 8 

 the Museum was robbed of the Stonestreet collection of rough 

 diamonds, a separate diamond in singularly hard rock, and 

 several very interesting nuggets of South African gold. The 

 exhibition hall was broken into through one of the small upper 

 windows opening on the higher of the two galleries, and the 

 specially protected table-case, containing the diamonds and gold, 

 forced by shattering the lock. Two men — whose names, A. 

 McEwen and E. Cohen respectively, were already too well 

 known in the criminal records — were convicted of the robbery 

 at the Supreme Court session on the 13th November, and 

 sentenced to four years' hard labour. The police succeeded in 

 recovering 49 of the 173 diamonds belonging to the Stonestreet 

 collection, including most of the larger stones, but among the 

 missing majority are many unusual and abnormal crystalline 

 forms of much interest, collected with great pains by the late 

 Mr. Stonestreet, during the earlier years of mining in Griqua- 

 land West. The Du Toit's Pan diamond in indurated rock and 

 the gold nuggets have not been recovered. 



In the course of an interesting address delivered lately at the 

 opening of the new chemical laboratory of the Case School of 

 Applied Science, Prof. C. F. Mabery called attention to the 

 fact that notwithstanding America's abundant supply of crude 

 materials, with cheap fuel in unlimited quantities, and a ready 

 market with an increasing demand, she continues to pay enor- 

 mous sums for imported products which should be produced at 

 home. Prof. Mabery thinks, however, that the outlook for 

 the immediate future is encouraging. In several directions the 

 manufacture of chemical products has begun, and others, he be- 

 lieves, will follow. There are certain lines along which rapid 

 development may evidently soon be expected, and one of the 

 most promising is sal-soda. Until quite recently the Le Blanc 

 process, which was invented in France to manufacture soda-ash 

 when the supply from natural sources was largely cut off" during 

 the French Revolution, has supplied the world since early in the 

 present century. In utilizing all bye-products the great Le Blanc 

 works of Europe have been able to produce soda-ash at a trifling 

 cost. A Le Blanc plant has never been established in America, 

 and probably one never will be. Such a plant requires immense 

 capital, and, besides, a combination of coal, salt, and limestone, 

 that can be found close at hand in but few localities. Within a 

 few years another method, known as the ammonia-soda process, 

 has been put into operation in Europe. The first cost of a plant 

 for this process is not large, and since it furnishes a purer 

 product than the Le Blanc method, it will probably supply a 



