KNOWLI'.Dr.I- 



May. 1912. 



shore of till- laki'. It was still more marked on tlio 

 iiortliern tlaiik of the volcano, where an area aixmt 

 three thousand yards long, and six hundred and 

 twent\-live \ards wide was j^radually r.iiscd until it 

 became a new mountain. The area, which is repre- 

 sented by dotteil shadiii},' in I'ifjure 202. is bounded 

 on its southern sitle by two lines of dislocation (I and 

 II. Figure 202). which are parallel to, and just to the 

 north of, the principal explosive zone, \ A. Professor 

 Omori thinks it probable that the elevation of the 

 new mountain began on or about Jul}- 21st, when 

 the first earthcjuakes occurred ; but it was only after 

 .\ugust 20th that its appearance began to attract 

 general attention. Early in September, the elevation 

 must have been far advanced ; for. on the 7th of that 

 month, some houses, built on land which previously 

 sloped at an angle of fi\e degrees, were overthrown 

 in consequence of the increasing inclination. Two 

 months later, the height of the ridge of the new 

 mountain was found by barometric measurements to 

 be six hundred and ninety feet above the level of the 

 lake. As its height before the eruption began was 

 only one hundred and eighty feet above the same 

 level, it follows that the total elevation from the end 

 of Jul\- to the beginning of November was five 

 hundred and ten feet, giving an average rate of 

 upheaval of a little over live feet a day. Some time 

 before or after this, the process of elevation must 

 have ceased and an opposite movement set in, for, 

 during .April, 1911, the height of the ridge was found 

 to be one hundred and t\\ent\- feet less than in the 

 previous November. 



The new mountain is shown to the right of the 

 column of smoke in I'igurc 204, the dome on the 



left of the ligure being O-Usu. The southern face 

 of the new mountain consists of the steep surface of 

 the dislocations (I and II), the height of the slope 

 being about three hundred feet, its inclination 

 varying from thirty to sixt\- degrees. The other 

 side now slopes directly down towards the lake at 

 an angle of about thirty degrees. It is probable 

 that the slope is continued beneath the lake. If so. 

 this would account for the rise, by more than a foot, 

 which took place in the level of the water surface of 

 the lake in the latter part of July, the rainfall at this 

 time having been insignificant. 



Professor Omori regards the formation of the new 

 mountain as the primary or fundamental disturbance, 

 and the earthquakes and volcanic outbursts as 

 secondary- or attendant phenomena. The volcanic 

 energy of Usu-san, in his opinion, was manifested by 

 pushing upwards the underground lava-masses 

 beneath the three zones of eruption {A, B, C, 

 Figure 202), the result being the elevation of the 

 new mountain. In consequence of this action, 

 fractures must have been formed below the surface, 

 and the production of such fractures must have 

 caused the premonitory earthquakes, the greatest 

 frequency and intensity of these shocks coinciding 

 with the epoch when the formation of the fractures 

 was at an end. Then followed the explosive stage 

 in the volcanic action, when, on the night of July 

 25th, the gases and vapours began to escape from the 

 zones so prepared. The elevation of the new moun- 

 tain was most marked after the epoch of maximum 

 explosive activity, as the continued uplifting of 

 the ground would meet with few obstacles once 

 the actual dislocation had been effected. 



.AN .AEROPLAXK IXTKNDHD TO BE NON-CAl'SIZABLH. 

 Bv FRANK C. Pi: K KINS. 



The design and con- 

 struction of what is 

 claimed by William P. 

 Bary, of Paterson, New 

 Jersey, to be a non- 

 capsizable aeroplane, is 

 seen in Figure 205. It 

 is held that the object 

 in developing this aero- 

 plane was to maintain 

 lateral balance and, at 

 the same time, furnish 

 a means whereb\- it 

 would lie impossible for 

 the machine ever to 

 acquire an angle in 

 descent from which it 

 would be impossible for 

 the operator to recover 

 with the use of the 

 controls. 



1-IGlKI. J.<J3. 



It is held that this 

 has been attempted with 

 a full understanding of 

 the causes of a machine 

 getting beyond the con- 

 trol of the aviator, also 

 the effect of a low centre 

 of gravity in causing 

 oscillation and the dan- 

 gers attendant. The 

 inventor states that after 

 proving the non-capsiz- 

 able features in gliding 

 flights and the efficiencv 

 in towed flights, a motor 

 was installed which, it is 

 said. -has proven onl\- 

 Hist powerful enough to 

 gel the machine off the 

 ground under the most 

 favourable conditions. 



