147 



On the island of Java during an eruption of Krokatao 

 more than 8 towns and 40 villages were washed away 

 in a few minutes and more than 40,000 inhabitants peri- 

 shed. At such times everything in the sea within twenty 

 or thirty versts of land is also destroyed. Vessels in 

 the harbours are left stranded, and masses offish strugg- 

 ling and leaping and wriggling lie on the dry sea-bot- 

 tom - - all to be borne with destructive violence land- 

 ward by the incoming wave and shattered to pieces on 

 the resisting rocks. 



There is again a notable analogy between these vol- 

 canic waves and the common tides, just as there was a 

 marked connection between the thunder-storms of the 

 Tropics and the Aurora Borealis of the Poles. As in 

 thunder and lightning electric force manifests itself in 

 storm, so also in volcanic tidal waves we see symptoms 

 of an abnormal condition seeking relief. The Aurora 

 Borealis on the other hand is a calm electric phenome- 

 non pointing to a peaceful condition of the elements, and 

 the daily ocean tides are not less the prbduct of a calm 

 normal sustained upheaval and subsidence of the marine 

 basin. And thus the volcanic tidal waves serve as another 

 link in our chain of evidence ; we can gather from them 

 still further confirmation of the idea that not any attrac- 

 tive lunar or solar force but a respiratory action of the 

 ocean depths produces tides. 



No doubt our earth like all living creatures breathes 

 oxygen gas, tor only under such a condition can we 

 account for the burning central fires of the globe, so 

 clearly testified by the fierce flames of volcanoes, and 

 the progressive rise of temperature as we descend through 

 the earth's crust towards its centre. 



And so we see that there exists a technical connection 

 between ocean streams and volcanic eruptions ; we see 

 that the one phenomenon produces the other. Naturally 

 we ask ourselves what is the significance of this connec- 

 tion? the phenomena themselves will supply the answer 

 to this question if we study them carefully. 



10* . 



