38 



NA TURE 



[No 



those of the Kri'suvi'k sulphur mines, and the so-called 

 "porcelain rock," a bed of very pure, white, and compact 

 siliceous sinter or geyserite, deposited by some long 

 extinct boiling spring. It was not till the afternoon of the 

 next day that the weather cleared up a little, and a long 

 and patient watch from the top of a hill behind the light- 

 house was at length rewarded by the discovery of a dim 

 spot on the horizon, which close observation through a 

 good telescope showed to be the new island. It was 

 quite invisible to the naked eye, but the light-keeper 

 assured me that he had often seen it in clear weather, 

 without a glass. When first seen, on July 29, its shape 

 was that of a truncated cone with a slight depression on 

 the top, and a considerable hollow half way down the 

 slope on the north side. 



On August 5 and 6 a series of violent earthquake shocks 

 occurred, which shook and split the masonry of the 

 lighthouse and damaged the lamps. For several days the 

 new island was obscured by mist and rain, and when it 

 again became visible its shape was considerably altered : 

 a large part of the slope on the south side had slipped 

 down into the sea, where it now lies, forming two little 

 hillocks close to the foot of the main mass, and leaving a 

 steep face nearly perpendicular towards the bottom. On 

 the north side there is shoal water extending some distance 

 from the island. The length of the island is about one- 



The New Volcanic Island off Reykj. 



third greater than its height. It lies nearly west-south- 

 west of Reykjanes, and considerably to the north-west of 

 Eldey. Two French naval officers who visited Reykjanes 

 and made observations of the island about a fortnight 

 before I arrived there, estimate its distance from the 

 coast at nine or ten miles, but I believe it to be consider- 

 ably greater. When first seen the island was perfectly 

 black, but now the light-keeper tells me he can in clear 

 weather distinguish by the aid of his glass a perceptible 

 whitening of the upper part, due no doubt to the droppings 

 of the myriads of sea-fowl which frequent the neigh- 

 bouring islands and coast, and have apparently at once 

 taken possession of the new island. 



It is a singular fact that none of the usual volcanic 

 manifestations seem to have announced or accompanied 

 the rise of the new island ; no earthquakes were felt, no 

 smoke or fire seen, and no pumice found floating on the 

 sea. The island seems to have risen calmly and silently, 

 without a soul being aware of its appearance, till, on July 

 29, the light-keeper happening to look out to seaward, dis- 

 covered it. For aught that any one knows to the contrary, 

 it may have been there for many days before he happened 

 to see it. No one has yet visited the island itself ; the sea 

 off Rekjanes is almost always rough, and the currents are 

 very strong round the cape ; the islands are surrounded 



by shoals and reefs ; landing is at all times difficult and 

 dangerous, even in the best weather, and quite impossible 

 if the sea is at all disturbed ; and as, since the discovery 

 of the island, the weather has been for the most part 

 stormy, intending explorers have been deterred by the 

 dangers of the passage. Singularly enough, a French 

 war-vessel and a Danish gun-boat which passed Reyk- 

 janes shortly before my visit failed to see the new island. 

 From the direction in which the new island lies, and its 

 apparent distance from the coast, I am inclined to think 

 that it must lie near to the Geirfuglasker (Gare-fowl 

 Skerry), one of the four islands above mentioned, which 

 lies somewhat to the north-west of the line formed by the 

 other three, and which, being low and flat, cannot be seen 

 from Reykjanes. It is not impossible that the new island 

 is merely an addition to or upheaval of the old Geirfug- 

 lasker, which, by heightening it so as to make it visible 

 from the shore, would produce the impression that a new 

 island had risen. This view is held by some of the fisher- 

 men on the coast who are familiar with the islands, but 

 the point cannot be definitely settled till the island is 

 visited. W. G. Spence Patersdn, 



H.B.M. Consul for Iceland 

 British Consulate, Reykjavik, September 27 



TELESCOPES EOR ASTRONOMICAL 

 PHOTOGRAPHY 

 I. 

 TJEFORE giving any suggestions as to the best kind of 

 -L' telescope to use, and the best methods to follow in 

 the application of photography to astronomical observa- 

 tion and record, it may be more convenient to mention 

 briefly what can be done in this way, particularly as the 

 subject will be new to many who have not followed closely 

 what has been recently done. 



I wish to mention (1) That photography has now shown 

 itself to be capable of giving us pictures of nebulas that 

 are superior to those made by eye and hand. (2) That 

 anything that can be seen by the eye with a telescope of 

 a certain size can be photographed, and, further than this, 

 stars that are too faint to be seen in this telescope can 

 yet be photographed by it with sufficient exposure. (3) 

 That portions of the heavens of several degrees extent 

 each way can be photographed, and stars therein of a 

 magnitude smaller than that shown on the best existing 

 charts or maps, pictured in their proper relative positions 

 and magnitudes in a quicker, better, and more accurate 

 manner than by the plan hitherto used. (4) That it is 

 possible thus to make a complete series of such pictures 

 embracing the whole heavens, that will be practically free 

 from human error. (5) That each individual nebula, cluster, 

 or group of stars, can also be taken on as large a scale as 

 possible, and firm a supplement to the picture-maps on 

 the smaller scale. (6) That though such pictures may 

 differ slightly from the eye observations, owing to the 

 different colours of light not affecting the eye and the 

 sensitive plate in the same manner, they would have the 

 enormous advantage that they could be compared, directly 

 with other pictures, taken, after the lapse 1 if any number of 

 years, under conditions that there would be no difficulty 

 in making almost identical. (7) That there are other 

 applications of this new power, as in direct enlargements 

 of the surface of the moon piece by piece, of the planets, of 

 double stars, and close clusters, and indirectly in the dis- 

 covery of planets, either major or minor, by the simple 

 process of direct comparison of star pictures taken at inter- 

 vals, when the actual position of a planet will be recorded at 

 each date. If there be a planet beyond Neptune, such a 

 plan as this is perhaps the only way to detect it, especially 

 if it is now near the Milky Way, where stars of its 

 probable magnitude cluster so thickly that no process 

 other than this could be used to chart the stars and detect 

 movement. If these things can be done, and I most 



