30 



NA TURE 



[Nov. 8, iJ 



"Anatomy for Artists" 



I THINK perhaps if it were known to Dr. Marshall that his 

 " Anatomy for Artists " is not u^^ed in cases where it otherwise 

 would lie, because of his decision to omit letters of reference in 

 the illustrations of the bones, he might think it better to alter 

 this in a new edition. 



Dr. Marshall admits that his plan maybe a strain, but perhaps 

 he does not know hciw great a strain it is w hen students are not 

 studying leisurely but in the limited time given in schools of art 

 to an anatomy course. Even if he disapprove of any haste in 

 study, he would surely be sorry to hinder rather than help those 

 who have to be quick. 



I heard recently a lecturer on anatomy refer his pupils to bool<s 

 inferior to Dr. Marshall's, regretting, he said, to set aside the 

 best book they could have, but adding that, from the want of 

 reference letters, many of the students would simply be puzzled, 

 discouraged, and confuted. 



I have only Dr. Marshall's book, and although the illustrations 

 are too good to allovs of any great difficulty arising, still I have 

 foi-nd the u^-e of it a strain. I doubt, too, if the plan secures a 

 "more accurate knowledge of the forms," as Dr. Marshall hopes 

 -it may. Perhaps so, after a little knowledge has been gained, 

 but in the first struggle the student has an uncomfortable hazi- 

 ness as to whether he has found the right groove or projiinence 

 upon a bone, which prevents his forming a definite picture of it 

 in his mind. 



Certainly letters spoil the illustrations, but might there not be 

 small key drawings beside the larger more finished ones. 



An Art Student 



Meteor 



I WAS just now startled by what apjjeared to be a vivid flash 

 of lightning out of a perfectly cloudless sky, a fluttering flash 

 that lit up everything brilliantly. On turning to the south-east 

 I was just in time to see the broad path of fire that a sulendid 

 meteor had left behind it ; the meteor was falling behind some 

 trees, and I saw it very imperfectly, but it seemed very large, 

 and indeed must have been from its light. I had been locking 

 out from time to time for shooting stars all the evening, and 

 had seen three fine ones and four or five small ones, all in the 

 east, and appearing to come from the neighbourhood of the 

 Bull. The sky is covered with the lovely light that always 

 appears with shooting stars, and which I think is sometimes 

 called hom >geneous aurora. J. M. Hayward 



Sidmouth, November 4 



THE JAVA ERUPTION AXD EARTHQUAKE 



IV A VES 

 ■pOR the following facts the writer is indebted to the 

 ■*• kindness of Herr Emil Metzger, formerly Director 

 of Surveys in the Dutch Government service in Java. 

 His original accoimt, written before September 12, has 

 just appeared in the Globus. The present paper is based 

 upon that, but it contains several small additions and 

 corrections which have been received dire-tly from the 

 author. Most of the geographical details here given are 

 based on the Trigonometrical Survey of the coast of Java, 

 which was carried out under Herr Metzger's immediate 

 direction in 186S-69. 



A line drawn eastwards from Flat Point (Vlakke Hoek, 

 Tandjong Blimbing, or Rata), the south-western ex- 

 tremity of Sumatra, would touch the south coast of that 

 island only in two points,— Tandjong TikCis and Tandjong 

 Tawa, or darkens Hoek. Between these promontories are 

 the bays of Semangka and Lampong.i The opposite 

 coast of Java follows generally a north-easterly direction 

 almost to Anjer. Along this stretch it deflects, however, 

 more than once towards the south and the east, and forms 

 Seagull, Welcome, and Pepper Bays. Midway in the 

 channel of the Straits, and on a straight line drawn from 

 Tandjong Tikiis (the western side of Lampong Bay), to the 

 westein head of Pepper Bay, lies the Island of Krakatoa 



' See the map of the Sunda Straits in this journal, September 6. 18815, 

 p. 444; VVith this coiMp:ire the n.ap given in Globus (vol. xUv. No. 15, | 



may be found than could 



(called also Krakatau, Rakata), with several smaller 

 islands near it. Sebuku and Sebisi are two islands 

 situated between Krakatoa and the south-eastern extre- 

 mity of Sumatra. About half way between Anjer and 

 Point St. Nicholas, and only separated from the main- 

 land by a narrow belt of water, is the Island of Merak 

 (Pulu Merak). On the opposite mainland were the 

 extensive quarries of Merak, which have now totally 

 disappeared. P'urther, in the narrowest part of the 

 navigable channel, lay a group of islands, of which the 

 largest, Thwart-Way or Sunghian (Dwars in den Weg), 

 has been rent into five pieces.' 



From the manner in which Sebisi (the peak 2818 feet 

 high) and Krakatoa fpeak 2700 feet) rose immediately 

 from the waves, and from the great depth of the sea 

 around them, Junghuhn was led to conclude that Sumatra 

 and Java, in spite of the corresponding configuration of 

 their approximating coast-lines, and the fact that they are 

 both volcanic, do not belong to one continuous formation. 

 The Island of Krakatoa, considered by Junghuhn to be a 

 continuation of the mountain system on the adjoining 

 coast of Java, was about five miles long by about three 

 broad ; and close at its foot were the two small islands 

 Verlaten and Long, on the west and east respectively. The 

 Trigonometrical Survey of 186S-69 fixed the position of 

 the cone of Krakatoa as 105° 26' E. long, and 6^ 8' S. lat. 

 Like most of the islands in the Sunda Straits, Krakatoa 

 was clothed from base to summit with a luxuriant growth 

 of forest and of tropical vegetation. When in the course of 

 the survey the northern face of the mountain was visited 

 in the latter year, several warm springs were found — a 

 common enough thing, however, in these islands. More- 

 over, Krakatoa, as well as Sebisi, was at that time totally 

 uninhabited, being only visited occasionally by the in- 

 habitants of the neighbouring coasts for the sake of the 

 products yielded by the woods. 



On May 20 in the present year several shocks, accompa- 

 nied by loud explosions and hollow, reverberating sounds, 

 were observed at Batavia and Buitenzorg, each about 100 

 miles distant from Krakatoa. That these phenomena 

 were not seismical was recognised at once ; the magnetic 

 needle of the magneto-meteorological observatory showed 

 no deviation, only a trembling motion in a perpendicular 

 direction. A few days later came the news that a vol- 

 canic eruption had taken place on the Island of Krakatoa, 

 where nobody had once thought of looking for the seat 

 of the phenomena. The captain of a mail steamer, how- 

 ever, which passed the island at about 6 p.m., has since 

 reported that the needle on his ship was violently agitated, 

 being spun round repeatedly.- 



From the deck of another vessel which was passing 

 about eight o'clock on the evening of the 22nd, a dome- 

 shaped mass of vapour, mingled with smoke of a dark 

 gray colour, was seen to rise from the lower part of the 

 island. The first thing noticed was from ten to fifteen 

 dark red " sheaves " of fire flashing up in rapid succession 

 from the base of the column. These were followed by 

 explosions, more or less loud, resembling discharges from 

 artillery, so that the ship, which was sailing at no great 

 distance, distinctly felt their influence. In the upper part 

 of the volume of smoke appeared an uninterrupted series 

 of flashes, diftering in no respect from ordinary lightning 

 flashes, except that thev were discharged concentrically 

 upon the column from the atmospheric clouds surround- 

 ing it. The heat emanating from the locality of the 

 eruption was sensibly felt on the hands and face at a 

 distance of nearly two miles away ; the presence of a 

 powerful marsh-gas was also easily detected. Se\eral 

 nautical miles past Krakatoa a thick shower of fine dark- 

 gray sand continued to fall upon the ship for the space of 



*_ The earliest telegrams spoke of a volcano Sungepan. which had been 

 split into five craters. This appears to have been a mistake; there never 

 was a volcano of this name in this place, nor is there now. It is onlv an 



= See the Dutch Natuiir, September 15, 1883, p. 262. 



