44 



NATURE 



[May 1 6, 1872 



occupying a point on the north-west side of the mountain, and 

 red-hot lava began to flow down tlie Atrio del Cavallo. 



" Ott May 2 we all left oar hotel at a quarter-past 5 P.M. for 

 Vesuvius, driving up to the Hermiage, and then walking about 

 a mile to the incandescent stream. 



"The distant view presented a zig-zig line of fire. As we 

 approached we saw the movement of this stream of lava ; in 

 some points solid niiises were turned over and moved down- 

 wards ; in others, bright points occurred where sonae tree or 

 other combuitible wa^ inll imsd. Nothing could be more 

 splendid. It was a river of fire from fifty to one hundred yardi 

 in breadth. 



" We had seen the Falls of Niagara and the glaciers of the 

 Alps, all of a stupendous beauty ; but this was sublime and 

 fearful. 



" The lava on which we stood, near this stream^ was warm 

 and on raising a portion the substratum was red-hot. Was it 

 quite safe to be there ? 



" The view was magnificent, and our position possessed quite 

 sufficient of the fearful to make it sublime : a scene of moving 

 molten mxsses of liquid fire. 



"The stream issued, not from the summit of the mountain, 

 as heretofore, bat from its north-western side, on which seven 

 apertures existed. From the highest of these a burst of fire took 

 place upwards from time to time. 



"The stream seems to issue in a viscid half-liquid slate, whilst 

 its surface, and especially its edges, cold by contact with the 

 atmosphere, become solid, forming a channel and floating or 

 rolling masses. The lava remains long incandescent, even when 

 it lias become silid, being a b.ad conductor of heat. On the 

 same principle the misses of consolidated lava are formed in 

 minor masses, giving to the general mass of surface the most 

 irregular forms, frequently with sharp and prominent edges and 

 projections. Even when these masses are the smallest, it is 

 difficult and even dangerous to walk upon them. 



" On Saturday, May 5, I .ascended to the summit with Dr. 

 Bishop and my son. From the great crater at the summit there 

 issued much smoke, consisting chiedy of sulphurous acid gas. 

 This proved extremely irritating to the nostrils and bronchia, 

 inducing sneezing and coughing. Three openings existed near 

 together along the edge of the crater at the very summit, which 

 emitted a similar vapour. At points considerably lower, three 

 larger openings were formed on the north side of the cone, from 

 which immense quantities of smoke issued, mingled with fire, 

 differing somewhat in colour, and depositing sulphur of a light 

 green, orange, and bright yellow colour. At a distance the 

 green sulphur, spread over ancient lava, was mistaken, even by 

 our guide, for vegetation, but proved to be sulphur on a nearer 

 examination. 



"Below the third of these larger openings there was a cascade 

 of red-hot lava from the edge of a precipice, of immense dimen- 

 sions, presenting a sublime fall of liquid fire. 



"Along this part of the cone masses of stone continually 

 rolled down the slope, dislodged by the movement of the cone 

 (for none were ejected), which some of our party felt distinctly. 



" Below the fall the lava proceeded in a continuous stream, 

 consisting partly of flowing, partly of rolling masses, pursuing 

 an irregular ciurse downwards in the Atrio del Cavallo, in one 

 place dividing into two, in others t.aking a zig-zag turn. From 

 its surface a dense smoke arose generally, but in some places the 

 ex'stence and combustion of a tree gave a blight blaze of light. 



" The surface of some parLs of the lava stream had already 

 cooled and consolidated sufific'cntly to admit of our walking over 

 it. This surface was crisp and wave-like, and in some parts 

 sounded hollow when struck with our staffs. 



" We picked up one specimen of porous lava, in a crevice of 

 which a fly of considerable size was imprisoned, a miniature 

 picture of Herculaneum or Pompeii. Our boots were torn to 

 tatters." Charlotte Hall 



Brighton, May 10 



Earthquakes and Permanent Magnets 

 In a notice by Dr. A. B. Meyer in No. Il5, vol. v. of 

 Nature, respecting earthquakes in the Island of Celebes, 

 he states that the often-repeated story of the keepers of 

 permanent magnets detaching themselves, and falling at the 

 moment of an earthquake shock, was never verified in his ex- 

 perience. If I remember rightly, this peculiar action was first 

 mentioned by a Frenchman living on the west coast of South 

 America, and much doubted by many at the time. It is not 



likely that there is any difference between the effect of an Ameri- 

 can and an Asiatic earthquake on the magnet, if any such exists ; 

 but I must state, in corroboration of Dr. Meyer's note, that I 

 have had a permanent magnet and keeper suspended in my study 

 for many years, expressly for the purpose of testing this matter, 

 and on no occasion of an earthquake has the keeper fallen from 

 the magnet, not even in the terrific eaithquake of 1S63, which 

 was so destructive to the city of Manila and the neighbouring 

 provinces. 



The terrestrial disturbances still continue in the Philippines, 

 and almost every post brings us intelligence of earthquakes in 

 the provinces. More his occurred lately : an eruption of the 

 Mayou, a magnificient volcano in the province of Albiy, un- 

 accompanied, however, by any serious disasters. As 1 have already 

 mentioned .n my notice of the new volcano which suddenly 

 broke out in the island of Camiguin,* the past year has been re- 

 markable for the great number of earthquakes throughout the 

 Archipelago, especially in the great island of Mindanao, where 

 the new military colony on the great river suffered greatly. 



Manila W. W. Wood 



The Australian Eclipse Expedition 



In your number of Nature for December 7, iS7i,it is stated, 

 in regard to the Eclipse Expedition, that "notwithstanding the 

 supineness displayed by the other Australian colonies, it was still 

 hoped that the Government of Victoria would render such pecu- 

 niary assistance as would make it possible for the Expedition to 

 set out with some chance of success in obtaining results of scien- 

 tific value." 



Now, while giving all honour to the Royal Society of Victoria 

 for originating and carrying out the expedition, it is only bare 

 justice to the colonies of New South Wales and Queensland to 

 state that, but for the liberal way in which they responded to 

 the cause of science, there would have been no Eclipse Expedi- 

 tion here. No steamer could be obtained in Victoria within 

 the means of the Royal Society, and, at the instance of the 

 Government of New South Wales, who were moved by their 

 astronomer, the Government of Queensland lent a steamer and 

 contributed 115/. in money; while the Government of New 

 .South Wales contributed 330/. to the funds of the Royal Society 

 of Victoria for the Eclipse Expedition, and upwards of 130/. 

 towards the expense of steamer and their own observing party, 

 besidessending Lieut. Gowlland, without whose aid in navigating 

 the ship in those dangerous waters, the ship would not have been 

 lent, and there would have been no Expedition here. 



A Sydney Member of the Eclipse Expeditio.n 



.Sydney, March 25 



*„* Our information was derived from correspondents in Aus- 

 tralia. We gladly notify the correction, and give the Govern- 

 ments of Queensland and New South Wales their due. — Ed. 

 Nature. 



Waterspouts in the Fen-land 



The letter of Mr.Gray on a waterspout observed by him on 

 the river Ebwy, which appeared in your number for April 25, 

 vividly recalled a similar case which has come under my notice 

 in the Fen-land. 



During the summer of 1S70, while in D.:eping Fen on a day 

 when the wind was blowing in gusts, carrying the dry powdery 

 peat-dust in clouds before it, I observed a whirhng column of 

 ilust advancing towards me. It w.as like those smaller pillars so 

 frequently seen in the streets of a town on such a day, but «as 

 considerably larger, being from 15 to 20 feet in height. When it 

 was first seen it was advancing from the far side of a^'iv/i/n/, as 

 the unenclosed fields are called, towards me at the rate of about 

 six miles an hour, and was distant some five hundred y,ards. It 

 moved with an unsteady staggering motion, accompanied with a 

 rushing noise. I stayed to watch it cross a dyke about 15 feet 

 wide, which ran directly across its path. The smaller dykes it 

 seemed to cross without affecting them, but on reaching the one 

 in question itwhisked the water up into a waterspout some 10 feet 

 h'gh with a gurgling hissing sound, .and steering directly across 

 the dyke burst on reaching the opposite shore, projecting a con- 

 si lerable quantity of water upon the land. Tbis effort seemed 

 to spend its force, for the dust-column resumed on the opposite 



* In some accounts of this phenomenon, the 

 coast of Mindanao, has been confounded with a 

 name in the Bataanes, to the north of Luzon. 



