Oct. 22, 1885 | 
NATURE 
601 
between August 15 and September 15, 1888, and Messrs. 
Blanford, Geikie, Hughes, and Topley have been 
nominated a committee to make the necessary arrange- 
ments. 
BOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF THE 
CHILIAN ANDES 
E are indebted to the Kew authorities for the 
accompanying extract from a letter dated August 
21, 1885, addressed to Sir Joseph Hooker by Dr. R. A. 
Philippi, the Professor of Botany at Santiago :— 
“My son made in the summer during 110 days a 
voyage from Copiapo to the River Camarones, the actual 
boundary between Chili and Peru. He went first from 
Copiapo to Antofagasta de la Sierra (26° 5’ lat., 27° 20° 
long., 3570 metres above the sea), where about 60 to 100 
people are living, and thence (nearly always on the high 
table-land of the desert at an elevation of 3500 to 4200 
metres) to Huasco de Tarapacd, from whence he de- 
scended to the tamarugal. The voyage extended over 
8 degrees of latitude. This high table-land is nearly a 
single bed of trachytic lava, on which are scattered a 
number of extinct volcanoes, three of which are higher 
than Chimborazo—viz. the Llullaillaco, 6500 metres (I 
was, twenty-one years ago, at its west foot) ; the Tumiza, 
6540; and the Pular, 6500 metres. There are many 
large salt lakes, several entirely dry. The vegetation in 
this easterly part of the desert is not so scanty as in the 
westerly, visited formerly by me, perhaps owing to a 
slight influence of the trade wind; and the water-places 
are more numerous and nearer one to the other. 
“ The number of species of plants brought home exceeds 
400, of which half are not described. Amongst them is 
one Polylefis (without flowers), found only in one 
quebrada, and P2/ostyles Berterit, a parasitic plant be- 
longing to the same family as Raffesca, found at the 
height of 3700 m.!—of course on an Adesmia. The 
three species of ferns are: Pellea ternifolia, Cheilanthes 
micropterus, and a beautiful Czzczznalis which seems to 
be new. The most numerous family is, of course, 
Synantherez, with 94 sp.; Graminee has 42 (among 
them a new species of JZunroa) ; Leguminose, 28-29; 
Verbenacee, 15; Solanacez, 28; Chenopodiacez, 15. 
Amongst these plants nine or ten must form, in my 
opinion, new genera. Some are very curious, as a 
Verbenacea, which grows in small hemispherical tufts 
and has the aspect of a Synantherea, with sessile flowers 
and pappus. This pappus proved to be a deeply-divided 
calyx with long cilia. There is another genus which I 
took at first sight for a 77zéudus. I hope that my age, 
my health, my eyes, and my time will allow me to draw 
up the generic diagnosis, at least, of these plants.” 
KRAKATAO 
SS publication of the first part of Verbeek’s “ Kraka- 
tao,” which chiefly contained the /zstory of the 
great eruption of 1883, had raised many expecta- 
tions regarding the promised description and discussion 
of the Ahenomena then observed. In his completed work, 
which contains 25 coloured drawings and 43 large and 
small maps, those expectations are fully realised. Im- 
mediately after the great outburst of August, 1883, the 
Dutch Indian Government sent him to visit Krakatdo 
and to investigate the causes and effects of this awful 
eatastrophe, more sudden and destructive than the famous 
eruption of Vesuvius. The great facilities they placed at 
his disposal enabled him to do this in the most satisfac- 
tory manner, and the really beautiful character of his 
completed work reflects the greatest credit not only on 
the learned author, but on the zeal and public spirit of 
the Dutch-Indian Government, who have aided him in | 
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making so valuable a contribution to scientific knowledge. 
So much interest has been taken by the general public, 
as well asby men of science, in this remarkable eruption, that 
we feel certain they also will welcome this volume, since 
it is lucid in style and profusely illustrated. With an 
expression of his gratitude to various institutions and 
individuals who have rendered him valuable assistance, 
the author gives in the preface a list of the weights and 
measures, together with a summary of the most recent 
ideas that geological science has received from the 
Krakatao eruption. 
Krakatao itself lies on the point of intersection of three 
fissures or cracxs in the earth’s crust, and from this posi- 
tion is naturally exposed to volcanic disturbances. The 
earthquake of September 1, 1880, which damaged the 
lighthouse on Java’s First Point, probably affected the 
Sunda fissure and facilitated the entrance of greater 
quantities of water into the volcanic furnace underlying 
the Straits of Sunda. Accepting the theory that volcanic 
eruptions are caused by steam at high pressure, we have 
thus the probable explanation of the terrible outburst of 
1883. From the observations of earthquakes in the 
Indian archipelago during the year 1883, it appears that 
the eruption was neither preceded nor accompanied by 
heavy shocks. It is even far from certain that any 
trembling of the surface took place at the time, since the 
vibration of the air caused by the explosion was sufficient 
to shake houses and crack walls, and thus might easily 
have been mistaken for earthquakes. The author further 
treats of the ejected materials ; their thickness, which, on 
some parts of Krakatao, amount to 60 metres; their 
size, varying from bodies of one cubic metre to the finest 
dust ; the velocity with which they were thrown out, 
which must have been considerably greater than that 
of projectiles from the heaviest rifled ordnance; the 
elevation which they reached has been calculated at 
50 kilometres, or nearly six times the height of Mount 
Everest, the highest mountain of the world, and the 
ashes have fallen over an immense area. From investi- 
gations made at fifty different places regarding the thick- 
ness of the fallen ashes and also the change in the depth 
of the sea around Krakatao, M. Verbeek has calculated 
that at least 18 cubic kilometres of matter must have 
been ejected. To give an illustration: imagine a box of 
ashes as large as Hyde Park and as high as the 
dome of St. Paul’s, a hundred such boxes will give an 
idea of the mass of matter thrown out by Krakatdo in 
1883. 
For three days after the eruption various ships to the 
westward found ashes falling on their decks; the names 
of these ships are given, as well as a map showing their 
exact position at the time. Mr. Verbeek believes that 
the finest particles, forced by the steam into the upper 
air, did not descend, but were carried westward by strong 
east winds, making twice the circuit of the earth and 
causing the phenomena observed at various places of a 
blue and green sun and moon. The passage of this 
cloud has been reported from islands and ships in the 
Pacific Ocean and its velocity must have been as great 
as that of a hurricane. After the steam and dust-cloud 
were dispersed over a wider area the beautiful red sunsets 
occurred, which were owing to the presence of such a 
large volume of aqueous vapour, while the blue and green 
colours of the celestial bodies were caused by the solid 
particles in the air. 
The author goes on to elucidate the geology of Krakatdo 
by two maps and four very instructive sections, showing 
its development during that number of periods. The 
first period was marked by the destruction of the great 
cone, probably 2000 metres high; during the second 
period the peak Rakata was formed by a lateral eruption, 
while in the third period two parasitic cones, Danau and 
Perbvewatan, were added, and these, by their successive 
eruptions, built up the island of Krakatao. In the fourth 
