666 iiEPOET— 1888. 



After this awful calamity, whicli lias caused me so much loss, the crater has 

 recommenced the rushes of steam, ashes, &c. This was a time of comparative 

 diminution of activity, which had lasted for some days. Soon, however, it began 

 the old game of throwing stones, boulders, ashes, &c., every two or three minutes, 

 in all directions. No doubt many of these boulders are 10 to 15 yards across, and 

 are projected as far as the sea, but often fall back into the crater itself. This state 

 of things is continuing incessantly and uninterruptedly, causing further damage and 

 frightening everybody. 



During the last three or four days the noise of the thunder and eruption is so 

 loud that from Lipari (at the distance of six miles) it would be impossible to dis- 

 tinguish it from a prolonged thimderstorm. 



Yours truly, 



A. E. Nakliax. 



In this letter we have a clear, unexaggerated account of the eruption that is 

 well worthy, from its analogy, of being placed side by . side with the renowned 

 epistle of Pliny the younger to Tacitus. Until it is possible to examine X\i& primary 

 or essential ejectamenta the characters of the eruption seem to be, with slight doubt, 

 of an intermediate stage between a paroxysmal and explosive eruption. The irre- 

 gidarity in tbe pulfs of smoke and ejections of stones indicated that, as from time 

 to time the crumbling sides of the crater blocked the vent, eruptive energy was for 

 greater or less intervals suppressed until stored up energy or increased tension 

 overcame the obstacle. 



Another point of interest was the presence of flames, which are so rare in vol- 

 canoes, but have repeatedly been seen in this one. These are the result, no doubt, 

 of the kindling of the sulphur deposited on the cooler parts around the fumaroles, 

 which gets lighted by the hot stones and gases. The peculiar tint is in all probability 

 due to the presence of boric acid (green) and sulphides of arsenic (grey blue). In fact 

 a year ago the stones in the immediate neighbourhood of the great fumarole were 

 covered by a boiling varnish of mixed realgar and sulphur, and when the latter 

 author of this paper moved the stones, the outrush of steam bespattered those 

 standing near with pearls of this compound. No doubt this presence of arsenic 

 bad increased of late and given rise to the special odour spoken of by Mr. Narlian. 



One of us hopes soon to visit Vulcano and report more fully upon this late 

 eruption. 



3. Report on the Volcanic Fhenomena of Vesuvius and its neighbourhood. 



See Repoi-ts, p. 320. 



4. On the Conservation of Heat in Volcanic Chimneys. 

 By H. J. Johnston- Lavis, M.I)., F.G.S. 



In various publications the author has endeavoured to enunciate the laws and 

 explain the phenomena of the absorption of water by volcanic magmas and the 

 liberation of the same. One group, however, of the phenomena were somewhat 

 neglected, and it is to these that reference will now be made. 



One who daily follows the phenomena of an active volcano such as StromboH, 

 Vesuvius, and others of the same type, cannot but be struck with the fact that the 

 enormous evolution of watery and other vapours does not suffice to reduce the 

 temperature of the magma to the point of solidification. 



By carefully following the details of the varying activity of the above- 

 mentioned volcanoes, which we will choose as our types, the matter becomes 

 comprehensible. There is little doubt that all igneous magmas are originally in a 

 vitreous condition, and that the passage from that state to a crystalline one must 

 be accompanied by the evolution of an enormous amount of heat, just as occurs in 

 the passage from the liquid state of water to the solid ice. AVere the magma 

 composed of a single chemical compound, we should expect that it would remain 

 at a fixed temperature from the commencement of crystallisation to the complete 



