May 25, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



831 



by merely solfataric phenomena, for three 

 years. Fissuring of the cone and slight out- 

 pourings of lava began in May, 1905, and con- 

 tinued until April 5, 1906, when the fourth 

 great outburst from the principal crater oc- 

 curred, accompanied by the formation of 

 deeper and larger fissures in the southeastern 

 wall of the cone, from which a great mass of 

 Ruid and scoriaceous lava was erupted. After 

 a pause the maximum outburst took place 

 during the night of April 7 and 8, and blew 

 3,000 feet into the air scoriaB and lapilli of 

 lava as fragments derived from the wreckage 

 of the cone. The southwesterly wind carried 

 this ash to Ottajano and San Giuseppe, which 

 were buried under three feet of it, and even 

 swept it on to the Adriatic and Montenegro. 

 At this time the lava which reached Torre 

 Annunziato was erupted. The decrescent 

 phase began on April 8, but the collapse of 

 the cone of the principal crater was accom- 

 panied by the ejection of steam and dust to a 

 height of from 22,000 feet to 26,000 feet. On 

 April 9 and 10 the wind was northeast, and 

 the dust was carried over Torre del Greco and 

 as far as Spain; but on April 11 the cloud 

 was again impelled northward. The ash in 

 the earlier eruptions was dark in color and 

 made of materials derived directly from the 

 usual type of leucotephritic magma; but later 

 it became grayer and mixed with weathered 

 clastic material from the cone. The great 

 cone had an almost horizontal rim on April 

 13, very little higher than Monte Somma, and 

 with a crater possibly exceeding 1,300 feet in 

 diameter; this cone was almost snow white 

 from the deposit of sublimates. Many deaths. 

 Professor de Lorenzo states, were due to as- 

 phyxia, but the collapse of roofs weighted 

 with dust was a source of much danger, as 

 was the case at Pompeii in a.d. 19. The lava 

 streams surrounded trees, many of which still 

 stood in the hot lava with their leaves and 

 blossoms apparently uninjured. The sea level 

 during April 7 and 8 was lowered six inches 

 near Pozzuoli, and as much as twelve inches 

 near Portici, and had not returned to its 

 former level on April 13. The maximum 

 activity coincided almost exactly with full 



moon, and at the time the volcanoes of the 

 Phlegraean Fields and of the islands remained 

 in their normal condition. Professor de 

 Lorenzo believes that this eruption of Vesu- 

 vius is greater than any of those recorded in 

 history with two exceptions — those of a.d. 79, 

 the historic eruption which destroyed Pompeii 

 and Herculaneum, and of 1631, when Torre 

 del Greco was overwhelmed and 4,000 persons 

 perished. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 

 Union Theological Seminary has received 

 two anonymous gifts amounting to $325,000 

 toward the cost of its building to be erected 

 on a site adjacent to Columbia University. 



Albion College is now building a new bio- 

 logical laboratory, 45 to 60 feet, four stories 

 high, which is expected to be completed in 

 time for the opening of the college year in 

 September. Mr. Andrew Carnegie has pledged 

 $20,000 to the endowment fund of the college 

 on condition that $80,000 additional be raised 

 for the purpose. Mr. Carnegie has also given 

 Kenyon College $25,000 to aid poor students. 



A NEW scholarship of $5,000 has been given 

 to Barnard College, Columbia University, by 

 Mrs. , George W. CoUord in memory of her 

 brother, George W. Smith. 



The council of New York University has 

 decided to buy the Schwab property, of about 

 thirty acres, adjoining the campus on the 

 south. 



Lady Jebb has given Cambridge University 

 a fund amounting to upwards of £3,500 in 

 memory of the late Sir Richard Jebb. The in- 

 come of the fund is to be paid to Lady Jebb 

 during her lifetime, and afterwards to be de- 

 voted to such object, related to classical or 

 other literary studies, as the university may 

 select. 



According to the New York Evening Post 

 a project is well under way for the estab- 

 lishment of a university in British Columbia. 

 Lieutenant-Governor Dunsmuir offered to en- 

 dow a department of mineralogy, metallurgy 

 and mining to the extent of $125,000, with 

 subsequent annual subscriptions for its sup- 



