J0LT 10, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



51 



cite, perhaps in part decomposed. The quartz 

 and apparently also the glassy feldspar are 

 bright but the hornblende, augite and mica are 

 of course not so abundant in the dacite and 

 are less evident. An examination with a 

 petrographic microscope confirms the conclu- 

 sion that the dust is the product of the pul- 

 verizing action of the explosive gases on the 

 rocks through which they are escaping, and 

 not the result of the explosive expansion of 

 gases in a liquid lava. 



That heat has recently risen in the core of 

 Lassen Peak is evident from the fact that 

 whereas it was once cold now it is hot and 

 steaming. When E. E. Hayden and I were on 

 the mountain in July, 1883, and slid down the 

 2,000-foot snow bank into Hat Creek on our 

 way to Yellow Butte there was no sign of heat 

 in the summit of Lassen Peak. The rocky 

 summit of the peak, struck by many thunder- 

 bolts during storms and superficially fused 

 here and there by the lightning to fulgerite, is 

 still as it was then and the little lake is there 

 as in 1883; but the heat and the crater are 

 new. Mr. Bushing tells me that these new 

 features appeared with the first eruption. But 

 the fact that the other hot places about the 

 mountain are not yet perceptibly hotter indi- 

 cates that the rise of temi)erature is local and 

 does not at least as yet affect the mountain 

 mass. Time alone can tell what Lassen is 

 going to do. The volcano may subside to its 

 former quiescence. But we must not forget 

 that it was only the top of the old Vesuvius 

 that was blown off to make Monte Somma and 

 the Vesuvius of to-day. Krakatoa blew up 

 from the very base with tremendous effect. 

 There seems no good reason at present to fear 

 a Krakatoan outbreak at Lassen Peak, but the 

 part of wisdom dictates a close watch. 



Eruptions, as a rule, break out suddenly. 

 Sight-seers will generally find the viewpoint 

 from which Loomis's photographs were taken 

 close enough if the mountain is active, but if 

 all is quiet and the seeker after knowledge 

 must see the crater for himself he should be 

 sure to ascend on the windward side, and ap- 

 proach with caution. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



Sib William Osler, regius professor of 

 medicine in the University of Oxford, has been 

 elected a foreign associate of the French Acad- 

 emy of Medicine. 



McMastee University, Toronto, has con- 

 ferred the degree of doctor of laws on Mr. 

 David Hooper, late economic botanist of the 

 Botanical Survey of Lidia. 



The honorary degree of doctor in engineer- 

 ing has been conferred by the Eoyal School of 

 Mines, Freiberg, Saxony, on Edward Dyer 

 Peters, Gordon McKay professor of metal- 

 lurgy at Harvard University. The degree was 

 conferred upon Professor Peters in recogni- 

 tion of his academic and practical services and 

 writings on the metallurgy of copper. 



Sir St. Clair Thomson has been elected an 

 honorary fellow of the American Laryngolog- 

 ical Association. There were only four living 

 honorary fellows of the association — ^Pro- 

 fessors Chiari, Massei, Moure and Sir Eelix 

 Semon. 



The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain 

 has awarded its gold medal to Professor G. H. 

 Bryan, of the University College of North 

 Wales, for his work on aviation. The previous 

 recipients of the gold medal of the society, 

 which is the highest award of British scientific 

 aeronautics, are Wilbur and Orville Wright 

 (1909), and Octave Chanute (1910). 



A CIVIL list pension of $600 has been granted 

 Mrs. Annie Wallace, widow of Alfred Eussel 

 Wallace, in consideration of his eminent serv- 

 ices to science and her inadequate means of 

 support. 



From the long list of honors conferred on 

 King George's birthday on June 22, Nature 

 selects the following as having done work for 

 science : Sir Leonard Lyell, Bart., a nephew of 

 Sir Charles Lyell, and formerly a professor of 

 natural science in the University College of 

 Wales, has been made a peer. Colonel S. G. 

 Burrard, F.R.S., surveyor-general in India, 

 has been appointed a K.C.S.L, and Mr. E. A. S. 

 Eedmayne, C.B., chief inspector of mines, has 

 been promoted to the rank of K.C.B. The 

 new knights include : Dr. J. G. Frazer, author 



