December 15, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



835 



the first puff the flame rose as a brilliant 

 mushroom-shaped m.ass, which immediately 

 changed its form to a straight jet of fire that 

 must have risen to a height of at least 1,000 

 feet. No noise whatever preceding or accom- 

 panying the fire was to be heard from Brigh- 

 ton, which is across the low hills within four- 

 teen miles of the place where the new island 

 was formed. The fire disappeared below the 

 horizon in about five minutes, leaving a cloud 

 of smoke that drifted away. No light was to 

 be seen in the sky the rest of the evening, 

 which makes it certain that the flame either 

 became reduced to a very small size or died 

 out entirely. 



The point at which this new gas volcano 

 burst from beneath the sea is about two miles 

 off the south coast of Trinidad. The water is 

 shallow and banks are shown in the vicinity 

 on some maps. On one of these banks asphalt 

 is reported to exist. It is likely that gas 

 springs and mud cones have previously existed 

 on the sea floor in the vicinity. The vent lies 

 along the eastward extension of an east-west 

 line of active gas volcanoes and oil springs 

 that traverses the southeastern tip of Trini- 

 dad. This line is mapped by Mr. Cunning- 

 ham Craig, formerly government geologist of 

 Trinidad, as an anticline. Another assump- 

 tion that may be considered equally tenable is 

 that the gas volcanoes and asphalt cones may 

 follow a zone of faulting. The strata are 

 highly tilted and contorted and afford little 

 definite evidence as to the character of the 

 structural line. The Columbia volcano, the 

 largest of the gas volcanoes in this belt, has 

 formed a broad mound many acres in extent 

 and 50 or 70 feet in height. An explosion had 

 occurred there just a few days before my visit, 

 in the latter part of October, and throvm up 

 a mass of mud around the crater that in- 

 creased the height of the summit several feet. 

 The sides of this cone as well as of some others 

 in Trinidad, notably the one called " The 

 Devil's Woodpile," are strewn with pebbles and 

 rock fragments that have been ejected from a 

 great depth. 



A point of unusual interest regarding the 



late eruption is that the gas took fire. The 

 reports so far received give no details bearing 

 on this point, but it seems unlikely that the 

 original ignition took place through human 

 agency. If it did not the phenomenon is one 

 which has seldom if ever been recorded before. 

 Two ways suggest themselves in which the 

 gas might conceivably have become ignited 

 through natural causes. One way is that 

 sparks might have been produced by the fric- 

 tion of boulders against each other as they 

 were shot out with the gas. Cases have been 

 reported to me by oil men in which sparks 

 were formed by boulders, projected under 

 great gas pressure from wells, striking the 

 casing and tools, but I have heard of no case 

 in which the gas was lighted. Another sup- 

 position is that electric sparks might have 

 been generated similar to those observed in the 

 vapor clouds emanating from Mount Pelee at 

 the time of its great eruption. 



Egbert Anderson 



THE FUTUEE OF THE LONDON 

 ZOOLOGICAL OASDENS 



From time to time suggestions have been 

 made respecting the transference of the men- 

 agerie of the Zoological Society of London to a 

 more suitable site ; and naturally when the fate 

 of the Crystal Palace has been engaging the 

 attention of the public, it has been urged that 

 to make it the headquarters of the Zoo would 

 solve the difficulties of both institutions. Cer- 

 tainly the clay soil at Regent's Park is not 

 specially suitable for animals, although it is 

 not as serious a disadvantage as is sometimes 

 supposed. 



A chief difficulty with animals in confine- 

 ment is that the ground on which they are 

 placed rapidly becomes contaminated with 

 organic refuse, and so forms a suitable nidus 

 for harmful bacteria. Whatever the soil may 

 be, it is necessary, in a majority of cases, 

 unless an enormous area is available, to cover 

 it with an impermeable surface ; and this treat- 

 ment is at least as urgent in the case of sand 

 and gravel as in that of clay. The present 

 area of the gardens in Eegent's Park is about 



