May 17, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



385 



Observations extending over a period of several years have failed 

 to determine any established law of periodicity for the Bee-Hive, 

 even for three or four consecutive months ; although they indicate 

 that some relationship may exist between its display and those of 

 the famous Giantess. Frequently the Bee-Hive will play several 

 times a day, and then become dormant, showing no signs of activ- 

 ity for weeks and months, although the water may stand above the 

 boiling-point the greater part of the time. The name " Bee-Hive " 

 was suggested by the symmetry of the cone built around the vent. 

 It rises about 4 feet abave the sloping mound of geyserite, and in 

 cross-section measures about 3 feet at the top, while at the bottom 

 of the cone the vent is less than 10 inches in width. From the top 

 of this narrow vent it is possible to sink a weight only 17 feet be- 

 fore striking a projecting ledge, which interferes with all examina- 

 tion of the ground below. The constant boiling and bubbling of 

 the water, the irregularity of its action, and the convenient location 

 of the geyser, within an easy walk from the hotel, make attempts 

 to accelerate the eruptions of the Bee-Hive most attractive to tour- 

 ists. 



In most instances such efforts are futile : yet success does .so 

 frequently reward the astonished traveller, that, unless the geyser 

 were carefully watched by the authorities, attempts would be made 

 daily throughout the season. If the conditions are favorable to an 

 eruption, it usually takes place in from 10 to 25 minutes after the 

 addition of laundry-soap or lye. It is doubtful if more than two 

 eruptions of the Bee-Hive have ever been produced on the same 

 day by artificial means, although I know of no reason, based upon 

 the structure of the geyser, why more displays might not be ob- 

 tained ; for the reservoir and vent fill up with boiling water very 

 rapidly after each eruption. 



Although the Giantess is situated only 400 feet from the Bee- 

 Hive, these two differ in surface and underground structure, and 

 mode of action, as widely as any two of the more prominent 

 geysers of the park. Around the Giantess no cone or mound has 

 formed. The broad basin is only partially rimmed in by a narrow 

 fringe of silicious sinter, rising above and extending out over the 

 deep blue water. At the surface, this basin measures about 1 5 to 20 

 feet in width by 20 to 30 feet in length. It has a funnel-shaped 

 caldron, 30 feet in depth, ending in a vertical vent or neck 12 feet 

 deep, through which a sounding-lead may be dropped into a second 

 reservoir, meeting a projecting ledge or obstruction of some kind 

 61 feet below the surface. After an outburst of the Giantess, the 

 basin, which has been completely emptied of its water, gradually 

 fills again to the top ; and for days before another eruption a steady 

 stream of hot water overflows the brim. The intervals between the 

 eruptions of the Giantess vary from twelve to twenty days, and the 

 displays last several hours, being unsurpassed for violence and 

 grandeur by any geyser in the Upper Basin. Artificial means have 

 never been successful in bringing this geyser into action, although 

 for days before an eruption it is an easy matter to cause an agita- 

 tion of the water by throwing into the basin small pieces of sinter, 

 or to produce a boiling on the surface, lasting several minutes, by 

 simply stirring the water with a stick. 



The Giant, one of the most violent of the geysers in the Upper 

 Basin, more closely resembles the Bee-Hive than any other of those 

 along the Firehole River. It has built up a cone 10 feet in height, 

 one side of which has been partly broken down by some erup- 

 tion more violent than any witnessed at the present day. Through 

 this notched side, steam and broken jets of water are constantly 

 emitted ; and on this account but little examination has been made 

 of the underground reservoirs and vents. The Giant is fitful in its 

 action, at times playing with considerable regularity every fourteen 

 days, and at other times lying dormant for nearly a year. I have 

 no positive knowledge that an eruption of the Giant has ever been 

 produced by any other than natural causes. At the time of my 

 experiments, no eruption of the Giant had taken place for several 

 months, although the water was constantly agitated ; so much so, 

 that it was quite impossible to examine the vent with any satisfac- 

 tory results. The only effect produced by the application of lye 

 was additional height to the column of water thrown out, and a 

 decided increase in the thumping and violence of the boiling. 



In the Lower Basin, the Fountain has been more carefully 

 studied than the other geysers ; and, its action and periodicity of 



eruptions having been fairly well ascertained, it afforded the most 

 favorable conditions for observing the action of soap and lye upon 

 the waters. In its general structure, the Fountain belongs to the 

 type of the Giantess, having a funnel-shaped caldron, which, long 

 before an eruption, overflows into an adjoining basin. At the time 

 of my experiments upon the Fountain, the intervals between erup- 

 tions lasted about four hours. This interval allowed sufficient time 

 to note any changes which might take place. My own experiments 

 with lye yielded no positive results ; although it seemed highly 

 probable that action might be hastened by the application of soap 

 or lye just before the time for an eruption, or when, for some 

 cause, the eruption was overdue. I preferred to make the attempt 

 to bring about an explosion before the usual time, only waiting un- 

 til the water in the pool had nearly reached the boiling-point. All 

 experiments failed. The previous year, when wishing to produce 

 action for the purpose of photography, I was enabled to accomplish 

 the desired result by vigorously stirring with a slender pole the 

 water near the top of the vent connecting with the lower reservoir. 

 In this instance, it should be said, the usual interval of time be- 

 tween eruptions had long since passed : the geyser was, so far as 

 time was concerned, a half-hour overdue. My opinion now is that 

 the experiments with lye failed because the temperature had 

 scarcely reached the boiling-point. 



The Monarch, in the Norris Basin, is quite unlike those already 

 described, and affords evidence of being a much newer geyser. It 

 is formed by two convergent fissures, on the line of a narrow seam 

 in the rhyolite, probably coming together below the surface. The 

 main vent measures about 20 feet in length, and at the surface 3, 

 feet in width. But slight incrustation is found around the vent,. 

 the conditions not being very favorable to deposition. In this nar- 

 row fissure, the water, which ordinarily stands about 15 feet below 

 the surface, constantly surges and boils, except immediately after 

 an eruption. The intervals between eruptions vary somewhat front 

 year to year ; but at the time of these experiments the action was 

 fairly regular, the geyser playing every four hours. I was success- 

 ful in obtaining an eruption quite equal to the natural displays, 

 which throw a column of water 50 feet into the air. Here at the 

 Monarch there is no surface reservoir ; and the narrow fissure,, 

 filled with loose blocks of rocks around which the water is in con- 

 stant agitation, prevents all measurements of depth. 



The results of the many experiments, not only upon active gey- 

 sers, but upon a large number of hot-springs, determine fairly well 

 the essential conditions which render it possible to bring about 

 geyser-action by artificial means. Negative results are frequently 

 as valuable for this inquiry as experiments yielding imposing dis- 

 plays. 



Outside of a few exceptional instances, which could not be re- 

 peated, and in which action was probably only anticipated by a few 

 minutes in time, geyser eruptions produced by soap or alkali ap- 

 pear to demand two essential requirements, — first, the surface- 

 caldron or reservoir should hold but a small amount of water, ex- 

 posing only a limited area to the atmosphere ; second, the water 

 should stand at or above the boiling-point of water for the altitude 

 of the geyser-basin above sea-level. The principal factor which 

 makes it possible to cause an eruption artificially is, I think, the 

 superheated and unstable condition of the surface-waters. Many 

 of the geysers and hot-springs present the singular phenomena of 

 pools of water heated above the theoretical boiling-point, and, un- 

 less disturbed, frequently remain so for many days without exhib- 

 iting any signs of ebullition. It may not be easy to describe 

 accurately these superheated waters ; but any one who has studied 

 the hot springs and pools in the park, and carefully noted the tem- 

 peratures, quickly learns to recognize the peculiar appearance of 

 these basins when heated above the boiling-point. They look as 

 if they were "ready to boil," except that the surface remains placid, 

 only interrupted by numerous steam-bubbles, rising through the 

 water from below, and bursting quietly upon reaching the sur- 

 face. 



Marcet, the French physicist, has specially investigated the phe- 

 nomena of superheated waters, and has succeeded in attaining a 

 temperature of 105° C. before ebullition. Superheated waters in 

 nature, however, appear to have been scarcely recognized, except 

 during the progress of the work in the Yellowstone Park, in con- 



