70 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. Vm., No. 181 



on an island in its centre — like Crater Lake, in 

 Oregon, though on a larger scale. Out of it flows 

 the Waikato River, running 200 miles northerly 

 and westerly ; and along its banks, some 25 miles 

 from the lake, is one of the two great geyser dis- 

 tricts of the island. The other and more extensive 

 district is 40 miles north-north-east of LakeTaupo, 

 and about the same distance from the shores of 

 the Bay of Plenty. Here, among the mountains, 

 lakes, and forests of the famous lake district of 

 New Zealand, are the celebrated geysers, hot 

 springs, mud volcanoes, and solfataras, which rank 

 next to those of the Yellowstone in interest, and 

 even surpass those of Iceland. Of the lakes the 

 most picturesque is Tarawera, surrounded by 

 rugged bluffs, w-ith the mountain-peak of the same 

 name close by, to the eastward. Next in size is 

 Lake Rotorua, 6 miles in diameter, with a little 

 extinct volcanic cone in the centre. Rotomahana, 

 or Warm Lake, is surrounded by boiling springs 

 and siliceous terraces, and the temperature of the 

 whole body of water is always as high as 90° F. 



It was here, then, in the lovely lake district, and 

 from the ' not dead but sleeping ' peak of Tarawera, 

 that the great eruption burst forth on June 10, — 

 an eruption unprecedented in the history or tradi- 

 tions of the island, though far surpassed by others 

 that have left their ineffaceable record in the rocks. 

 Two years ago, it is said, the water of Lake Rata- 

 kakahi, usually cold, grew hot ; and there was a 

 strong outflow down the Wairoa valley into Lake 

 Tarawera for a day, when it resumed its normal 

 condition. This was all the warning, so far as yet 

 known, of this awful convulsion. At 1a. m., the 

 inhabitants of the little village of Wairoa were 

 aroused by a violent shaking of the earth, followed 

 by a continuous but not unpleasant motion. A 

 bright red glow became visible about the top of 

 the mountain, and vivid flashes of light seemed to 

 shoot up into the air. In an hour the flashes of 

 light became what seemed a massive pillar of fire, 

 rising, increasing, and extending along the range. 

 A dull rumbling accompanied it, and became a 

 terrific roar, with continuous explosions, loud 

 thunder, and vivid lightning, till heaven and earth 

 seemed to be torn asunder. The air was filled 

 with sulphurous odors, falling stones, mud, and 

 lava. The village was anniliilated, more than a 

 hundred natives perished, and the fertile plains 

 were buried in mud and ashes. 



Such, briefly, are the first particulars that have 

 reached us of this terrible convulsion. It has in- 

 deed given a temporary check to the x>rogress of 

 the island. But the mountain is now said to be 

 quiet again, and perhaps not many years will have 

 passed before the catastrophe is forgotten and its 

 damages repaired, as has been so often the case 



with Vesuvius and Etna. Geology teaches that 

 this is an old and dying region of volcanic energy, 

 and that each eruption is less violent than the 

 one preceding. We may therefore hope that 

 tins paroxysm will give relief, until the tension of 

 the earth's crust, accumulated for another decade 

 of centuries, shall again burst its bonds. 



Everett Hayden. 



THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 



The ninth general meeting of this association 

 was convened at Milwaukee, Wis., on Wednesday, 

 the 7th of July, and was dissolved on Saturday 

 of the same week. Dr. W. F. Poole, president 

 of the association, and librarian of the Chicago 

 public library, presided at all tlie sessions, of 

 which the first were mainly devoted to the reports 

 of committees, and the address of the president, 

 which was brief and pertinent. Dr. Poole dwelt 

 on the present urgent needs of libraries in general, 

 and regarded it as a great misfortune that the 

 plans for a building for the library of congress, 

 presented to the association at its Washington 

 meeting in 1881 and condemned by the unanimous 

 voice of its membei-s, and also the year following 

 at Cincinnati, should have been definitely adopted 

 by congress. The committee on the American 

 library association catalogue reported progress in 

 the work of formation of a catalogue of the 

 works most suitable for the foundation of public 

 libraries. The programme of the meeting was 

 one of unusual interest, embracing about twenty- 

 five papers relating in large part to special points 

 in library management, though by no means 

 wholly so. For example : Mr. Richardson's (Li- 

 brary Hartford theological seminary) paper, ' Why 

 librarians know,' showed a very good basis for 

 his modest plea for the recognition of librarian- 

 ship as one of the learned professions. Whether 

 they profess it or not, at all events librarians 

 practise learning, and they have to do so, or they 

 couldn't be librarians. The librarians of the new 

 era are a long way from exemplifying the com- 

 mon insinuation that their knowledge relates 

 rather to the outside of books than to their con- 

 tents. Among librarians the number of book- 

 producers is very large. Mr. Charles A. Cutter 

 (Boston athenaeum) followed w^ith a brief paper 

 on ' Close classification,' — a problem which, more 

 perhaps than any other, is agitating the librarians 

 of to-day. Shall the library be divided into a few 

 broad classes, — history, geography, science, art, 

 literature, and the like : or shall these be broken 

 into smaller parts, setting the history of England, 

 Germany, France, etc., each by itself, and break- 

 ing up science into physics, botany, zoology, etc. ; 



