126 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 293 



In connection with the advanced work of agricultural students 

 in chemistry and biology. Professors Dunnington and Tuttle will 

 also conduct a small field-experiment station. On this the more 

 hopeful lines of investigation into problems of practical agriculture 

 will be carried out. 



THE ERUPTION OF BANTAISAN. 



On the morning of July 15 occurred a phenomenon of such 

 magnitude, and with results so serious, as to place it among the 

 most remarkable events of volcanic origin of which record exists. 



The place of eruption was the mountain of Bantaisan, situated 

 about four miles and a half from Lake Inawashiro, and about a 

 hundred miles directly north-west of Tokio, in latitude 37°36' 

 north and longitude i4o°6' east. The mountain is the terminal 

 peak of a group of hills rising from an extensive plain, and attains 

 an elevation of about 6,000 feet. Its summit is divided ; and the 

 lower or Sho-Bantaisan, with a height of about 5,000 feet, was the 

 actual place of outburst. 



The mountain is doubtless of volcanic origin, consisting largely 

 of scoriaceous matter ; mostly in a very much disintegrated condi- 

 tion, however. The immediate vicinity has, nevertheless, been the 

 seat of active volcanic disturbance within historical times ; though 

 the great earthquake of 161 1, and the formation of the lake near 

 Banzai-ya in the location of a mountain which disappeared about 

 1760, are the most recent phenomena of the region distinctively 

 volcanic in nature. 



Bantaisan itself is supposed to have been formed in the year 807, 

 as the result of an eruptive outburst ; but there is no actual record 

 of any period of volcanic activity, nor of any definite eruption, 

 though the extinct crater is well defined, and ancient Japanese lit- 



erature contains numerous allusions to the mountain as emitting 

 flame and smoke. 



This dearth of any actual record of eruption, taken together 

 with the appearance of the mountain (which presents from the dis-> 

 tance no evidence of former volcanic activity, and is clothed with 

 verdure nearly to the very summit, oak-trees growing high up its 

 sides, and only here and there showing projecting eruptive rock), 

 leads to the inevitable conclusion that the mountain must have 

 been free from actual eruptive phenomena for probably a thousand 

 years. Indeed, one ancient writer asserts that Bantaisan ceased 

 its existence as an active volcano with the origin of Lake Ina- 

 washiro. 



Evidences of slumbering volcanic force remained, however, in 

 the presence, at three different elevations on the mountain-sides, of 

 extensive hot-springs, the visitors to which were among the chief 

 sufferers from the calamity of July 15. 



Premonitory symptoms of an unusual disturbance were first ex- 

 perienced on the 13th, and continued, in the shape of rumbling 

 sounds and slight earthquake shocks, for two days a'nd nights ;: 

 yet the phenomena were not of such a nature as to cause appre- 

 hension, and the final catastrophe found the people of the vicinity 

 wholly unprepared, and took them by surprise. 



Definite information as to the e.xact nature of the occurrence,, 

 and accurate details concerning the phenomena actually appearing, 

 are, from the nature of the case, the remoteness and comparative 

 inaccessibility of the locality, and the character of the rural people 

 chiefly affected, not yet procurable. But the facts as at present 

 demonstrated appear to be as follows : — 



About eight o'clock A.M. the residents of the villages around the 

 base and sides of Bantaisan heard loud rumbling sounds, and ex- 

 perienced severe shocks of earthquake. These phenomena were 

 immediately followed by the falling of showers of ashes, which 

 darkened the sky when not illumined by flashes of dazzling flame,, 

 apparently emitted from the earth. Violent earthquakes shook the 

 ground, and the crest of Sho-Bantaisan seemed to be lifted bodily 

 upwards, fall again, and totally disappear, in the midst of a violent 

 and deafening explosion. 



This phenomenon was followed by showers of red mud, steam,, 

 boiling water, and large stones, but no gravel or small stones. 

 Next followed a second shower of ashes mixed with mud, which 

 continued till houses, thatched huts, were buried sometimes to a 

 depth of twenty feet by the ingulfing mass. The phenomena con- 

 tinued in all their severity for about two hours, when the climax 

 seemed to be reached, after which the forces seemed to gradually 

 subside, till about four P.M., when they appeared to have spent 

 their power, and the extent of the catastrophe could be discovered. 



All crops for an average radius of five miles from the mountain 

 were destroyed, and great damage was done by the damming of the 

 Okawa River, and consequent inundation of an extensive region. 

 The number of houses totally destroyed was 195, while 63 more 

 were more or less damaged. The total number of deaths is placed at 

 600, and 476 bodies have been recovered. The number of injured 

 thus far reported is 41, while 1,000 persons are supposed to have 

 been rendered destitute. 



Two craters were opened by the eruption, one of which occupies 

 the site of the former upper spring on Sho-Bantaisan, about twa 

 miles from the former summit. The diameter of the crater thus 

 formed is little less than five miles, and the mountain-peak above 

 this elevation has wholly disappeared, while one other of the 

 four cones has materially diminished in size. Both craters are at 

 latest accounts, the 26th of July, still in a state of constant though 

 quiet eruption, emitting smoke, steam, and occasionally ashes, the 

 latter having the appearance of disintegrated rock of a dull-bluish 

 color. 



Though an eruption of Bantaisan has never been considered a 

 probable event, and the recent phenomenon has had no local pre- 

 cedent, the mountain is situated on one of the four lin'esof volcanic 

 activity known to exist in Japan, embracing a series of several ac- 

 tive volcanoes ; in the light of which fact, the eruption, with all its 

 attending phenomena and ensuing disaster, cannot be regarded as 

 either exceptional or matter for surprise, though possessing unusual 

 scientific interest, and demanding the fullest human sympathy. 



H. E. Stockbridge^ 



