142 The Eruptions at Santorin. 



their chemical condition ; and it is most remarkable that not- 

 withstanding the chemical decompositions and recompositions 

 that occnr during the preparation of certain sorts, their final 

 properties depend upon the original condition in which their 

 alkaline earths were found. 



THE ERUPTIONS AT SANTORIN .* 



We have on several occasions laid before our readers various 

 facts concerning the interesting volcanic eruptions at Santorin, 

 and we have now before us a valuable paper on the subject, 

 accompanied by large and beautifully-executed maps and 

 diagrams. 



The German philosophers to whom we are indebted for this 

 work commence by pointing out certain resemblances between 

 the Kaimeni, or " burnt/' Islands of the Santorin group, and 

 the volcanic region immediately surrounding and comprehend- 

 ing Vesuvius. The island of Thera, or Santorin, is approxi- 

 mately semicircular in form, and opposite to its western or 

 concave side are two other islands, Therasia and Aspronisi — 

 the latter being very small — which follow the general curvature 

 of the main island, and with it enclose a sea-basin more than 

 five miles in diameter, in the midst of which the Kaimenis rise. 

 Von Buch, in accordance with his well-known theory, considered 

 the whole formation to be " a crater of elevation," formed by the 

 upheaval of the sea-bed ; but examination in this, as in most 

 other cases, dissipates his conjectures, and shows these Santorin 

 volcanoes to have modified the surface by the outpouring of 

 molten matter. MM. Fritsch, Reiss, and Stiibel say, " Let us 

 imagine Mount Vesuvius and Somma to be lowered, so that 

 the sea might enter into and partly inundate the Atrio del 

 Cavallo, we should then obtain a distribution of sea and land 

 analogous to that seen at Thera and the Kaimeni Islands, a 

 smaller part of the cone of Vesuvius rising from the sea in 

 the midst of encircling Somma." Somma is, as most of our 

 readers will know, the name given to the ancient cone, the 

 remains of which partially surround the newer cone known as 

 Vesuvius, and formed in 79 during the tremendous eruption in 

 which the elder Pliny lost his life. After indicating the 

 analogies between Vesuvius and Santorin, our authors point 

 out the differences, and observe that " while on Mount Vesu- 

 vius the volcanic action has always been confined to the existing 



* "Santorin: the Kaimeni Islands." From Observations by Iv. V. Fritsch, 

 W. Keiss, and A. Stiibel. Translated from the German. — Triibner and Co. 



