46 The American Naturalist [January, 



of volcanic disturbance. About seven o'clock on the evening of 

 Nov. 3d, the China was pas&ing the Aleutian Islands, in Van Diemen's 

 Straits, when, suddenly, the island of Suson seemed all ablaze, and 

 flames and lava shot up a distance of 800 feet into the air. 



The steamer was twelve miles distant, and the spectacle, as seen from 

 her decks, was grand. The night was dark, and the eruptions from 

 the crater of the volcano took place at intervals of about fifty seconds. 

 They were accompanied by detonations, which, in the distance, sounded 

 like bombs exploding, and, after each discharge of molten lava and 

 flames, the burning fragments descended like sparks from a gigantic 

 Roman candle. 



The American bark Hesper, also lately arrived at San Francisco 

 from Kobe, Japan, after an excellent passage of twenty-seven days, 

 reports a graphic account of an experience with a submarine volcano, 

 hot sea-water and sulphurous gases. 



Capt. Sodergren states that, about 6.30 A. M., on October 28, while 

 lying at anchor in Kobe, the bark received a sudden shock that caused 

 the masts to strain and crack. Some of the standing rigging snapped 

 like a piece of twine, and all hands were thrown from their feet. The 

 vessel pitched heavily, and caused one of the cross-trees to break from 

 its fastenings and fall on deck. The waters became still an hour later, 

 and the bark put to sea. 



Early on the morning of October 30, when about seventy-five miles 

 off the Japan coast, the bark was almost thrown on her beam ends by 

 the sudden eruption of a submarine volcano. The water became so 

 hot that, when a sea was shipped on deck, the crew took to the rig- 

 ging. The heat became so intense that the pitch in the deck was 

 melted and the seams opened. 



" Great blasts of hot air, with a strong sulphurous smell," said the 

 captain, " would come up from the breaking surface of the ocean and 

 almost suffocate us for the moment. Then the membrane of the nos- 

 trils became irritable, causing us all to have a fit of sneezing. This 

 phenomenon lasted for several hours. I have had all I want of the 



Prof. Horace Briggs, of Buffalo, who was in Japan at the time of 

 the earthquake, says immense crevices, from which hot mud and steam 

 escaped, were to be seen in all directions.—- Scientific American, Dec. 19, 

 1891. 



The Report of the Minnesota Natural History Survey for 

 1889, 1 an 8vo. of 234 pages, has, for its contents: Summary Statement 



1 The Geologii " i.nesota. Eighteenth annual 



