32 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 101. 



could it be found afterwards near its predicted place. 

 It is still doubtful whether this was the expected 

 comet. 



During the year, ten new asteroids or minor planets 

 have been discovered, making the total number now 

 known two hundred and forty-five. The new-comers 

 are as follows: (236) Honoria, discovered by Dr. J. 

 Palisa, at Vienna, April 26; (237) Hypatia, by Pa- 

 lisa, June 27; (238) by Knorre, at Berlin, July 1; 

 (239) by Palisa, Aug. 18; (240) Vanadis, by Borelly, 

 at Marseilles, Aug. 27; (241) Gennania, by Dr. R. 

 Luther, at Diisseldorf, Sept. 12; (242) Kriemhild, by 

 Palisa, Sept. 22; (243) by Palisa, Sept. 29; (244) by 

 Palisa, Oct. 14; (245) by Palisa, Oct. 27 (at first taken 

 for Andromache). W. C. Winlock. 



FURTHER NOTES ON BOGOSLOFF 

 ISLAND. 



An examination of the official report of Capt. 

 Healy, Lieut. Cantwell, and Dr. Yemans, of the U. S. 

 revenue-cutter Corwin, and of the drawings and 

 photographs by which it is accompanied, affords a 

 few further notes of interest in regard to this re- 



error in earlier measurements, including our own; 

 since the length of the peak, which cannot have 

 changed much, is only about a thousand feet. The 

 earlier estimates of the height of Grewingk were 

 about double its real height. The tendency is always 

 toward overestimating a height when there is noth- 

 ing adjacent for comparison, and accurate measure- 

 ments from on shipboard are extremely difficult. The 

 south spit of Bogosloff has certainly increased greatly 

 in length since recent disturbances, and now meas- 

 ures about eighteen hundred feet, when previously it 

 did not exceed one-third the length of Bogosloff. 

 The north end of Bogosloff rises nearly vertically with 

 a sort of cave at its base. The shores of both peaks 

 are fringed with large water-worn bowlders of hard 

 rock. The axis of the old peak and spit is in a south- 

 east by east direction. There was not the slightest 

 sign of recent vulcanism about it; and the crags 

 were the haunt of myriads of birds, but too crum- 

 bling to scale. There are no birds on the new peak, 

 and those accidentally entering its vapors are quickly 

 suffocated. Ship Rock rises eighty-seven feet, and has 

 been elevated about twenty feet above its old level, 

 judging by the barnacles still clinging to its sides. 

 The apex has crumbled a little, and is less squarely 

 cut than formerly. 





BOGOSLOFF ISLAND AND SHIP ROCK. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY LIEUT. G. H. DOTY, 1884. 



markable island. It may be recalled that the new 

 peak was first seen, so far as now known, by Capt. 

 Anderson of the Matthew Turner, Sept. 27, 1883, and 

 that therefore the application to it of the name of 

 Capt. Hague, on the ground that he was the discov- 

 erer, as suggested by Lieut. Stoney, is erroneous. 

 We prefer to retain the prior name of Grewingk, who 

 first collected and discussed all the existing data in 

 relation to the island and its changes. 



In regard to the Bogosloff peak, the new observa- 

 tions determine that it contains a dike or central lon- 

 gitudinal wall of laminated rock, probably volcanic, 

 of which Ship Rock may be an outlying spur. The 

 top and ends of Bogosloff are entirely, and the sides 

 partly, uncovered by the disintegration of a very friable 

 rock of different character from the core. The high 

 sharp pinnacles observed in 1873 appear to have been 

 destroyed by the commotions attending the upheaval 

 of Grewingk. The highest (east) point is now about 

 three hundred and thirty- four feet, the centre two hun- 

 dred and ninety feet, and the west part three hundred 

 and twenty-four feet in height. These differ slightly 

 from Stoney's figures, and considerably from previous 

 measurements. Allowing for all the probable dimi- 

 nution in height, due to various causes, we are con- 

 vinced that a large part of the discrepancy is due to 



Grewingk is less sharp than Bogosloff. As nearly 

 as could be determined through the steam- jets, the 

 highest peak of Grewingk is less than four hundred 

 and fifty feet, and its base is somewhat over three 

 thousand feet long. A deep ravine which apparently 

 represents the crater, but is too full of steam to af- 

 ford a fair view, extends in a north-easterly direction 

 through the upper third of the mass, and cuts off a 

 peak south-east from it, estimated to be four hundred 

 feet high and about one-fifth the volume of the whole 

 summit. The sides of Grewingk rise with a slope 

 varying from ten to forty-five degrees; near the base 

 it is gentler; and the surface of soft ashes, thickly cov- 

 ering broken rock. The slope, after the first three 

 hundred feet, becomes steeper, and chiefly of loosely 

 piled rocks; at two-thirds of the total height from the 

 base, a wall of volcanic pudding-stone checks further 

 progress. On the north-west side many irregular 

 rocks appear: the other sides are more thickly strewn 

 with ashes. There is no lava. Many steam-jets are 

 visible, but are noiseless or only purr slightly. In 

 one place, two-thirds of the way up, there is a group 

 of fifteen jets on a nearly horizontal plane, which were 

 notable for the force with which the vapor was emitted, 

 and for their intermittent regular pulsing. All the 

 vents were surrounded with dendritic sulphur crystals. 



