262 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 138. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



Recent volcanic activity in the United States : 

 eruptions of Mount Baker. 



In a late communication to Science from Capt. 

 Button of the U. S. geological survey, he mentions 

 the date 1850 as that of the latest volcanic eruption 

 within the limits of the United States. This must 

 necessarily exclude Alaska. He also refers to vague 

 reports of volcanic activity at later dates. 



In adding a mite to the subject of his paper, I 

 vrould ask your permission to recall three instances 

 of volcanic activity on this coast, leaving open the 

 question, What is the exact line between the smoul- 

 dering of the ' living ' volcanoes, and those which are 

 ' active,' or in ' eruption ' ? etc. 



1°. In 1854 I was one day observing at the trigo- 

 nometrical station on Obstruction Island in the Rosa- 

 rio Strait, Washington Sound : I had finished the 

 measures for horizontal direction of the summit of 

 Mount Baker, and was commencing a series of meas- 

 ui-es of the vertical angles for elevation, when I found 

 the whole summit of the mountain suddenly obscured 

 by vast rolling masses of dense smoke, which in a few 

 minutes readied an estimated height of two thousand 

 feet above the mountain, and soon enveloped the 

 higher parts. Baker was distant thirty-nine geo- 

 graphical miles from my station, and bore about north 

 seventy-five degrees east, true. The weather was fine, 

 and we hoped to see a brilliant display at night; but 

 unfortunately the sky clouded, and we could not see 

 the light at night, nor the mountain next day: when 

 the weather cleared, the eruption had ceased ; and, 

 instead of the white mountain mass, we discovered 

 that the snow covering it was apparently melted away 

 ioY two or three thousand feet below the two heads. 

 Of course the snow may not have been melted, but 

 only covered with ashes and scoriae; and we had not 

 the means of decidhig the question at that distance. 



We had been in those waters during parts of 1852 

 and 1853, and then the snow-clad mountain was quiet. 



We discovered that the crater was not on the sum- 

 mit, or on the secondary peak to the south-eastward, 

 but on the flank of the higher peak, and opening 

 towards the south or south-west. In subsequent 

 years we occasionally saw small volumes of smoke 

 issuing from this crater. The facts of this eruption 

 were reported by me at the time. 



2°. In 1858 Mr. John S. Hittell of San Francisco 

 was in Victoria, and he informs me that the night 

 clouds over Mount Baker were brilliantly illuminated 

 by the light from an eruption of Mount Baker. Upon 

 his making inquiries among the citizens of Victoria, 

 they expressed themselves as being well aware of the 

 eruption then going on. 



3°. I left these waters at the close of the season of 

 1857; but my colleague, Capt. James S. Lawson, who 

 succeeded me in that section, says there was no erup- 

 tion for the years he observed in the Gulf of Georgia. 

 In 18(17 and in 1869 I passed through the waters of 

 Washington Sound and the Gulf of Georgia, and 

 returned, all in sight of Mount Baker; but there was 

 nothing unusual in the appearance of the mountain. 

 In 1870, when I was passing through Admiralty Inlet 

 and the Strait of Fuca, towards Victoria, Mount Baker 

 was very clearly in sight at about sixty miles distance, 

 when I beheld great volumes of smoke projected from 

 the crater to an estimated height of eight hundred 

 feet above the higher peak. During my stay at Vic- 

 toria in September, with Mount Baker distant sev- 

 enty-three and three-quarter geographical miles, and 

 bearing north seventy degrees east, true, from Rocky 

 Hill, I made observations for the height of the two 



peaks, the position and size of the crater, and the 

 height of the snow-line. I made also an accurate 

 drawing of the outline of the mountain and its sur- 

 roundings, the more particularly because rumors 

 had found their way into the newspapers, asserting 

 that the summit of Mount Baker had fallen in. On 

 the contrary, I was perfectly satisfied, from ray years 

 of familiarity with its features, that no such catas- 

 trophe had taken place between 1852 and 1870; nor 

 was I able to detect any changes in 1877, when I was 

 daily in sight of Mount Baker for some time. 



I should call attention to the fact, that, a good 

 many years since, Mr. E. T. Coleman of Victoria (if 

 I remember his name properly), after two unsuccess- 

 ful attempts in two different seasons, was the first 

 alpine climber who made the ascent of Mount Baker. 

 He published his account thereof, with illustrations 

 of the glaciers, neve, etc., in Harper's magazine ; but 

 I cannot recall the date. I add the following data, 

 which were incidentally obtained in different years 

 by Capt. Lawson and myself when engaged in regular 

 coast-survey duty : — 



The geographical position of the higher and main 

 peak of Mount Baker is, latitude, 48° 46^34''' north; 

 longitude, 121° 50' 4'^. west. The height is 10,755 

 feet above the sea level ; the height of the second 

 peak, which lies probably two miles towards the 

 south-east, is 10,163 feet; the upper part of the crater 

 is 596 feet below the summit of the mountain ; and 

 the length of the crater about 400 feet. The crater 

 appears to be four times as long as it is broad ; the 

 narrowest part is the upper limit; and it lies on the 

 southern slope of the main peak, and parallel with 

 the slope, which I judged to be thirty degrees with the 

 horizon. The lowest limit of the snow-line in Sep- 

 tember, 1870, at the close of the summer dry season, 

 was 5,301 feet above the sea. 



These observations were made with a small instru- 

 ment at a long distance ; but my height of the princi- 

 pal peak differed only seventy-two feet from the mean 

 of previous observations, and I believe they are trust- 

 worthy. George Davidson. 



Davidson observatory, San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 1. 



Linguistic studies at the Siletz agency. 



In the abstract of my first paper read in Section H., 

 A.A.A.S., as published on p. 230 of Science for Sept. 

 11, a slight mistake was made. For ' three sets of 

 cardinal numbers, human, inhuman, and inanimate,' 

 read ' two sets of cardinal numbers, the human, and 

 the non-human series.' J. Owen Doksey. 



Washington, D.C., Sept. 19. 



Spectrum of the great nebula in Andromeda. 



By employing the eye fresh from some hours' sleep, 

 by looking for some time in the spectroscope, and by 



12 13 U 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 



l-l-l-l-l-l-l 



giving the spectrum' a slight apparent to-and-fro mo- 

 tion, I have been enabled, independently, upon Sept. 

 5, 7, 9, 12, 21, to discern three bright lines superposed 

 upon the continuous spectrum of the nebula in An- 



