840 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
soon became cracked in every direction, vapour and gases 
issuing from tbe crevices.* 
Throughout the Gulf of Santorin the milk-white colour of 
the waters, and in many parts their almost boiling heat, attested 
the energy of the action going on below. A gradual diminu- 
tion of depth in the gulf was also observed by soundings 
taken from time to time. There were indications of small 
eruptions at various points. 
Shortly after midnight on the 9th of February, the sea 
being disturbed by a violent wind and the sky clouded, the 
effect of the heated lava was admirably seen on the air, and 
was greatly increased by the noises produced and echoed by 
the high wall of cliff which incloses the Gulf of Santorin like 
an amphitheatre, and rises to a height of nearly 1,000 feet. 
The next morning there was a visible increase of the new 
island, both in area and height. Next morning (11th Feb., 
9 a.m.), and again on the succeeding day, jets of flame were 
seen to rise, accompanied by black smoke. On the morning 
of the 13th there appeared above the water a second island, 
since called Aphroessa. Its position is marked in the chart 
(see Plate) by the letter b. 
This new island, upheaved out of a sea of boiling mud, 
brilliant with luminous vapours, was at first covered with 
marine plants and detritus. It changed its appearance several 
times during the first six days of its existence, but became 
settled by the 20th. It was then of elliptical form, about 
250 yards in circumference, and 30 or 40 feet high. There 
was a depth of 17 fathoms water between the new island and 
New Kaimeni. 
On the same day (20th February, 10 a.m.) there was a small 
but sharp eruption of scoriae from the promontory George. A 
column of smoke, 200 yards thick at its base, is said to have 
risen to a height of 2,500 feet, accompanied by flame and a 
torrent of ashes and stones. These stones or red-hot scoriae 
fell on a steamboat anchored close by, in attendance on the 
members of a Greek scientific commission recently arrived, and 
on a small trading-vessel belonging to Santorin. The captain 
of the latter was killed and the vessel set on fire. The crew 
jumped into the sea and swam to shore. Two of the crew of 
the steamer were injured slightly, and the vessel itself injured. 
The members of the commission were then on shore, and had a 
* The island of New Kaimeni which has been thus exposed to disturb- 
ance and destruction during the present eruption, was originally composed of 
two parts — one porous and scoriaceous, the other of trachytic lava. It was 
formed in 1707, at the last eruption, and the movements connected with its 
upheaval lasted about five years. The original cone was 330 feet above the 
sea, and there was a crater on the summit 80 yards in diameter. 
