132 
VOLCANIC CRATERS AND EXPLOSIONS—DISCUSSION. 
were to be seen, beyond a few large stones scattered about the upper surface of 
the cone. Such examples of volcanic action as these hardly come under the head¬ 
ing of those mentioned by Prof. Mercalli as either Strombolian or Vulcanian. As 
to the question of subsidence, it seems to me that the chemical theory does not 
suffice to account for the vast majority of cases. It is of interest to note that 
nearly all the lakes in Japan are in the volcanic districts. Some of them are 
crater-lakes, pure and simple; but others occupy large shallow depressions at 
or near the bases of volcanic cones, are practically circular, and sometimes 
as much as 10 miles in diameter. The formation of such lakes must be ex¬ 
plained on the more simple ground that the strata in the vicinity have collapsed 
as the result of the removal of vast quantities of material from beneath the 
surface through volcanic agencies. 
The President : I believe there is no one else who is prepared to address us, 
but I am quite sure you will not wish to separate without moving and carrying 
a vote of thanks to the reader of the paper. For my own part I should like to 
say that I never heard a paper read here which more impressed me with the 
conviction that the lecturer was a master of his subject. So markedly was this 
the case that he seemed, so far as I could judge, to be quite independent of his 
manuscript, and he talked as easily and well in terms of science as most of us 
talk badly in the vernacular. The same observations apply in a scarcely 
inferior degree to the speeches of the two gentlemen who were kind enough to 
address us afterwards, and who spoke with a very intimate knowledge of the 
subject, to which I cannot lay claim, although in olden days I have climbed to 
the top of a good many volcanoes in different parts of the world. When Air. 
Bruce Mitford was talking to us about Japan and about the fearful explosion of 
Bandaisan, which occurred some years ago in that country, I remember an 
incident which was mentioned to me by Prof. Milne, who as you know, is a great 
authority on seismology and kindred branches of science. I was in Japan 
shortly after that great eruption took place, which, as Mr. Bruce Mitford told us, 
blew out the entire side of a vast mountain and discharged a volume of material 
that succeeded in absolutely obliterating from existence several villages and 
killing many thousands of people. He said he had been in that neighbourhood 
just after the explosion, and he had naturally inquired how, even in spite of the 
suddenness of the eruption, the mortality had been so terrific, and how it was that 
no warning had been given to anybody of the imminent catastrophe; and he had 
ascertained that when the explosion took place there was one man, a native 
Japanese, who was looking after his herds on the side of the mountain and 
witnessed the occurrence. There was no reason apparently why he should not 
have warned the people living in the villages a little lower down. By an 
extraordinary accident he managed to escape himself, and when asked after¬ 
wards whether he had seen the explosion he said that he had, but in answer to 
the further question why he had not gone down to warn the people in the 
villages below he replied that he could not do that because he had seen a black 
fox and therefore knew that the eruption was an optical illusion. Apparently 
a Japanese peasant seeing a black fox is so firmly convinced he is bewitched, 
that he does not believe in any unusual phenomena that may occur at the same 
time. This suggests to us that when Dr. Tempest Anderson makes a journey to 
Japan, as we are told he is going to do, he will probably come across some 
specimens of the human race more simple than those with whom he is 
accustomed to deal. But however that may be, I can only hope that he will 
bring back from that country information and data that will take the shape of 
another lecture here at no distant date. 
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