Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-10
VOLCANIC SURPRISES.

For volcano once supposed to be mac.
tive, Vesuvius has prepared some lively
surprises for the dwellers in its neighbor
hood. Its latest surprise has been to shake
up railroad and destroy several houses.
The people OF Herculaneum and Pompeii
thought Vesuvius extinct, till one day it
proved in very thorough manner that it
could still be reused to activity. Since then
no one has been deceived by its quietude.
Other volcanoes besides Vesuvius have
from time to time INDUCED in what seems
to be the general volcanic propensity of
creating surprises. Thus no one would ex.
pect to have a mass of rock of some three
thousand cubic feet suddenly descend upon
them from the sky. But people living nine
miles from Cotopaxi were on one occasion
treated to such surprise. The Csrtha-
| genians, when they set out against SYRIA
cuse, were not prepared to cross the fiery
river which, to their surprise intercepted
their march at Mount Il ma. Tney had no
boats with which to cross it.
The great eruption of Tomboro surprised
people for some go miles around, the dis
lance at which the force of the explosion
was heard. They wondered what was the
matter until they learned of the eruption
from one of the twenty-six persons who
were saved out of a population of twelve
thousand.
Su 'prises of another kind, fearful del.
uges, are the first indications in many
South American districts that volcanoes
whose peaks are in the region of perpetual
snow have suddenly become active. the
deluge being caused by the melting Of
great masses of snow.
1t must also be surprise of beautiful
though fearful kind to see a fiery fountain
play TO hight of seven hundred feet from
the side of mountain. Such a fountain
on Alsuna L1s, in 1852. was magnificent
illustration of volcanic assure, the pressure
OF lava at the crater being relieved by this
new outlet. The cracks often seen on vol.
canoes, which form dikes radiating from
the center, are created in this manner.
Small extra craters, volcanoes on volca-
noes, which gradually become cone-shaped,
are found along these assures.
Another surprise. There is no fame in
volcanic eruption, as is generally repre-
scented most graphically in chromos. The
supposititious flames are simply reflection
OF the lava on the cloud of ashes and Gin
ders. How great volume of the latter is
elected can be we'll understood when it IS
stated that enough ashes and cinders were
elected during the Tomboro eruption to
cover the whole Of Germany twofeet deep.
The islands which have occasionally sur
prised the inhabitants along the coast Of
the Mediterranean by appearing suddenly
under their very eyes are the results of
volcanic action. Bat probably the greatest
surprise connected with this subject is the
formation of volcanoes. A volcano is
originally nothing but hole IN the gIound
formed often at no elevation by the swell.
ing and breaking of an eRrtn bubble. The
mountain which springs up around this
opening is formed by aecumulations
OF successive eruptions. The great
age of volcanoes which, like Mauna
Loa aud Mount -E5na, are 1900
and ii 600 feet high, can be readily
appreciated from this TACT, and from the
further fact that Hna had attained almost
its present hight when it was observed by
Greek writers ,, 500 years ago.
a volcano is a furnace on a magnificent
scale, the lava which it elects being molten
rock. The rock is so thoroughly fused by
some volcanoes that the lava is as thin as
honey, and flows with a velocity of fifteen
miles an hour. Sometimes it is spun out
In long, CLASSY threads by the action Of
bursting gas bubbles.
While there are two kinds of eruptions,
the quiet and the explosive, there are
many theories regarding the heat which
fuses the rocks into lava. Many think
that the interior of the earth is in liquid
bat the better opinion seems to
be that the lava occurs in subterrauean
lakes. But the theorists agree that the
proximate cause of volcanic eruption is the
contact of water with molten rock.