Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-24
Volcanic Surprises.



For volcano once supposed to be mac
tive, NesuVius has prepared some lively
surprises for the jewellers in its neighbOr-
mood. Its latest surprise has been to shake
up railroad and destroy several houses.
The people of Herculaneum and POmpeii
thought NesuNiu extinct, till one dav if
proved in very thorough manner that it
could still be reused to activity. Since
then no one has been deceived by its
Quetude.
Other volcanoes beside VesuVius have
from time to time INDUCED in what seems
to be the general volcanic propensity of
creating surprises. Thus no one would
expect to have mass of rock of some
5000 cubic feet suddenly descend upon
them from the sky. But people living
nine miles from CotopaXi were on one oc-
casion treated to such surprise. The
Carthagenians, when they set out against
Syracuse, were not prepared to cross the
fiery river which, to their surprise inter-
cepted their march at Mount .Etna. They
had no boats with which to cross it.
The great.eruption of TOmbOro surpris-
ed people for some go miles around, the
distance at which the force of the eXplO-
sion was heard. They wondered what
was the matter until they learned of the
eruption from one of the twenty-siX per-
sons who were saved ont of population
of 1900.
Surprises of another kind, fearful de-
luges, are the first indications 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 a surprise of a beauti-
full though fearful kind to see fiery foun-
tain play to height Of 700 feet from the
side of mountain. Such a fountain on
Mauna Loa. in 1852, was magnificent
illustration of volcanic assure, the pres
sure of lava at the crater being relieved
by this new outlet. The cracks often
seen on volcanoes, which form bikes
radiating from the centre, are created in
this manner. Small extra craters, vol
canoes on volcanoes, which gradually be-
come cOne-shaped, are found along these
assures.
Another surprise. There is no flame in
volcanic eruption, as is generally repre-
scented most graphically in chrOmos. The
suppOsititiOus flames are simply a reflec-
ton of the lava on the cloud of ashes and
cinders. How great a volume of the lat
ter is elected can be well understood
when it is stated that enough ashes and
cinders were elected during the TomborO
eruption to cover the whole of Germany
two feet deep.
The islands which have occasionally
surprised the inhabitants along the coast
of the Mediterranean by appearing sud-
denly under their very eyes are the re-
suits of volcanic action. But probably
the greatest surprise connected with this
subject is the formation of volcanoes. A
volcano is originally nothing but a hole
in the ground, formed often at no eleya-
ton by the swelling and breaking of an
earth bubble. The mountain which
springs up around this opening is
formed by accumulatlons of successive
eruptiOns. The great age OF volcanoes
which, like Mauna LOa and Mount .Etna.
are 1900 and 11,000 feet high, can be
readily appreciated from this fact, and
from the further fact that Etna had
attained almost its present height when it
was observed by Greek writers $500 years
ago.
A volcano is 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 eluptiOns,
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 a
liquid condition. but the better opinion
seems to be that the lava occurs in sub
terranean lakes. But the theorists agree
that the proXimate cause of volcanic
eruption is the contact of water with
molten rock.