The Hawaiian gazette., 1886-05-25
Kilauoa's Lessons to Science.

EDIuoE GAzErrl..-CREyIcEs Is the one word,
-hieh, 70 my apprehension, best describes the
utmost bottom Of the New Lake basin kilauea;
and % al crsters IN fact completely adOwn which
have ever been able to look; including Nesuyius
and Fukolll, or the s0urce OF the 1880 how MAu-
ullUIs-tle utmost bottom of the first named
clasm the uev lake basin. hilaueal or those por-
sluls Of At not concealed from view by cooled sur
face lava OF fallen debEis being found TO dwindle
Oh INTO minute 0rihces and cracks; the surface of
the hard basaltic rock, which Is hssured and par
ted 10 form the orifces and cracks above referred
TO, being heavily and deeply scarhed withal, as If
acted on and eaten into BY powerful corrodent.
Nov the surface scarltcation Of the infinitely
Insured rock constituting the bottom and sides of
crater basins Of volcanoes, cannot be held 10 prove
any thing more or less than the contact with
these s1rfaces ot molten lava n white heat; just
as the vladuct through which has been flowing a
stream Of molten lava, exhibits a similar scarifca-
ton az account Of its having been III contact
with the intensely heated liquid flowing II;
while tue sides and nrChed roof of the Viaduct
exhibit glazed surfaces on account of their being
10 contact Eith the intensely heated air filling the
space between them and the fiery stream below.
Neither does the minute hssuring OF the rock
bottoms Of the crater basins Of volcanoes prove
anything not already not admitted on all hands
only u does p)iHf IL the direction of the idea
/ 50 1t seems 10 the present writer, that the
deeper ard more ultimate forces at work produc-
Ing volcanoes, are gaseous, perhaps even dynamic
- constituted human nature Is, that spsefacles
OF objects meeting the view, the mind which an
pTehends fhem- az once goes TO specHlatisig: an
I t--AN- winch was Undoubtedly wrought upon
inlau by tue examination /, a while since of the
clgautically houey-combed bottom of the new lake
basin .hiigueal.
The hardest rock can be scarifed by the playing
On It OF blast OF super-heated air, quite as readily
by the mighty eheryeseuce close to- and the furi-
Gus rus1 past il, Of super-heated lava. That Just
before the Halemanma1 reservoir of molten lava
where II was existent was a second reservoir of
tue same material, separated from the first by a
hssured and honey rock partition, consti-
taiin nc bottom Of the upper con aiming basin,
Is possible. TO be sure although that which seems
altogether more likely Is that the reality actually
ssfeui beneath every risjIs reservoir of molten
Tara Is reservoir reservoirs perhApsl of iHrisils
tfHs9a; which, latent heat virtually and actually
] would upon nndlng Al some one point the
smallest dercc OF Eelletl enter al once upon the
process Of becoming lile by little. sensible heat
melting the rocks and creating molten lava in the
earth and on its surface, Just as the development
{ OF heat deeply within an iceberg Could melt into
existence interior c2ycrns and vladucts filled with
water.
/ Solid rock, subjected 10 pressure sufficiently
enormous, IS IN condition OF potentiol hquidity.
heatis latent force and force (pressure force, eg
latent heat, which. ceasinC by the giving vay of
that TO which II Is applied becomes srHsibe heat
lust as beat passing INTO coefned steam comes out
I as pressure, no; heat Steam so treated, having
no power to barn IT passes ont the orcs of exit
while at n little distance from the same orifcs.
share tie tension Of pressure Is some Ehat relieved
its power 10 burn Is something terrific. And mo-
tuu lrrCsted becoming heat, and heat consumed
becoming either notion force that can be trans
Lated into notion while pressure is force continu-
unsly eudeayoriuE to become notion continuously
prevented from % becoming II Is only what is to
/ be regarded as nj least possible, that the hard
est rock evcn-presssd Enthusiastically, BY force
sufficiently Titanic. the subteTrAnean depths of
earth are vertically pressed by the enormous SUI
psuucgmbsnt masses resting on them suddenly
relieved At point Of the Atlanean load weigh
IN Il down, shall, at the point where the relief
may he gained rush of and upward, in the twink
lihc Of an eve. IN the form probably Of incandes-
Z irg the basaliic creyices through which it sue
I ceeas in eating its way.
No; the complex aud mysterious thing il actually
Is. would this universe be, the planner of 1t
human speculation instead of divine omniscirnce
hrwever, The posiulation of reservoirs of invisible
tension, underlying the several volcanic orhces
| OF earth. seems quite as likely superstition As
. ths notion ot Two RESERVOIRS of molten lava, an
/ upper and lower; AID connected by passage ways
| almost capillary for smailneSs. That heat Is a
mode Of motion, notion form of heat and press
I an osscHtiai notion and coming short, IN form
Only. OF being ucfHal motion, all of ihern well
1 known facts, which can hardly fail of having
something 10 do With the mystery envelopinc the
I origin of sabierranean heat.
That the various lava streams, viii have
Z ponrcc foE-A from Nauna Loa, profnse and fun
ous az iirst. and thereuPoa gradually diminishing
/ "a volume and violence until they ceased TO dow
altogether, have behaved as they naturally would
behave. were they draining Of large subterranean
reservoirs OF liquid fire. Is doubtless true; xkie il
Is also true thai the gradual easement of the strain
u te7lo-l- A1Orueu oy the nssur1ng
ald displacement of portions Of the eArth,s crust
the little BY little letting Up and Cd of that titan
U really pressed spring which the deeply interior
EocAs o. our gr1be must necessarily be- would de
velope presisely the s7rne phenomena as those
resulting from the si5x draining of of reservoi-s
l ot liquid tre.
lncandescani fneteors passing through the at
rlospherc are case Of heat developed by friction
or partially arrested motion in some form, the
best Of either sun. stars earth can be produced
Is impossible for u.s. II our present condition of
knoSiedEe 10 even surmize- Erwin. r BAErK-