Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-04-15
A NOTED YALE PROFESSOR.

Popular Interest Pleasantly Dis
cussed.
The New York Times in an article in ref
srence to the recent new book by the venera-
BILE and beloved Professor j. D. Dana of Yale
university, who. by the way, is still as
sprightly in his walk as most any man of
fifty, says as follows:
Professor Dana of Yale has been famous 30
long that 1t is hard to realize that the same
man who accompanied Wilkes on his expe-
dition round the world Is an active member
of the faculty of that university, lectures
regularly and is the author Of this hand
some volume just from the press. His 40
quaintance with volcanoes antedates the
he ascended vssuvius and in 1888 visited
Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. In
1887 he revisited the Hawaiian Islands,
whose volcanoes he saw ffty-three years
before and made report concerning. Some
Of the results Of studies in those Islands and
in Oregon QS41), together with q second
visit to vssuvius in 1850, are found In his
Textbook Of Geology" by far the best work
OF It's kind hitherto published, which will
presently be issued in q new edition, the third
having been published in 1879. One may,
therefore. open this volume with the feeling
that whatever Its author says carries with 1t
the weight of name that stands foremost
In the ranks of science. If Professor Dana
has never subscribed to the more advanced
section of ideas concerning evolution, he did
not attempt to deny the main truth OF Dar-
wins reasoning like the elder Agassiz, but
has taught and still teaches evolution with
certain reservations that especially relate to
mankind. This indicates In him cautious-
ness IN coming to conclusions of sweeping
nature which is particularly valuable in prob
lens OF geology like those volcanoes oner,
since with phenomena of this kind nothing
is easier than to build extensive theories on
facts which are of partial application and
merely local in their nature.
True to this characteristic, Professor Dana
IL more concerned with o careful review of
all that has been written by observers con-
corning the volcanoes of the Hawaiian system
than to write q popular treatise. He lays
down first of all the main traits of volcanoes
and then takes up in succession the noun
tains Kilauea and Loa on Hawaii and the
volcanic islands Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and
Nihos, giving historical review of volcanic
action In the archipelago during the past
sixty-ssven years. A chapter on the stones
and leaves Is added by his son, Professor
Edward s. Dana of Yale, who has begun his
career somewhat in the track of
his fathers early work, namely In miner
alogy. Among those objects the things that
Is most certain to excite the curiosity of
travellers Is the brittle masses of flaments
carried from the boiling lava by the wind
and called by the natives the hair of the
goddess Pele. At one time 1t was thought
that these threads Of glass were blown off by
the wind, but they are now known to be
mechanically spun by the moving apart of
drops of molten lava. "In the letting and
splsshing of the lavas the flying clots and
drops pull out the glass into hairs, Just as
takes place In the drawing apart Of glass
rod when 1t Is melted In the middle" An
other is the "thrsad lace" found in the
ulated patterns. A third Is the stalaotite
which forms In vast quantities in hollows
Of cooling lava by the peroolation or con-
tact of moisture charged with silicates.
They are very slender and brittle, generally
cylindrical, and sometimes Of astonishing
length. It is not clearly understood how
they come to assume the shape they have.
What are called "bombs" are picked up on
the crater floor. They are often, II not
always. hollow and sometimes show crys-
tails inside. They are not thought to be
elected during extraordinary eruptions but
formed In some other way. Very large
spherical lava stones hollow within are
found, some SO large that they could be
used a. cabins. These volcanoes, indeed
might supply mankind with hot water for
cookery and the toilet, ready-mads habita-
tions, sulphur and steam baths and natural
glass of an Opaque kind for windows. They
ans of those who inhAbit them. While the
eruptions are generally peaceful and are
known oftensst by the appearance of escap-
ing lava streams below the crater wall, yet
earthquakes do occur of sufficient violence
TO destroy life and raise tidal waves very
dangerous to shipping and seaside towns,
and there is at least one tradition
In 1889 band OF natives flying from Q local
tyrsnt was surprised by an outbreak of the
volcano, and when the rear guard reached
the van the latter was found seated and lying
about, but dead-every man, woman and
child. 1t ia supposed that fumes from the
volcano killed them, perhaps in Q few min
utes. Yet there Is on tho edge of Kilauea
crater hotel called the Volcano house, with
baths heated by the fires OF Pele.
The results of Professor Dana's observa-
tions of these and other volcanoes, together
with his patient examination of the reports
Of the Rev. DR.. Coan of Hawaii. Messrs. w.
L. Green and w. 7. Brigham, the naturalist
David Douglas, Captain Wilkes and Lord
Byron, to mention only 9 few observers,
are of great Importance to the study of vol
canoes. He shows how the crust of the
crater, which 10 sometimes Arm and cool
enough for examination in most of its ex-
tent, Is slowly but surely forced upward
until the moment arrives when an internal
or external escape of lava takes place and
the crater crust drops down. The practical
value OF establishing such a rule for voloa-
noes, varying of course, In some respects
In accordance with the general mass of the
lies in the possibility of forstelling
q probable outburst. Kilsuea has given the
key because its action is usually slow and
when the critical time comes neither violent
nor very dangerous. The discharge of the
lava and the dropping Of the wide crater
crust do not occur periodically SO far AZ can
be told; but from the signs attending the
rise Of the crust an outbreak may be foreseen
to certain degree. The earthquakes that
come after the beginning of extraordinary
activity In the crater, but before the crater
crust tumbles In, are fairly supposed
to indicate the disruption of rocks
which let's the lava out. Strange to
say the lava sometimes runs off
without appearing on the exterior of the
mountain. Grand is the sight when It flows,
swift as quicksilyer or slowly as molasses,
down the rugged hills, destroying woods and
plantations, damming streams and falling
into the sea to the destruction of marine life.
If the lava reaches the sea In lively condi-
ton, as 1t sometimes does beneath the CLASSY
tunnels which are formed above It, then the
sea water does not hiss until the lava has
cooled little on the bottom. Sometimes
tnero are submarine eruptlOns, When the Dot
toms of vessels may be pelted with stones.
In such GASES the ocean Is strewn with par
boiled fish.
Professor Dana, In chapter on the topo-
graphy of the oceans in relation to volcanoes,
suggests ideas of great magnitude. He has
made map on Mercator's projection giving
approximately the depth of the oceans be-
yond 1000 fathoms, indicating where there
are areas of 1000, 1900, 5000 and 1000
fathoms. His object Is to show that there
IL certain law in the modelling of the
earth's surface on land and beneath the
water-'that System in the feature lines is
q fact; that the system is worldwide in is
scope; and-since these feature lines have
been SUCCESSFULLY developed with the ipro.
gress of geological history-that the system
had Its foundation in the beginning of the
earth's genesis and was developed to full
completion with its growth His conclu-
sion is negative to the assumption that
great ocean depths are related to volcano
systems. He considers them more primitive.
and to be referred to the primal modelling of
the earth.
HOSMRR LOSES HIS LICENSE.