Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-08-26
VOLCANOES.
WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT
THEIR MISSION IN NATUREIS.
Some Mistaken Notions About Vol
canoes - Where They Abound
Causes Which produces
Volcanic Eruptions.

ing mountain, from the summit oil Wnlcn
issue smoke aud flame" Now, as one
sarcastic volcanologist as gentlemen
who dive into volcanoes and their make
up are known-puts it, this is very
fine definition. but unfortunately it IS
wrong in every one of the propositions
advanced. 1t is very much like the def
milton OF the "Holy Roman Empire,
which was neither holy nor Roman nor
an empire, according to Bishop Will
Jams.
In the first place, John F. Judd, who
is among the best known among the
scientists, informs US there is no burn
ing or combustion in a volcano. In the
second place, volcano is not essentially
a mountain, but rather the exact reverse,
being in its primal stage hole in the
earth's crust, around which hill or a
mountain may be built by the upheaval
of lava, ashes, stones, aud other matter.
Nor is it the summit Of a volcano from
which the "smoke and flames" issue, as
Mr.. Judd wisely points out. frequently
the volcano is nearly passive at its sum
NIT, the eruptions being on its sides.
Finally, there are neither "smoke" mol
"fiames" about a volcano, according to
this observer. What is taken for smoke
BY the gentlemen who make up the
small bows books on geology is really
steam or watery vapor mixed with ashes
and sand, and the so-called "hames
are the brilliant reflections from the red
hot molten lava as seen in this column
OF steam.
In this manner the old time definition
is pretty well disposed o.. As matter
of fact, volcanoes are simply vents in
the earth's surface, aud that they pre-
vent a great deal of trouble in other
ways than those already indicated is
easy to be believed. The molten sub
terranean masses for which they seive as
chimnevs would produce earthquakes
much more frequently than theY do now
but for these vents, and earthquakes are
far more destructive to life and property
than volcanoes.
So far as knowp, there are about 300
Of these habitual volcanic vents on the
earth. Some of these have been dor
mant for hundreds and even thousands
of years, but that they are still in shape
for business is shown by their structural
formation. Asia has twenty-four of
these volcanoes, Europe six, Africa ten,
and Australia nine. America has more
than all the rest of the great continents
combined. They are divided as follows;
Twenty in North America, twenty-five
in Central America, and thirty-seven in
South America.
The rest of the known volcanoes in
the world are scattered among the small
islands Of the sea. 1t is peculiar fact
that all volcanoes are on or near the sea
coast. There are only two recognized
exceptions to this, one being on the
great table land between Thibet and
Siberia, where there are four volcanoes,
and the other is the Chinese province Of
Manchooria.
OF the islands that contain volcanoes,
the greatest number are to be found In
Java, where forty six have been counted
in action at one time; the island OF Jan
Maven has one, the Azores six, Canaries
three, West Indies six, Iceland thirteen,
Aleutian Islands thirty-one, chain Of
Kuriles ten, japanese and neighboring
islands twenty. five, Asiatic group fifty,
New Zealand three, New Guinea one,
New Britain one, Solomon Islands one,
New Hebrides one. The rest are on the
islands along or near the American coast,
the peninsulas Of Alaska and Kanchatka,
and in scattered localities.
The ancieuts knew only of four or FIVE
volcanoes, aud even within the last CEN
tury the knowledge concerning the mum.
Der was exceedingly limited Only ths
four or Eve in the Mediterranean were
really we'll known.
As to the causes which produce vol
canic eruptions, science is still very
much in the dark. The old AMI simple,
but somewhat uncomfortable theory,
that this earth Of ours is only very
thin she'll surrounding an enormous mass
of fire aud birthstone, and that the vol
canoes are the direct chimneys or tubes
to all this raging sea, is now discoun'e-
nanced by some OF the more advanced
thinkers.
They say that il this she'll on which
we live were really as thin as we form
erly supposed, the molten masses beneath
us would ebb and flow in tides under the
influence Of neighboring planets similar
to the ocean. An explanation that is
most frequently advance to account for
earthquakes is that some chemical action
takes place in the interior OF the earth BY
the infiItration OF sea water. This water
coming into contact with certain meta'li;
substances gpsos are formed very much
as in slackiLg lime, and these gases force
their waJ to the surface with irresistible
power.
Another theory is that duriag the
formation Of the world enormous quaint |