The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-06-08
birth .e#Sa OF A VOLCANO,
Natures Process In Forming a
Mountain of Lava.
THE FORCE OF AN ERUPTION.
Upheaval That Destroyed the East
Indian Island Of krakatoa In 1888
Propelled an Air Wave Three and
Half Times Round the Earth.

Propelled an Air Wave Three and Q
Half Times Round the Earth.
Though volcanoes are often spoken
OF as burning mountains, they do not
burn at all, nor, In the proper sense OF
the word, are they mountains at all
A volcano Is really a flaw In the crust
Of the earth through which the fierce
glowing heat lying below the crust has
managed to burst Il hole. Through this
hole great floods of melted rock spout
up. Some volcanoes work at inter
walls; some are In eruption all the time
As the melted rock jets up into the
air and falls II naturally builds itself
into mountain round the hole. The
next eruption has TO burst It's way
through the heart of that mountain.
The chimney It spouts through Is usu-
ally called 'the pipe"
Sometimes an eruption is so fierce
that when the lava another name for
melted ROCKY spouts out It is burst into
bits. When It falls It Is sometimes ms
fine as dust, sometimes the size of Gin
ders. Most volcanoes. indeed. are sim
ply gigantic cinder heaps.
When the force is not so great the
lava in the pipe simply bubbles over
and flows down the sides of the noun
tain, exactly as porridge boils over the
edge OF a pot. As lava Is liquid. the
slope of lava volcano Tor lava cone.
as II is usually called is always very
gentle. Falling cinders, on the other
hand, pile themselves up quite steeply.
A lava cone, then, is always less steep
than cinder cone.
And a volcano never burns. What
looks like fame Is only the glow of
the white hot lava on the clouds OF
steam. The more steam there is fore
ing its way up the pipe the more the
lava bubbles, just ns In the case of
the porridge. If the pressure of steam
is very great, then you have the lava
blown to bits and falling as cinders,
while the mighty clouds of steam rise
high above the mountain. 1t is this
steam that is mistaken for smoke.
Sometimes a cone sends out lava and
cinders alternately. so that you have
great mountain of cinders bound TO;
gether by layers aud walls of lava.
These walls Of lava are due to the
fact that sometimes more lava wants
to come up the pipe than the pipe will
hold. so the lava bursts its way out
through weak spots in the sides of the
mountain. Etna has no fewer than
700 of these cones on its slopes. One
of them Monte Rossi is hill In
ITSELF being $50 feet high. Indeed. Il
mudel of Etna looks aS II II were Gov,
cred with pimpIes
When Etna Is really reused II is far
more dangerous han Vesuvius. In
1869 it nearly destroyed the city of
Catania. killing 5000 people In 1868
1t found Is pipe so inconveniently
small that it had to crack one of its
sides. This crack was no less than
twelve miles long. At the bottom
white hot lava could dimly be seen
through The clouds of steam. In 100
millions of gallons of boiling water
We're shot out Of the Val del Bove.
which IS great circular pit on the
slope of the mountain. four or five
miles in diameter it's sides being cliffs
nearly mile high In places.
The greatest volcanic eruption ever
known took place in the East Indies
in 1888. The story makes almost in
credible reading. The volcanic island
of Krakatoa commenced proceedings
bv blowing half of itself into thin air.
From the opening no less than a cubi
! lie of rock waS shot out.
A column of steam and lava dus,
rose into the air to Il height six times
MS grca, us that Ut Mount Everest. II
srrea / aud spread ill for hundreds of
lriles around the air was black ms mid.
righi. Sounds as of distant cannonad-
{ ing were heard 2000 miles off
Sen waves fifty feet high killed 35.-
W0 people and were felt as far of as
California. lnslrad of an island half
Il mile high there was now hole u
quarter of mile deep. The shock of
the eruption sem air waves three and
n hair fines urnuoi the earth. The