Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-01-19
WONDERSoFL LAVA
This Molten Rock Is a Most Pc
culiar Substance.
REDHOT SNOW SANDWICHES.
Curious Effect on Mount Vesuvius
Produced by the Lava's Amazing
Properties as Nonconductor Of
Heat-Deady Volcanic Ashes.

Produced by the lava's Amazin.
Properties as Nonconductor o
Heat-Deadly Volcanic Ashes.
Nesuvius. the most famous volcano
in the world. with its mighty vomit
lngs Of lava and dust. is guilty o
many queer freaks Mighty rainstorm
have set in motion the lava dust an,
| lava cinders that lie on its sides, ant
torrents of muddy lava have over
whelmed towns and villages as i
swept down TO the sea The resulting
effect from this has been so great thai
1t changed the face of the coast lin,
by forming Il new promontory
Lava is one of the most curious OF
substances. 1t is simply rock melted
by a heat so intense that it flows like
thin Cruel. When Ncsuvius is in er,lp
ton thousands of tons of it are squirt
ed up the pipe" and out of the crater
AS it flows out over the edge it soon
cools and leaves Il thick, ropy coating
which spreads over the entire coun-
tryside
But it is only on the top that it really
coolS \ few inches below the sur-
face of the lava is often red hot. Wis
itorS are often invited to light their
cigarettes in the chinks of bed of
lava that has been lying out in the
open mir for twenty years or more
1t is the most wonderful noncOn-
ductor of heat known. Borings made
through some lava beds have shown
that they are made up of layers of lava
and layers of unmelted SNOW. As sue
ceSSive torrents of lava came pouring
down the surface that lay on the
snow cooled at once. and the surface
open to the air also cooled at once.
But between the two surfaces there
was blazing heat: so if you bored
down through some lava beds you
would find a cool upper surface. Il
rcdhot inside. Il cool layer. snow. n
coo! layer. u redhot one. cool one
and then snow again.
In fact. Il layer of lava will let nei-
ther heat nor cold through If you
built Il house entirely of lava on Il
scorching summer day you would still
have % degrees inside when there was
snow outside. If you built it in the
winter ice would form in your parlor
in July.
This clearly demonstrates what an
extraordinary noncOnductor lava is.
There is. indeed, on the slopes of
Vesuvius a little lava hut into which
summer visitors put bottles of wine
to get them chilled.
When volcano throws it's lava out
with such tremendous force that it
jets high into the air it very often
falls in the form of dust, owing to the
explosive power of the high pressure
steam that spurts out with it. 1t
bursts into a fine spray and falls as
dust-dust far finer than any other
dust known.
1t is so fine, indeed. that sometimes
years elapse before it settles. When
the mighty island volcano of Kraka-
toa blew itself nearly into bits in 1883
with crashing sound of cannonading
that smashed windows hundreds of
miles away the lava dust was so thick
in the air that for hundreds of miles
round midday was as black as night
Volumes of infinitely fine dust sailed
round and round the earth in the up
per atmosphere and made England's
sunsets of that year unusually splen-
did. 1t was three years before the
upper air became quite clear again.
Lava dust has the same properties
as lava. Shepherds on the slopes Of
Vesuvius sprinkle patches of snow in
the winter with lava dust so that
they may have it when the scorching
days Of summer arrive.
1t was lava dust turned to mud by
torrents of rain such as usually come
with volcanic outbursts, that, nearly
1000 years ago. destroyed the famous
pleasure city of Herculaneum, and ii
was showers of volcanic ashes that
overwhelmed Pompeii. Herculaneum
still lies nearly forty yards from the
open air.
There are rivers Of lava mud that are
blotting out towns and villages now.
A curious point has always been
noticed when Nesuvius is in eruption.
and that is the strong odor of washing
day that hangs around the mountain.
One might wonder why the slopes
of such mountain are so thicEly
populated when there is always dan
ger of eruptions and of avalanches of
lava mud. Well. the reason is that
volcanic soil is always very fertile.
Some of the best wine of Italy comes
from Vesuvian vineyards, and people
are ready TO take the risks.-London
American.