Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-12-20
WONDERS OF LAVA
This Molten Rock Is a Most Pc
culiar Substance.
REDHoT SNOW SANDWICHES.


Produced by the Lava's Amazing
Properties as Noneonduetor of
Heat-DeadIy Volcanic Ashes.
vesuvius. the most famous volcano
"a the world with its mighty vomit-
.ngs OF lava and dust is guilty Of
many queer freaks. Mighty transforms
have set In motion the lava dust and
lava cinders that lie on its sides. and
torrents of muddy lava have over
whelmed towns ard villages ias it
swept down TO the sea. The resulting
effect from this has been so great that
fl Unchanged the face of the coast line
by forming Il new promontory.
Lava is ole of the most curious OF
substances. 1t is simply rock melted
by u heat so intense that it flows like
thin Cruel. When Vesuvius is in erup-
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 a thick. ropy coating
which spreads over the entire coup-
tryside.
But it is only on the top that 1t really
cools. A 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 a bed of
! lava that has been lying out in the
open air for twenty years or more.
/ 1t is the most wonderful noncon-
/ ductor of heat known. Behring'S 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.
redhot inside. cool layer. snow.
( cool layer. redhot one. a cool one
and then snow again.
In fact. layer Of lava will let nei-
Their heat nor cold through. If you
built a house entirely of lava on n
scorching summer day you would still
have 81 degrees inside when there was
snow outside. If you built ii in the
winter ice would form IL your parlor
in July
This clearly demonstrates what an
extraordinary nOnconductor lava is.
There is. indeed. on tie slopes of
Vesuvius little lava hut into which
summer visitors put bottles of wine
to get them chilled.
When a volcano throws ifs lava out
with such tremendous force that it
jets high into the mir 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 az
dust-dust far finer than any other
dust known.
II is so fine. indeed. that sometimes
years e,apse before it settles. When
the mighty island volcano of Kraka-
toa blew itself nearly into bits in 1888
with a 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. II 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 1t 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 Herculanenm. and il
was showers Of volcanic ashes that
overwhelmed POElpeii Herculaneun
still lies nearly forty yards from the
open air
There are rivers Of lava mud that are
blOtting ont fowls and villages now
A curious point has always beer
noticed when NeSUvitis is in eruption
] and thu is the strong odor of washing
day that hangs around the mountain.
One might wonder why the slopes
Of such d nonntain are so thickly
J populated when there is always dan
! ger of eruprions and Of avalanches o.
lava mud We'll. the reason is tina
volcanic soil Is always very fertile
/ Some OF the pest wine of Italy come.
from Vesuvian vineyards. and peoplu
4 are ready to take the risks.-Londol
! American.