The Washington herald., 1922-05-09
SEARCH FOR VOLCANOES
DEEP UNDER SEAS,

Scientists do not know how many
large volcanoes lie under the. sur
/ face Of the oceans. Every now and
then a ship at sea will be shaken
by a submarine eruption hut the
| captain will enter the occurrence in
his loE-book and nothing more will
I be done about IL.
A systematic search Of past and
future log-books Of ocean vessels
has been proposed at the meeting
of the International Geodetic and
Geophysical Union at Rome which
is attended by a number OF Ameri-
can geophysicists. The hydro
graphic office Of each country will
be asked TO undertake an investIga-
tion Of the logs. and ocean steam
ship lines will be asked TO CO.
operate.
This information will aid in the I
compiling OF cstsloE OF volcanoes
Scientists expect to find that there
are many more volcanoes hidfS
in the seas than are visible rising
out Of the land or sea. as theS
esrth's surface Is about one-fourta
land and three-fourths sea. Rows
OF volcanoes are found along great
cracks in the earths crust One
such supposed volcanic zone runs
from the West Indies 20 the Azores
and many OF the. Pacific islands
! are wholely Of volcanic origin. one
example being the HaWaiiaa
/ Islands.
The holothurisn OF ses-slug is
/ a snail-like creature, which can
/ throw off its vital organs when
/ frightened and replace them all
within a few weeks.
Twenty per cent Of all the forest
fires started by man in the National
Z forests OF the West during 1921.
were caused by careless tobacco
smokers.
An international silk testinc
house has been established at
Shanghai. China. to receive and
/ issue certificates for limited
amount Of raw silk.
Preventable waste among broom
manufacturers can be traced in
many instances to the first steps in
harvesting broom corn.
About s..tOo. onn short tons or
stone was quarried in the United
/ States IN 1921. according to th4
than 20 per cent less than the pro
! duction in 1890.
] For the first time since 1914 a.
! shipment NJ more than 1000 game
B birds for stocking the game pre-
serves Of the West has come from
/ Europe to the United States.
ConsiCnments OF 100. 600 trout
/ eggs have been successfully shipped
! from tho Bureau Of Fisheries in
Washington 10 the Swiss govern
mcnt at Berne.
( Due to its adaptabIlity and ad-
Z vantaEes, alfalfa is the leading
| irrigated crop. and together with
other meadow crops constitutes 52.s
per cent of the cultivated acreage
on government projects.
So great is the discharge Of oil
! OF various sorts from ships that
il has been proposed 70 skim e. of
from some harbor waters and make
IL available for use by proper tread
ment. A patent for the recovery
of oil from backwaters has been
taken out in Switzerland.
Work on the vehicle tunnel under
the Hudson River has been started
at West and Canal streets in New
York. The completed tunnel will
be ready in about four years and is
to cost sIs.33I.723. The tunnel Will
have twin tubes.
Sounds can generally be heard
farther by night than by day:
sometimes teror even twenty times
as far. One reason is that the air
at night contains. as a rule, few
eddies and other local disturbances,
such as break up the sound waves
by day. Moreover. on calm. clear
nights the vertical distribution Of
temperature near the earth is often
the reverse Of that occurring by
cav. and has the effect OF bending
the sound waves downward instead
Of upward.