White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1928-02-17
CRATERS HIS WORK:
RISK IN STREETS
Volcanic Expert Finds Traf-
fc Greatest Danger.

Washington.-"Crossing city streets
Is the great risk incur in my travels
nowadays" This was the statement
made here the other day by one of the
worlds greatest experts on volcanoes,
Or. Emmanuel Friedlaender, director
and founder Of the Meteorological in
Btitute at Naples. In the course of his
wanderings, Doctor Friedlaender was
once captured by Mexican bandits,
and has had many experiences with
live volcanoes, but he refuses to ad-
NIT that the career he has adopted is
any more dangerous than other pro-
fessions. He is visiting America in
order to interest American scientific
men in the study Of volcanology.
Born in Germany, Doctor Fried
laender acquired ample means in the
business world and was able to divert
large part of his time and attention
to scientific pursuits. In 1918 he
founded and endowed in Naples the
Meteorological institute, and at the
same time he launched what was then
the only meteorological journal in ex-
lstence. The World war swept away
considerable part of his fortune and
also seriously curtailed the resources
of the institute, but it's work is still
going on under Doctor Friedlaender's
direction.
Deplores Short sightedness.
Asked about the economic value of
volcano research, Doctor Friedlaender
emphasized the fact that it is short
sighted policy to encourage only those
scientific investigations that promise
to be of immediate utility. At the
same time he pointed out how often
1t has happened that research in pure
science, undertaken with no thought
Of practical applications, has contrib
uted immensely to the material pros
perity of mankind. When Galvani ex-
perimented with frogs legs, no finan-
cially profitable outcome was to be
anticipated-yet these experiments be-
came one Of the cornerstones of the
great electrical industry of today.
Roentgen did not dream of the many
uses that would be made of the x
rays at the time he discovered them,
nor did Hertz foresee the wonders of
wireless telegraphy, based on his dis
covery of electromagnetic waves.
''As for volcanology," said Doctor
Friedlaender, ''there are at present
very few specialists connected with
this subject, and only meager num-
Der Of research institutions and OBJ
servatories. The financial resources
at the command of these establish
ments are ridiculously small, COM
pared with the millions spent on as
tronomy. Surely the physics of the
globe on which we live ought to be
studied as thoroughly as the phenom-
ena of distant stars!
"a more intimate knowledge of vol
canism would lessen materially the
danger to life and property in vol
canic regions, including such parts of
the American domain as California,
the Hawaiian islands, Alaska and the
Philippines. Explorations Of volcanic
areas are likely to lead to the profit
able exploitation of volcanic prod
ucts, useful in agriculture and other
Industries, including potash, silicates,
sulphur, acids, etc.
Useful for Power.
''The huge reservoir of volcanic
energy represented by the heat of
rocks and gases could undoubtedly be
tapped in many places and used for
power production. Up to the present
time the only successful undertaking
In this line has been at Lardarello,
Italy, where thousands of kilowatts
are produced from volcanic steam and
used for power and lighting in the
city of Florence. believe that In
time to come the greatest of all
sources of power will be found in the
subterranean storehouses of volcanic
regions, where the internal heat Of
the earth can be reached at a rela-
lively shallow level.
'sThe limited supplies Of coal and
oil in the earth will be exhausted in
the comparatively near future. The
water power available in rivers Is al
ready to large extent taken up. Wa
ter power from the tides will probably
prove costly to utilize, and the same
is likely to be true of any method
now in sight for using direct solar
energy. In both cases the receiving
apparatus must occupy very large
surfaces and cannot work economical
ly. On the other hand, no insurmount-
able obstacles seem to exist to tap
ping the earth's internal heat on a
vast scale, and volcanology is paving
| the wav tn this ACCOMPLISHMENT,