Great Disasters and Horrors in the World's History
CHAPTER XX.
THE VOLCANO.
Erroneous views--Myths--Active principle in volcanoes--Atmospheric pressure--Rain at eruptions--Lava, pumice, ashes and tufa--Different phases of action--Stromboli, the “lighthouse"--Lava bubbles--Thrilling adventure--Lost!--Theory of a molten earth--Objections to it--The earth cools slowly--Subsidence and chemical action--Distribution of volcanoes--Their work and forms 394