Chapter 25

THE MOTHER OF A VOLCANO.--”YOU CAN NOT DISPROVE, AND YOU DARE NOT ADMIT.”

A year from the evening of the departure of the old man, found me in my room, expecting his presence; and I was not surprised when he opened the door, and seated himself in his accustomed chair.

“Are you ready to challenge my statements?” he said, taking up the subject as though our conversation had not been interrupted.

“No.”

“Do you accept my history?”

“No.”

“You can not disprove, and you dare not admit. Is not that your predicament?” he asked. “You have failed in every endeavor to discredit the truth, and your would-be scientists, much as they would like to do so, can not serve you. Now we will continue the narrative, and I shall await your next attempt to cast a shadow over the facts.”

Then with his usual pleasant smile, he read from his manuscript a continuation of the intra-earth journey as follows:

“Be seated,” said my eyeless guide, “and I will explain some facts that may prove of interest in connection with the nature of the superficial crust of the earth. This crystal liquid spreading before us is a placid sheet of water, and is the feeder of the volcano, Mount Epomeo.”

“Can that be a surface of water?” I interrogated. “I find it hard to realize that water can be so immovable. I supposed the substance before us to be a rigid material, like glass, perhaps.”

“There is no wind to ruffle this aqueous surface, --why should it not be quiescent? This is the only perfectly smooth sheet of water that you have ever seen. It is in absolute rest, and thus appears a rigid level plane.”

“Grant that your explanation is correct,” I said, “yet I can not understand how a quiet lake of water can give rise to a convulsion such as the eruption of a volcano.”

“Not only is this possible,” he responded, “but water usually causes the exhibition of phenomena known as volcanic action. The Island of Ischia, in which the volcanic crater Epomeo is situated, is connected by a tortuous crevice with the peaceful pool by which we now stand, and at periods, separated by great intervals of time, the lake is partly emptied by a simple natural process, and a part of its water is expelled above the earth’s surface in the form of super-heated steam, which escapes through that distant crater.”