Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-06-07
Efna.a

The present eruption OF Mt Etna threatens
to be the most destructive which has ever oc-
Cured, owing to the increase, since that of
1882 In tie fertility Of the farms and the popula-
ton and wealth OF the villages. The cone, In
which thirty new craters have opened within a
lew days, Is q summit nearly 11,000 feet In
height rising from a desert waste OF Scor1p
lava and ashes. outside OF this center lies
Delt SIX or seven miles wide OF forests and gra-
base of the mountain, Is another belt OF rich
farms and vineyards, set with thriving villages
me land here, owing to the mixture OF lava
with the SOIL Is the most productive In Sicily
which accounts for the crowding of fruit and
vine growers from other parts Of the island to
this quarter, where death and ruin wait for
l169, $4,000 OF these Catanians were destroyed,
and In both 1927 and 1852 the streams OF lava
penetrated the woody region and overwhelmed
the villages In the lower belt. But before the
surface was quite cool the people were back
building new homes over the buried ruins of
the Old ones. Human nature was just as foolish
to be rich when Pindar, 500 years before Christ,
told how ''the snowy Etna- the pillar OF heaven,
the nurse OF everlasting frost, fn whose breasts
were hid the fountains OF unapproachable firen
Slew her victims by the thousands.
There have been some singular circumstances
In which the eruptionS OF this volcano have
when, after the flowing OF lava had ceased In a
certain area the trees, vines and even grass
were struck dead as If by lightning, with no
visible cause. Another was the burial Of a
manned for thirty years unmeited a gigantic
ice-house for the CatanlanS Much of the ruin
caused by the eruption OF this volcano In 1755
resulted from the sudden melting OF the SHOWS
above the Val del Bove and the precipitation OF
Hood of water, two miles in width.
The present eruption no doubt VIII set geolc-
giStS again TO specializing upon the age OF this
NEST ancient ''mouth of hell" Such specula-
tons are usually based upon the formation OF
the cone, reckoning the cOncentrfc layers OF
ScOriR and lava much as we compute the age OF
a Individuality
According TO this kind OF estimate, Etna was
belchtng forth her fiery sea down the Val del
Bove IN the nrst DAYS OF creation, while the
was upon the face OF the deep. Probably, too,
there will be fresh outbreak CT the old contro-
versies as TO the origin OF volcanic energy. In
these hot debates the physicists and SeiSmolo-
glsts have been arrayed under widely different
banners. Some have pinned their faith TO the
chemical theory OF volcanoes, and held that the
intense reactions which must take place under
enormous pressure in the earth's interior are
ample to produce those eruptionS. OF which
Etna and Nesuvtus have furnished such splen-
did examples. Others have contended for the
Plutonic theory, which insists that the solid
crust of the earth is, after all, but thin flm,
that the globe is fery puddle Liable TO De ex-
within In, and that volcanoes afford safety
valve for the extraordinary storms which agf-
tate the molten seas under our feet. These. 1t
istrue are ancient SpeculationS and are gradu-
ally being abandoned, while the scientific world
is drifting to belief in what is Known as the
contraction tneOTy. According 10 unlS nypOtn-
esis, the earth's internal heat is kept up pre-
cIsely as the heat OF the sun is-by contraction.
It is held that the contraction and crushing
down OF the solid crust produce earthquakes,
and set free an enormous amount OF heat which
only requires the presence OF water to cause
volcanic eruptions. Without water, says NAL
let, the great advocate OF this theory, there can
be no volcanoes; and 1t is singular fact that
Etna and VesuviuS and Hecla and the terribly
destructive volcanoes OF Japan, are all found
near the sea.
None of these speculations will afford much
comfort to the poor Catan1anS whose crops are
swept away or burned by the streams OF lava
or buried under showers of ashes: but to the
rest OF us 1t may be consolatory to know that
the WORLDS inner fires are fading, and that Etna
and her rival volcanoes will one day be as quiet
ana as harmless as the extinct craters OF the
mOOn.-[N Y Tribune.