Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-29
VOLCANOES OF THE WORLD
Where the Most Prominent Are Stu
ated, and the Dangers
TO PEOPLE In THEIR VICINITY.
Cne Single Eruption Of Fully 46,0OO,OO0
Cubic Feet of Lava.
SCIENCE AND ITS SEVERAL THEORIES

volcanic eruptions, which always sleep
when the craters are silent and inactive ant
reawakens with the first signs Of renewed
life in the mountains of fire. This year i:
peculiarly marked as one of vocanic activi
ty. The Alpine eruption is but one of many
The one on the Philippine Island of San
guir has been more disastrous in its results
.hus far than that at Etua, but it is more
remote from the reading and thinking world
and besides people have become accustomed
to looking TO Mount Etna for eruptions, ir
regular in their recurrence, but never far
removed from each other as eruptions In
other mountains of volcanic formation. All
of the region around Mt. Etna is of volcanic
origin.
In Italy, Immediately adjoining Sicily, Oh
which Mount Etna stands, is Vesuvlus,
which in the course of centuries has wrought
more of ruin and devastation than perhaps
anv other volcano in existence. The mount
ain, though of volcano origin from the for.
nation of the earth. had evidently lain dor
mant for centuries antedsting the Christian
era, when its discharges OF lava and ashes
buried the cities of Pompeii and Hercula.
neum A single eruption of this mountain
in 1894 is supposed to have yielded 46. 600, OOC
CuUlC ICtl Oi ldNd an CiNptiOh VI 4Ssho Al
1863 yielded more than twice that amount.
some American Volcanoes.
On the American continent modern vol
canoes are limited to the Pacific slope,
along which they may be traced almost con-
tiIuously from Cape Horn to Alaska.
Great numbers of volcanoes occur through
out the Andes, where some attain immense
heights as Cotopaxi in Peru, about 19, 500
Tla x11a -
Central America and of Mexico are numer-
GUS and conspicuous, and in California and
Oregon we have Shasta, Hood and st.
Helens, attaining heights of from II, 200 to
more than IA, 600 feet
Mount St. Elias in Alaska is
$4,000 feet high. Through the
Aleutiau Islands the belt of
volcanoes of the American continent is
continued across Behring'S Strait, into Asia,
and there connecting with those of Japan
and the Philippine Islands helps to form in
terrupted chains of volcanic belts to the
burning mountains of the Indian Archi-
pelago there are not now and from all
appearances have not been for centuries
any active volcanoes on this continent
north of Mexico. But the fact of their re-
mote activity is fully attested bv the ex-
istence of the lava beds in Northern Cali
fornia and Oregon, in and around which the
Modoc Indian war of several years ago was
fought.
The Mediterranean volcanic region, of
which Mount Etna is a part, has always
been the most active in the world since the
beginning of the historical period, and, SO
far as science is able to determine, for long
time before that. Besides Vesuvius, Etna
aud Stromboli there are many volcanic
islands in the eastern part of the Mediterra-
mean, while further eastward, in Western
Asia, are lofty volcanic peaks about the
Red Sea and the Caspian Sea, on the shores
of " hich is Demavend, 10000 feet high.
Volcanoes of the Tropics.
In Africa there are numerous volcanic
vents in the eastern ranges about the equa-
tor, besides which single volcano is known
on the western coast at the blight of Benin,
near which are also some volcanic islands.
In the Atlantic are Jan Mayen and Iceland,
remarkable for volcanoes, the volcanic
Islands of the West Indies and those of the
Azores, the Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape
Verde Islands, St Helena and Tristan d
Acunha. There are great numbers of vol
canoes throughout the North and South
Pacific, the most remarkable of which are
those of the Sandwich Islands Volcanoes
occur in New Zealand, in Southern Aus
tralia, in the Indian Ocean and further
south in the Antarctic seas, where remark
able burning mountains have been seen.
1t is impossible to determine, with any
degree of accuracy, the number of existing
volcanic vents Humboldt fixed it at 4O7.
of which 225 have been active within CEN
tury. OF the latter, about half were sup
posed to be upon the Asiatic Islands. 1t
has since been estimated that the Indian
Archipelago alone contains over 900
Two of the most active volcanoes known
are those of Stromboli, in the Mediterranean,
and at Sangar, in Peru. For more than
1900 years the mountain on the Island of
Stromboli has been constantly discharging
lava, and the Peruvian mountain. II 900 feet
high, has been in continued state of erdp-
tion for $50 years. ejecting every few min
utes masses of fiery cinders with explosions
OF tremendous violence. In nearly all other
cases, with the exception of Mount Etna
now in eruption, centuries elapse between
outbreaks Etna has no competitors in the
line of frequent assumptions of business at
the old stand. 1t is only six wears since
the last eruption preceding the present one.
The Eruption OF Six Years Ago.
Mount Etna is located in the northeast
portion OF the Island of Sicily, adjacent to
the sea. and near the city of Catania. 1t is
al isolated mountain OF conical form, and is
separated from the other mountains of Sicily
by the valley of the river Alcantara. 1t is
10. 935 feet in height, and has circumfer-
ence at its base of 80 miles Its volcanic
phenomena are presented OF greater scale
than those of any other European volcano,
and attracted great attention from the
ancients.
Eighty-one eruptions are recorded since
Etna has had history, the earliest in the
time of Pythagoras, the most recent in 1892.
Of these not more than 10 have been of ex.
treme violence, while the majority has
been of slight and comparatively harmless
character The recent eruptions were in
the years 1868, 1874, 1879, 1888, 1886 and
1892, that OF 1868 being the last to be classed
among the exceptional disturbances The
eruption of 1886 commenced on May 18 and
until the first week in june.
There were premonitory symptoms in
the form of earthquakes and
fall OF hot cinders, winch were thrown
as far as Messina, some so miles dis
tant. A lava stream was then seen to be
issuing from crater in the side of Monte
Penitello, about mile south of the English
house where the Government observatory is
Twentv-four hours afterward
streams of lava were seen coming out at
seven other points, and day later these
seven new volcanoes all Joined the principal
crater, so that red-hot lava was poured
down simultaneously in a volume nearly
two miles in breadth. The rate of descent
was reckoned at an average of 20 yards an
bour. From time to time great massive
stones were cast down, together with a de-
uge of hot water.
Two Shapes Of Liquid Lava
Liquid lava has two distinct forms-the
first, when issuing in bubDling mass, flows
like compact Cruel; the second, when in the
depths of water, coming in tenn
porsry contact with burning liq uids, the