The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-23

out across a path. Commonly, one can
 approach close to openings in the mol ten pool and gather lava on the end of
 pole, fashioning it into cups, or em- bedding into it coins or buttons while soft Here and there. however, on the great floor of the main caldron. seven squares miles in area, were vast black ragged floods of new lava, which had evidently surged out of the lake in a
 resistless torrent.
 This entire safety of Kileuea is due
 to the fact that for more than century
 this volcano has remained in what may be termed a tame condition-that is. non-explosive. Eruptions are of two
 general classes, explosive and non-eX- plosive. Our Hawaiian eruptiOns, both from Kilauea and Mauna Loa. are hab- itually of the latter class. The lava
 simply wells up from it's deep plutonic
 sources and flows abroad with little violence or commotion. The eruptions of KrakatOa and Martinique. on the contrary, were violently explosive and
 consequently destructive. The greater part of their elections were shot vio- lently aloft to a height of many miles, falling with absolute ruin over the sur rounding country. Such eruptions ap pear to have been extremely rare in Hawaii. In the huge ravines which ex- pose the inner structure of our noun tains we see them to have been built up
 almost entirely of floods of flowing lava. The proportion is extremely small of
 cinders flung out by explosions.
 My studies of this subject have led to the conclusion that great and violent explosions of volcanoes usually follow very protracted periods of Quiescence, during which the outlets become thor oughly sealed, and often large bodies of water accumulate in the ancient era t5rs When the time of eruption arrives the fiery column encounters the water,
 and violent explosion follows Such was the case of Mont Pelee. At
 Krakatoa in 1883 succession of eXplo-
 sions blew the island to pieces, finally admitting the ocean into the chasm in enormous force and the final explosion followed, which hurled billions of cubic feet of matter from forty to eighty miles alOft.
 Our Kilauea, until last month, had been quiescent for more than six years, Consequently when this crater resumed action a month ago there was very slight explosive action. No doubt con- siderable moisture had accumulated in the debris in the bottom of the old p't and the rising lava, encountering it, generated force of steam which drove up a considerable body of ashes and cinders. Since that first Commotion, very slight one, the lava has been we'll ing up steadily and quietly, after Its old-time custom. There seems every reason to expect a repetition of the very satisfactory exhibitions of former years.
 My own observations and reflections
 have convinced me that the generation
 of steam by the rising lava encounter ing surface water is only an important
 circumstance of eruptions, and not the
 cause of them The primary impelling force which drives the lava or magma
 up from the interior depths is the ex- pansion of the gases originally oc-
 cluded in the interior matter of the
 globe The fiery interior of the earth is
 weighted down by the pressure of twen- ty or thirty miles in depth of solid
 rock. That enormous pressure holds the gaseous constituents of the fiery in-
 terior magma completely compressed
 and condensed. If any cause removes that pressure in any locality those
 gases instantly foam up, just as the carbonic acid does when the stopper is removed from a soda bottle. Long and frequent observations of the very uni form play of the fire fountains in Hale a-ma'uma'u lake has made it evident that no steam was present, but gases
 which escaped without condensing into visible vapor.
 What conditions occur to remove pressure from the surface of the interior
 magma in any locality can perhaps only be conjectured. We may we'll suppose it to be due to flaws or faults in the crust and clippings of the crust upon 1 itself along the fractures. The mighty l upward pressure of the imprisoned
 gases, expanded by the enormous heat which fills the earth's interior, eagerly | and instantly seiZes upon the slightest | flaw in the crust, and forces it's way with terrific throes. Hence the vol
 canoes of all lands and all ages.
 One should fairly tell the whole story
 Nearly 112 years ago an explosive erup-
 tion did occur in Kilauea, in November, | 1790 It blew out an enormous bulk of
 rocks and gravel which latter strewed l the surrounding country! A detach-
 ment of an army going to war who
 were encamped near the brink. was de-
 stroyed. Nothing of the kind has since
 occurred One could doubtless be in
 sured against any such danger at an
 extremely low pAsmium. Washington Evening Star.
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