New-York tribune., 1902-07-10
NEW LIGHT ON PELEE.

In the reports OF Professor Hill and Professor
Russell which appear in THE National Geo
graphic Magazine" for July one gets more
precise information about the recent volcanic
er,rptions In the West Indies than it was pos
sibIe to derive from the cable dispatches at the
time This is particularly true Of the appalling
loss Of life In and near the city or ST Pierre.
Shortly after the arrival at Martinique or n
party Of American geolOgistS, nearly two months
ago the opinion was expressed that the great
majority of deaths had been due to an out
Douring of gas with tornado fury, and that
the incident was practically unique Although
the generation Of suffocating and even explo-
siye yapors in volcanoes is a we'll known phe-
nomenon, there seems to have been something
exceptional in the manner in which 1t affected
St Pierre. There is evidence to show that on
the morning of May there was not only an
upward discharge from the summit OF Pelee.
but also a lateral blast the latter following the
former at an interval Of several minutes and
proceeding from the side of the mountain
While not so concentrated as the fire from
cannon, it was directed horizontally toward the
unfortunate city to the south of the volcano
Had this cloud of fire and dust been elected
vertically or to any other point of the compass
the consequences might have been very differ
ent. But thirty thousand people were in the
track of the storm, and nearly all of them were
overcome in the twinkling Of an eye.
In spite OF the appalling mortality which re-
suited from this explosion, Professor Hill cor
roborates the conviction uttered by Professor
Russell before the latter's departure for the
West Indies that the exhibition Of mechanical
energy by the eruption of Pelee was compare
lively feeble. 1t is impossible TO discover that
the volcano has lost more than about two hun
dred feet Of its height, and no one can say just
when that was detached. The story about the
upper half of the mountain being blown away
may have originated in an optical delusion at
the moment Of that lateral discharge from
point we'll down the slope. At any rate, the
mountain is now pronounced practically intact.
No new craters have opened no vertical assures
have been formed in the vicinity, and, though
there were countless tremors Professor Hill
SAYS that there were no real earthquakes. Not
only has the island remained at the old level,
but he cannot verify the rumor about the sink
ing Of the ocean bottom Still another fact pos
sessing the same general significance is men
toned No molten lava came out of Pelees
crater. whatever may have happened down in
side its funnel. The only rock elected was
either dry powder or else the same material
mixed with water and forming great sheets
of mud.
No observation made by any Of the experts
lately in Martinique contradlcts the theory that
Pelee is a volcano in the solfatara stage of ex-
istence, which means that 1t has long been on
the decline, lying dormant most Of the time and
emitting little but steam, sulphurous fumes and
dust Professor Hill associates the eruption
one of the Windward Islands with that on it's
neighbor, and also with disturbances in Central
America. He might with propriety, perhaps,
have included Alaska and Hawaii in his sur
veys. He can find no evidence Of any serious
assures in the sea bottom at the eastern end
of the Caribbean Sea, nor conditions producing
an accumulation of sediment there which would
lead to the formation Of such an opening He
does not attribute the eruptons to an inflow of
sea water near Martinique st. Vincent. 1t
seems likely that instead there was a widely
occurring disturbance inside the earth's shell,
causing the hot and potentially plastic material
there to rise and meet the upper strata of per-
manently moist rock. While it is admitted that
this phenomenon In turn calls for explanation
and that none can be afforded Immediately, the
opinion of so high authority as Professor
Hill will certainly carry great weight.