The Monticellonian., 1902-08-01
NEST INDIES VOLCANOES.
Results of the Examinations by Dr. I. A. Jaggar, of Harvard, of
 Pelee and Soufriere.
AN EXTRAORDINARY SIMILARITY EXISTS.
The Products of Both Volcanoes Are the samej Both Characterized by the Absence of Lava and Both Did Thei- Work of Destruction In the same Way.
Special Correspondence.l l


 Fort De France, Island of Martin ique, Monday, July 7.-Dr. T. A. Jag gar, of Harvard university, repre- senting the United States geological survey in the West Indies, arrived for the second time at Fort De France on June "A and has since vis- ited Mont Pelee twice. He has also made excursions to the southern end of Martinique, and to the warm springs of the interior of the island. Dr. Jaggar came directly from St. Vincent.
 An Extraordinary Similarity.
 As a result of recent examinations of the crater of Mont Pelee and ex- plorations of the track of the de- vastating blast which destroyed St. Pierre, it appears that there is ex- traordinary similarity between the eruptions of the Soufriere volcano of St. Vincent and Mont Pelee. The products are the same, both are characterized by the absence of lava and the work of destruction, both to inanimate objects and to mankind, was accomplished in much the same way. The destructive effects of the eruption in St. Vincent covered a much more extensive area, but the loss of human life was much less.
 sActise Eruptions Subsiding.
 There has been no active eruption of Mont Pelee of importance since June $. \ great cone of boulders and volcanic bombs, heaped within the Assure from which the explosion came, has grown in size since the middle of May, when Dr. Jaggar first saw it. Occasionally there are sud den slides of debris down this cone !anfp the deep gorge of the Riviere Blanche. These slides produce great columns of brown dust, which resem- blcs smoke, that rise in pillows from the mountain flank and give the i'm pression of an eruption when viewed from the sea. At night these sliding of rcdhot rocks make glowing streak in the mountains slope This accounts for the many reports by passing vessels of eruptions. hot lava and dust falls. The phenomenon is a merely superficial one.
 Merely Superficial Spouts.
 At St. Vincent, the many mud spouts, steam jets and local craters that have been reported are all su- perficial, caused by rainwater drain ing into the beds of hot, dry gravel.
 The two volcanoes of St. Vincent and Martinique were in eruption in sympathy in May Both have gradu- ally become less active since. and it is probable that they will continue to diminish in activity, to judge from the present signs.
 French Scientists Concur.
 On this opinion the French scien- tifS commission. headed by Prof. LacroiX. of Paris, concurs. Dr. Jag gar is strongly opposed, however, to any rehabilitation of the devastated slopes of the volcanoes, until the re- spective governments of the islands are willing to establish permanent experiment stations to protect and warn the inhabitants. In addition to his work on the islands of St. Vim cent and Martinique, Dr. Jaggar has spent some time in Barbados collect ing information and specimens rela- tive to the spread of the dust fall which appears to have been much greater from the Soufriere than from Mont Pelee.