The suburban citizen., 1902-07-19
WHY MT. PELEE EXPLODED.
Gases Produced by thrush of Sea water
Upon Lava.

Upon Lava.
The fearful loss of life at Martinique
and the suddenness of the destruction
seem mysterious to most people, and
are scarcely to be accounted for by
any of the text books relating to vol
canic phenomena.
But yet there appears to be simple
and scientific explanation of all that
occurred there in those few fearful
minutes. All geologists admit that the
common cause Of violent volcanic erup-
tons is the generation Of steam at
enormously high pressure by water
coming in contact with very hCt lava
at great depths, and tlat the gases
and "smoke" elected are chiefly steam
and cinders or ashes.
But the surviving eye witnesses OF
the volcanic eruption at Martinique
speak of the tornado of fire" which
suddenly swept over the city and
killed most of the people and instantly
set on fire the buildings and shipping;
and also Of the suffocating vapors that
Immediately killed most of those that
escaped the outburst OF flame. This
dre can be fully explained by the dis
soclation Of the oxygen and hydrogen
Of the water that came in sudden con-
tact with intensely heated lava within
the volcano.
AS it was probably sea water, the
,hl0rjue of the salt would also be sep
arated as a gas. These gases, escap-
Ing with great violence, and in vast
volumes, mixed with steam, would
eject the hot stones and cinders and
then instantaneously explode in the
open air, causing the intensely violent
Outburst of hot flames that swept
aown the mountain and over the town,
for such a mixture Of oxygen and
hydrogen is among the most explosive
Of all known gases, and it produces an
intense heat.
If chlorine were present, as was
doubtless the case, it would also form
an explosive mixture with the hydro
gen. generating hydrochloric acid gas.
This is an exceedingly suffocating gas
deadly if inhaled in any considerable
amount 1t is always produced when
sea water comes in contact with highly
heated lava deep within the crater OF
volcanoes near the sea.
The burned condition in which most
Of the dead and wounded were found,
and the evidences of suffocation in
other cases, prove conclusively that
this separation and explosive reunion
IF the elements of soa-water were the
immediate causes Of the "whirlwind Of
fame" and the sudden destruction Of
life. The vast explosive fame doubt
less reached the city before the stones
that were elected by the same out
burst Of the gases could fall there.
The writer, in teaching geology dur
ing many years, has always applied
this explanation to other violent vol
canic eruptions, like that of Krakatoa,
in opposition to the text books, but
the eruption at Martinique proves its
correctness most completely. At Kra-
katoa no eye witnesses were left alive
to tell what happened.
| A similar explosive effect, on a small
scale, is produced when a small guam
tity Of water is thrown upon the very
hot Goals in a furnace. The hydrogen
separates from the oxygen of the
water and then explodes with an out
burst of hot flames. Instances have
occurred when terrible explosions have
been produced by water accidently get
ting into blast furnaces and other very
hot furnaces.
In all such cases great volumes of
hydrogen are liberated, and mixing
with the air explode very violently,
with the production of very hot flames.
In volcano the hot lava and the
water are in unlimited quantities and
under enormous pressures far beyond
any that can be produced artiicially.-
A. e. Verrill, Yale University, New
uaven.