Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-06-10
VOLCANOES OF THE EARTH.

New DIRK sum-
The terrible catastrophe of st. Pierre
las directed attention 10 other Volcan-
oes, of which about thousand are
known OF these, three hundred ana
twenty are now active. Those now
ouiescent are not all extinct; any ona
of them may, Ut any time, renew an
action which, 50 tar as is KNOWN, Is
but suspended. Vesuvtus was con'
sidered by the ancient world as eX-
tinct until the period of the destruc-
ton of Pompeii From 1906 to 1854
this volcano was again auiescent-dur-
ing a period of three centuries
The volcanoes ~ Iceland are in per-
petual activity. Etna, Vesuvius ana
Stromboli are now internationally ac-
tive. The volcanoes of Spain were
very active in the province of Murcia
lin 1919. The Azores, the Canaries, the
Cape de Verde Islands, Isle de Bourbon,
the Philippines, Java, Japan, Hawaii.
Mexico, Central America, Ecuador and
other states along the Andes, Terra del
Fuego, are countries containg volcan-
oes perpetually active. The Azores
and the Hawaiian Islands are, in fact,
nothing but volcanoes rising from the
sea. Alaska contains several active
volcanoes, and the northwestern states
of the Pacific include mountains that
have become quiescent in very recent
times A glance at a map of the world
on which the volcanoes are marked
will give vivid idea of their distri-
button. This is not u random one, as
a map will clearly show.
Quiescent volcanoes that are becom-
ing active usually give warning by
earthquakes. This was not the case
in Martinique, however. The crater
begins by pouring out huge volumes
of smoke composed of gases and
steam and then come volcanic ashes
pumice, and every now and then vol
leys of incandescent porous stones
lapilli and pozzzolanos. Gobular mas
ses of white-hot lava are thrown out
in spiral-lik forms, accompanied by
explosive sounds. Thru the clouds
above the crater lightning flashes, and
the clouds themselves are Illuminated
by the glare of the lava beneath. The
lava itself may be thrown out by eX-
plosions or it may open ways thru huge
assures in the side of the mountain
In very violent eruptions the whole
head of the mountain may be blown
off, or the mountain may be river
apart, as at Krakatoa. The volcanic
ashes are sent out in vast quantity
and, being light, are carried to enor-
nous distances.
The ashes of Vesuvius have fallen in
Constantinople. The ashes from ST
Vincent in 1912 darkened the whole
sky at Barbados; those from Sum-
bawa in 1916 We're carried 700 to 500
miles in large quantities. The ashes
from Rrakatoa 1883 filed the upper
air and produced the red sunsets of
that year, which continued for months.
The gaseous products of volcano
are deadly. In Java the neighborhood
of an active crater has been found
animals-tigers, deer and the like. II
was, no doubt, waves of noXious gas
that killed thousands at st. Pierre.
Some faint idea of the energy of vol-
canics forces may be had by consider
ing the pressures necessary merely to
maintain a column of lava at the level
of the summit of a high mountain,
Teneriffe is $40 metres in height A
pressure of about 1000 atmospherest
is necessary to make the lava flow
from it's crater. The Martinique VOL
cano was 1880 metres high and the
pressure was, at the minimum, 400 at
moSphereS.