The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-07
pELBEs oBEL1sK.
Its Formation and Disappearance Ex-
 plained by Dr. Russell

plained aby Dr. Russell
 Scarcely less turiosity than that re- sulting from the volcanic outbreak in the West Indies over eighteen months 1 ago has been caused by a feature of 1 Pelee's behavior, which seems to be without any exact parallel or precedent. In all the modern literature on this gem eral subject it is practically impossible to find any account of the gradual de- velopment of column, thousand or more feet n height, at the very summit | of a mountain. Probably seuch things have happened before, but owing to the shortness of the time during which masses of this kind remained visible they have not been observed. Even so, go unrecorded. The unique character fof the phenomenon in question lends pe- culiar value to the explanations offered week or two ago in Science by Dr. Israel c. Russell author of volcanoes of North America" and one of the highest living authorities in vulcanolo- gy.
 i At the outset the reader is reminded that in the center of volcano there is a conduit reaching downward from the crater to an unknown depth, approxi- mately circular in form, and several hundred feet in diameter. Up into that i passage is forced molten or plastic rock from below at times of special activity. In one type of volcano the material flows out freely and quietly in a liquid condition. That is what happens with Mauna Loa, in Hawaii. In another class, of which Pelee is representa- tive, the visible product is solid, either dust or small fragments being elected with explosive violence. The chemical lcomposition of the latter substance diff fers little from the former. Whatever be the dissimilarity in condition in the two instances after the lava reaches daylight, there can be no doubt about its ffuidity inside the bore, nearly or quite all the way up to the top.
 During the first stage of the eruption on the island of Martinique, Professor Russell says. the uppermost poration of the rising column was continually being shattered by explosions of steam in the material itself Either by contact with water or through other influences the summit of the moving mass was suffi- ciently cooled to render the discharged material solid But as destruction kept pace with the ascent, the top of the col- unn never got above the rim of the crater. Only a slight change in the general situation, however, made it possible for the mass to show itself. A diminution of the water supply lessened the wate of disintegration, while the pressure from below was maintained. The extreme upper part remained rigid, and thus gegan to protrude more and more. An elevation of over one thou sand feet was observed, and but for losses, which Professor Russell goes on to discuss, the height of theobelisk might have reached three thousand feet! At its base it was five or six hundred feet in diameter.
 This enormous monument differed from the cones often seen in old volcan-
 ic craters in this important respect. They are composed of ashes and small
 fragments. Pelee's obelsk was solid,
 although it's interior was intensely hot. Light was omitted from Assures in it's
 sides, and small quantities of steam
 which issued from the mass bore fur
 ther testimony to it's temperature. As
 soon as continued growth from the up-
 ward movement of the column in the
 volcanic conduit ceased several inf1u-
 enees began to operate injuriously on the protruding mass. Rain water ob-
 tained access to the cracks and led to
 numerous minor disrupting explosions.
 Similar agencies around the base of the
 column, inside the crater, acted even
 more powerfully. Friction between the
 sides of the column whose exterior was rigid and probably irregular in outline, and the inner surfaces of the channel
 through which it emerged would give rise to no end of shocks and jars that
 would still further promote destruction
 In time the visible part of the column
 was completely wrecked.
 On the probable fate of the remainder
 after the activity of Pelee has entirely
 subsided, light is thrown by Dr. Russell
 in the book already referred to- He , says that the material in the conduit of volcanoes often hardens into a rock
 which is more compact and enduring
 than it's surroundings. When the weather has partially destroyed the lat ter, the former are exposed, and stand
 like towers on castles or castles upon a ) mountain peak. Several striking speci- , mems of this sort exist to-day in New Mexico Such columns resemble the Pelee obelisk in origin, of course, and in general appearance. But they are re- ! vealed only by the subsequent removal of their environment, while the phenom- i enon observed on Martinique last win- ter and spring resulted from an actual upward movement above the crater.