Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-05-11
new THEORY ABOUT
VOLCANIC SCIENCE
Expert Declares the Old Idea
of Earth's Crust Is Not
Correct.
foLcANo A GAS BUBBLE
Earth is Proved to Be Anything but
Dead PIanet-Periods of Great
Vocanic Activity Are Being
Noted.

The New York Herald prints the fol-
lowing article by Professor Robert T..
Hill. former member OF the United
States geological survey:
From qulNeringS OF its crust. as tes-
titled by the numerous reports of Galh-
quakes and renewed activity of vol
canoes at Mont Pelee, st. Vincent,
Nesuvius and elsewhere, it appears
that we We're about to have another
demonstration of the fact that this
globe OF ours is not IL dead planet but
Il remarkably live and living world at
work.
Never has there been such Il demon
straton of the fact that truth is ar
rived at iii scientific research by zlgzag
courses as the manner in which we
biologists have shifted our opinions and
deductions on the questions OF earth
quakes and volcanoes. and never in
science has there been such IL radical
abandonment OF preconceived theories
as III the last three or four years. yet,
considering that little over Il century
ago such radical thinker as Voltalre
explained the fossils in the rocks of
the Alps as being shells dropped by the
1 crusaders on their return from the holy
4 land. we certainly feel that great pro-
gress has been made.
Mont PeIee as a Demonstration.
LII May, lJUS, when lne MONT 1elee
holocaust stupeted the world, the cur
rent text books and literature We're full
OF theories OF earthquakes and vol
canoes as absurd as that OF Noltaire
concerning the fossils. These phenon-
enA We're all blamed upon the move
ments of the crust. With our pecking
hammers and our microscopic studies
of the volcanic rocks. which had to be
classified. we We're overlooking the
"A
of the earth's interior
Thus 1t was, at the outbreak Of Mont
Peee, that every journal was filled
y 18th explanations. a great assure had
let the waters into the not roots of the
volcano. said one. and caused AN ex-
plosive expansion of steam The
blankets of sediments brought down by
Z the rivers from the continents. said
another. had pressure that caused heat.
which caused the volcanoes outburst.'
And d dozen other theories. all cilarg
\ ing volcanism to exterior instead OF in
terror forces, We're promulgated.
An Investigation Demanded.
CogniZant of the fact that the little
puffs of rock powder from Mont Pelee
4 We're but l-999th of the total volume of
/ matter emitted the remainder being
I vapor and gases; of the fact that Mont
] Pelec had been a vent for millions of
day, that European savants like Suess
and ArrheEius We're rapidly exploding
/ the erustal theories. l urged the eStab-
] liShn"nt OF u permanent station in
Martinique To study the physical and
chemical aspects of Mont Peee. But
( our great scientific friends We're too
4 deeply engrosSed in the study of the
4 legs of trilobiteS in China to appreciate
I the problem.
But great progress has been made.
and with the exception of the country
teacher. blind in his text books, the
last two years have seen the :tnuihila
( tion OF the crustal theories. Arrhenius.
the great Swedish physicist, who last
year lectured in America advanced the
first Ineligible theory of the eartn $
( interior This WAS to the effect That ii
was Il potential mass of material HAY
4 Ing high temperature and the potcl-
tlallty ana properties of gases, which.
4 upon release of pressure, We're convert
1 ible. through combinations. into all
\ known matter.
This theory, to which such an emf
nent authority as Sir Archibald Geikie
! in the 1904 edition of his text book
\ gave his approval as the best eXplana-
4 ton of the great problems of the earth
/ gives us at once a simple and easy ex-
| PLANTATION of volcanoes and the large,
! earthquakes.
Volcanoes, Gas Bubbles.
This great, gaseous protomoGina OF
! the earthS interior. containing every
! known chemical element and bo,lnt
/ round by the ear.hS crust, which had
! been evolved from 1t. was ever read,
upon any chance for release to rush 1,
| the surface. and change as it cooled
and expanded into all the numerou.
! Species OF volcanic rocks and minerals
| which we see as the visible ejecta of I:
4 volcano, and into the gases and vapors
I of the atmosphere.
With this theory applied to known
facts we can readily see that volcanoes
/ pin holes in the earthS crust. ar,
I merely gas bubbles from the gre: I
I gaseous protomogina of the earth's ce.l
/ ter. condition inherited from aStron
/ onlic time before the combination 4,
I these gases had encySted this centrum
/ with the self-derived crust of rock AN,
! water.
Following Arrhenius came a clarion
blast from Professor Suess, of Vienna
1 the worlds most eminent geOlogiSt
who, after study of hot springs, bold
! ly proclaimed that the waters of thes,
We're derived from the gaseous interior
| and that instead of oceans making the
volcanoes, as the crustalists alleged IL
| the case of Mont Pelee. the volcanoes
made the oceants by adding counties.
| tons Of water to the earth's atmos
| phere.
Volcanic Periods.
TT is now evident that there are
great periods of volcanic disturbance
+, accompanied or preceded by earth
| M lfnp it,tr Hrtit a.