The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-04
VESUvIUS AND
PEI4EE COMPARED
One a SmeIter, the Other q Crushing
Engine-Eariy Records Of the Ital-
ian Mountain are Unscientifc and
Imaginatiye-Prior to A. D. 63,
However, ft Was Extinct.

49,
ian Mountain are U~nscientifc and
Imaginative-Prior to A. d. e3,
However, IL Was Extinct.
(Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jr., in
New York Post)
The erupsions recorded in the last
few days in Naples brings to mind the
great excitement Of 1902, when all the
journals Of the world were full Of
extraordinary disasters in the West
Indies occasioned by Mont Pelee. On
that occasion, it will be remembered,
two volcanoes.
On May 7, 1902, La Soufriere in st.
Vincent sent a mighty column Of
steam and ash miles upward and laid
waste the plantations on its tanks.
The next morning, May s. ia mon
tagne Pelee," at the northern end OF
Martinique, a hundred miles away
from st. Vincent. gave vent to a culr
minating explosion after several days
Of foTewarning, and a peculiar black
cloud rushed down the slope of the
mountain on st. Pierre. a thriving
French city Of 5000 inhabitants. 1t
was instantly destroyed and only two
persons was ever removed from the
city alive, although several people on
the ships in the roadstead escaped.
After the destruction Of st. Pierre,
both volcanoes continued active for
months. A second eruption of Sou
priere took place on May IS and on
Pelee on May 20. Until the end of Au-
gust Soufriere remained trandr" but
Pelee suffered recurrent explosions Of
increasing violence. The series of vol
cainic happenings cultivated on AL
gust, 3, when Mont Pelee sent out
a terrific blast in a new direction,
wiping out a hill town with its 1000
inhabitants and greatly extending the
area Of it's devastation. On September
'3 SOufriere followed the lead of its
neighbor and again erupted violently,
but the inhabitants of the vicinity, had
long since fed, and no damage was
done beyond what had been already
accomplished-cOmplete destruction Of
everything human within reach Of
the octopus arms of the volcanic mons
ter.
After September the eruptions were
Of minor Importance, but a remarka-
BILE phenomenon on Pelee attracted
worldwide attention. On the new
heap of fallen debris piled above the
vent q tOOth-like projection appeared,
which rose like a tower to a height
of a thousand feet and f~uctuated in
during the various phases of activity
of the cone The fluctuations appear
ed to be due to the caving in of the
tower, especially on one side, and its
slow extrusion upward. All observers
agreed that the spine or tower was
a mass of half molten rock substance
forced slowly up from a assure in the
new cone and solicited b ychilling IN
it's progress. Men of science disagreed,
however, as to it's origin, some believ-
ing it to be a lava from the deep
{ regious, others that it was a loosened
old of solid dock, and still others,
among whom was the writer, that it
was merely fused material among the
hot pasty blocks which had fallen
[ back on the cone from many eXplOs-
i've er%uptions. No sign Of a flowing
incandescent lava has been reported
from this series of er%uptiOns on Pee
lee.
THE RECORD OF VESUVIUS.
In marked contrast to this story is
the record of Vesuvius since the yea
1896 A. D. Flowing streams of lava
have been characteristic of it's erup-
lions, while the explosive phenomena
have been also much in evidence, but
the material exploded consists less of
broken fragments of old rocks, and
more Of the CLASSY sherds which would
result from the tearing asunder of
viscid lava. Pelee is a great cruising
engine, comminuting rocks and nurl-
ing far and wide the dust and broken
stones. Vesuvius is a smelling furn-
ace, with eternal fires beneath, which
control masses of molten Stag. Now
and again the earth heaves and opens
the way to bring water and this Stag
together, when explosion S and
inaugurates a period of activity.
Al volcanoes known seem to have
poured forth lavas at some period OF
their history, and probably most OF
them have had their times of dry
explosion so to speak. But certain
vents of the present day are certainly
characterized by wholly explosive
e%ruptions, while others, like those OF
Hawaii, are known chiefly as the scene
of quiet o~verfowings Of very liquid
basalt.. These two types are distri.
buted over the globe in proportions net
at present known. Most of the Amer
lean volcanoes are 'cinder-cOnes.' that
is, Of the explosive kind, and the same
is tr;e of the East Indies and tbs
japanese group, probably. Iceland
the Mediterranean cones, the Hawai-.
ian Islands, and some of the New
Zealand volcanoes at present is il
a very uncertain conditions, because OF
the wide diversity of opinion among
biologists concerning their origin am
mechanism. The only possible salts
factory classification is a general one
and while their genesis is unknown
we cannot we'll classify. They have
been grouped in accordance with tht