272 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE ANTILLEAN VOLCANOES. 



By. Dr. W J McGEE, 



VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. 



TN all ages volcanoes have played a prominent role in human thought 

 -*- The Vulcan of classic mythology was but the head of a family 

 of earth-gods born of the polytechnic Mediterranean mind fertilized 

 by the " burning mountains " of continents conjoined in the Levant ; 

 and in the still lower stages of human development represented by 

 scores of surviving tribes, Fire-Earth deities head the primitive pan- 

 theons — indeed, the Vulcanean notion seems to run back to a pristine 

 stage in which the forerunners of living races first stole Vulcan's torch, 

 tamed capricious and ferocious fire even as other [to them] beasts were 

 tamed, and thus took the initial step in that nature-conquest by which 

 man rose above lower life. Certain it is that Vulcanean myths are 

 most dominant in lower savagery, feebler albeit sharper-cut about the 

 birth-time of writing, and decadent during the period of written his- 

 tory. Naturally a factor in the eclipse of Vulcan was the dispersion 

 of mankind, largely in accordance with preconceived plans, from the 

 volcanic centers in which fire was first enslaved over volcano-free 

 regions in which the new servant was thralled by new devices; and it 

 is significant that not only the beast-gods of the prime but the later 

 nature-deities, like Jove and Pluto, Thor and Odin, were swept away 

 before the tide of self-confidence raised by nature- conquest. So Vul- 

 can and the rest lost their terrors; thev even fell into oblivion like the 

 beast-gods before, save as the chaff of concepts caught in the meshes 

 of scripture. Most of the mythic monsters are gone utterly; yet Vul- 

 can dies hard— and now and then the nature power for which he stands 

 rises above all human might, and tempts men to return to that early 

 stage of thought marked by the personification of powers. 



The latest Vulcanean throes have caught the attention of the 

 reading world. Measured by volume of material cast out, or by force 

 of explosions, the recent Antillean outbreaks rank below many others 

 on record — far below the stupendous outbursts of later geologic periods ; 

 yet measured by mortality, the eruption of Mont Pelee on the morning 

 of May 8, 1902, ranks among the most appalling catastrophes of his- 

 tory. And never before was news of disaster so quickly spread; quick 

 thinkers jotted the details, and cables and swift ships carried them 

 to every country within a few hours— yet not so speedily but that 

 history's brightest example of practical sympathy overtook the echoes 



