272 



NA TURE 



[January 22, 1903 



part a nearly perfect truncated cone. All sign of a crater has 

 disappeared, the top being flit. There is no notice, not even 

 tradition, about any eruption of the Santa Maria in pre- 

 Columbian or historic time. 



Between this volcano and the town of Quezaltenango, to the 

 north-east, rises the volcano Cerro Quemada (burned mountain) 

 to 3179 m., indicating a secondary fissure nearly at a right-angle 

 to the primary volcanic fissure of Guatemala. The Cerro Que- 

 mada has a very large crater, difficult to go over on account of 

 the big lava-boulders filling its bottom. No channel connecting 

 with tire interior of the earth is visible, but many solfataras and 

 fumaroles exist there ; they did not show any sign of renewed 

 activity. The Cerro Quemada had its last eruption at the begin- 

 ning of last century. 



The deep-cut and narrow valley of the River Samala separates 

 these two volcanoes, Cerro Quemada and Santa Maria, eastward 

 from the old volcano Zunil. In the bottom of this valley, there 

 are, near the Indian town of Almolonga, hot springs (their water 

 had been reduced in quantity after April IS), and farther down, 

 below the town of Zunil, a great many fumaroles send up hot 

 steam, and some of them show sometimes geyser-like pheno- 

 mena, throwing out at intervals plenty of hot water to a height 

 of a few feet. During the rainy season (May to October), these 

 fumaroles produce more steam, and there is also a marked in- 

 crease of their activity from the forenoon maximum of barometric 

 pressure to the afternoon minimum. 



To the north-west of the volcano Santa Maria rises the much 

 more voluminous mountain mass of Siete Orejas (seven ears), 

 3361 m. high. It is a very old volcano ; the upper part has dis- 

 appeared and the disintegrating influences of water and air have 

 carved out on its top a number of rounded eminences ; deep 

 barrancoscut its sides. On its southern slope, towards the Costa 

 Cuca, exists a pretty large parasitic crater with a lake of about 

 J km. diameter in it, called Chicabal. It has not yet been 

 mentioned anywhere before. 



The southern slopes of Siete Orejas and Santa Maria are 

 separated by the barranco of the River Ocosiio, which also 

 separates the coffee districts of " Costa Cuca " and " Xoluitz." 

 To the east of Xoluitz follows the district of " El Palmar.'' The 

 highest coffee plantations here were Helvetia, San Antonio and 

 La Sabina (i 150 m.), the last one also a very popular bathing 

 resort, with strong springs of mineral water (carbonic acid). 



The region from the Costa Cuca to El Palmar was the most 

 famous coffee district of Guatemala. Its annual production was 

 from 250,000 to 300,000 quintals, and its plantations were pro- 

 vided with the best machinery and gave employment to about 

 40,000 labourers. 



A great part of this prosperous region has been nearly 

 annihilated by a volcanic outburst at the south-west side of the 

 volcano Sania Maria. 



Soon after midnight of October 24-25, terrific detonations 

 announced the beginning of the volcanic activity (N.N. \Y. of 

 El Palmar and at about 1800 m. elevation above sea level). 

 These explosions were heard so far as the capital of El Salvador, 

 •over a great part of Chiapas and in the western part of Spanish 

 Honduras. Here, nearGualan, I am about 150 km. in astraight 

 line from the Santa Maria, but was awakened at 1 a.m. by 

 the noise of explosions like cannon shooting at short distance. 

 Towards morning, the louder detonations were repeated at 

 longer intervals, but between them a nearly constant low roar 

 could be heard. All noise ceased at about 1.30 p.m., but began 

 again at 6 p.m. and lasted until 1 [.30 p.m. During the follow- 

 ing three days, I heard detonations at different intervals. 



The new volcanic vent began pouring out an immense quantity 

 of ashes, sand and pumice-stone. The prevailing north and 

 north-easterly winds spread the lighter material in a dense veil 

 to the west and south-west, producing so far as Tapachula in 

 Soconusco darkness for more than forty-eight hours. Ashes, sand 

 and small stones fell in quantity over a large area, crushing 

 houses, burying the vegetation, and a great many people 

 perished. In the town of Quezaltenango (24,000 inhabitants), 

 although the quantity of ash falling was not very dangerous, 

 people got nervous about the terrific roar and afraid about the 

 strong sulphurous smell, and thousands left the place. A great 

 exodus began from the whole affected district, although heavy 

 rains which accompanied the eruptions had swollen the rivers 

 and destroyed every bridge. All the labourers, mostly Indians 

 from the highland towns, ran away, but many perished under 

 the falling ashes or were drowned in the rivers. The plan- 

 tations nearest to the new crater are covered by a layer of stones 



NO. 1734, VOL. 67] 



and ashes 5 m. to 10 m. deep. Farther away, of course, less 

 material fell, but still the damage done is very great. This 

 year's coffee harvest there is completely lost (more than 200,000 

 quintals), and it will be very difficult to get the labourers back 

 again to begin work to save what can be saved still. 



Until a few days ago, it has been very difficult for me to get 

 any exact information about this eruption. Dr. Carl Sapper, 

 who arrived in Guatemala City on October 24, went afterwards to 

 • Quezaltenango. He writes me that he tried to get near the focus 

 of eruptions, but the ashes and the sulphuretted hydrogen im- 

 pregnating the air obliged him to turn back, and he could not 

 get even a look at the new crater. In the Indian town of San 

 Martin Chileverde, fifty-six persons killed had been buried, but 

 as many huts are still under the ashes, more corpses will be 

 found later. From some other places, he reports forty-eight lives 

 lost, but the list is very incomplete. 



Dr. H. Prowe write; me under date November 15 from Cho- 

 cola : — "The eruption is going on with frequent strong earth- 

 quakes, but the quantity of ejected material is diminishing 

 greatly. The number of people who perished cannot be 

 estimated yet, but more were killed now than by the earth- 

 quake on April 18. The new volcanic cone can be seen from 

 San Felipe. It has an elliptic crater three miles by one mile (?) 

 diameter." 



For several years, the volcano Izalco, in El Salvador, the 

 most active in Central America, had been very quiet. After 

 April 18, it began its eruptions again, sending also forth a 

 lava stream towards south-east, which nearly filled up a barranco 

 between the volcano and the town of Izalco. 



During last May, the volcano Momotombo, in Nicaragua, 

 had a short eruption ; now comes from the same country a 

 report about the volcano Masaya being active. Dr. Sapper, 

 who will leave San Jose de Guatemala on December 11 for 

 Panama and the West Indian Islands, intends stopping at 

 Nicaragua to investigate these eruptions. 



Edwin Rockstroh. 



Gualan, Guatemala, C.A., November 30, 1902. 



PROF. LORENZ'S TREATMENT OF CON- 

 GENITAL DISLOCATION OF THE HIPS. 



ON Wednesday, January 14, at the City Orthopaedic 

 Hospital, Prof. A. Lorenz, of Vienna, demonstrated 

 his " bloodless " method of reduction of congenital dis- 

 location of the hips. Before giving details of the de- 

 monstration, it may be desirable to describe plainly the 

 nature of the affection. 



Children are sometimes born with one or both hip- 

 joints dislocated, the head of the thigh-bone being dis- 

 placed either above and behind or above and in front of 

 its socket, and sometimes in other directions. The parts 

 of the bones forming the joint may be perfectly, or 

 almost perfectly, formed, but are more often defective in 

 shape ; the head of the thigh-bone, instead of being a 

 rounded projection, may be in the form of an irregular 

 cone, and the neck of the bone, which should unite it to 

 the shaft, may be shortened or absent. The socket in 

 which this head should work — it is a ball and socket 

 joint — is generally more shallow than is natural, and is 

 very frequently deficient at its margins, especially 

 posteriorly and above. Consequently, should it be 

 possible to get the head back to its place, there is a 

 great tendency to redisplacement. 



It has always been the aim of those surgeons who 

 especially study such cases (orthopaedic surgeons) to 

 retard, or arrest, or correct the deformity. It is im- 

 possible here to give the history of the surgery of this 

 affection. It dates from the time of Hippocrates, but it 

 was in the early part of the last century that surgeons, 

 such as Dupuytren, Guerin and Pravez, described the 

 affection scientifically and explained practical methods 

 for treatin it. Pravez, jun., seems to have carried out 

 treatment upon much the same lines as those now 

 adopted by Lorenz, and several orthopaedic surgeons in 

 this country have, since then, followed the same plan 



