May 29, 1902] 
NATURE 
109 
a marked effect upon our religion, our literature, our 
pictorial and our glyptic art. 3 
Those who visit the West: Indies with the object of 
extending our knowledge of vulcanology will no doubt 
collect information bearing on these far-reaching effects, 
and it is not unlikely that it will be found that the 
eruptions in the Antilles have done more to stimulate, 
the imaginations of Europeans than those of the negroes 
who witnessed all that happened. 
Another neglected chapter in hypogenic geology to 
which attention may be directed relates to the effects of 
volcanic activity on epidemic diseases, a subject which 
has attracted the attention of many investigators. 
American and Italian statistics, Dr. Bardswell says, 
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show that there is “ an increased death-fate from malaria, 
enteric, &c., with a lessened death-rate from phthisis in 
areas associated with volcanic activity as compared with 
non-volcanic regions ”—a statement, however, not beyond 
criticism. 
No doubt types of neurosis like nausea, disordered 
sensation, nervous apprehension, insanity, paralysis of 
the limbs and other kindred troubles will have a sporadic 
existence, but it does not seem likely that these will 
be so marked amongst the negroes as amongst the 
Europeans. 
The destruction of water-pipes or the contamination of 
water supplies by sewage might result in diseases 
like cholera and typhoid. Although cases of bron-. 
other, may be stirred into activity in regions far removed 
from volcanic centres, to result in diseases which may 
affect, not only animals, but also plants. , ; 
The causes of death in St. Pierre were no doubt mani- 
fold. First there was the blast of irritating gas’and dust 
which caused suffocation. In all probability this gas was 
in the main that of hydrochloric acid derived from the 
sodium chloride of the sea-water, the infiltration of 
which is the main cause of all volcanic activity. This 
gas has been pouring out of Pelée and La Soufriére in 
the columns of steam during all stages of their erup- 
tions and by this time, no doubt, it exists as a belt round 
our world, many of the inhabitants of which are breathing 
exhalations which had their origin in the West Indies. 
Many were killed, particularly at La Soufriére, by a 
rain of hot ashes or by lightning, which played in the 
darkness of the ashy cloud like fiery serpents. 
On May 8, when Pelée burst an opening on its flanks, 
a whirlwind of fire or a sheet of flame, followed by red- 
hot ashes, stones and boiling water, swept over St. Pierre 
and its harbour to seer and scald and fire all that it 
passed. We have here a phenomenon deserving close 
attention. If this flame really existed, what was its 
origin? Mr. F. J. M. Page gave the writer the sugges- 
tion that it was the ignition of a “water gas” produced 
when the water forming the lake in the crater of Mont 
Pelée was suddenly adinitted into the fiery furnace of its 
interior. The action would be similar to that which 
takes place when a teaspoonful of water is thrown upon 
a hot fire; dissociation would take place, an explosion 
would occur, and the resultant gases would be ignited as 
a flash. That the inhabitants of a city should be over- 
whelmed by a wall of fire created by the cool waters of 
the lake in which they bathed seems incredible, but still, 
this is at present the only explanation we have for this 
unparalleled occurrence. 
About premonitory signs a correspondent of the Vew 
York Herald tells us that dumb animals were wiser than 
man, live stock were uneasy and almost uncontrollable. 
Cattle lowed in the night, dogs howled, and when driven 
out showed symptoms of fear. Wild animals disappeared 
from Mont Pelée. Even snakes crawled away. Birds 
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chitis have resulted from the inhalation of volcanic 
gases, diseases arising from these causes are extremely 
rare. 
An ingenious theory, showing the possibility of a re- 
lationship between volcanic action and the production of 
epidemic diseases, 1s one advocated by Dr. W. G. A. 
Robertson. He does not assume that poisonous products 
issue from volcanic vents to render the atmosphere 
poisonous, or even that these products appreciably affect 
its constitution. What, however, he does assume is that 
these gases and vapours may be dilated to an immense 
extent to produce an atmosphere suitable to the vital 
activity of unicellular organisms. According to this view, 
microparasites, which are always present somewhere or 
NO. 1700, VOL. 66] 
ceased singing and left the mountain, and a great fear 
seemed to be upon the island. 
Signs like these, which usually are only recognised 
after a catastrophe has taken place, are by no means 
peculiar to the Antilles. The late Prof. S. Sekiya, of 
Tokio, kept pheasants to study their behaviour before 
an earthquake, and I have had many opportunities of 
confirming his observations, which show that these birds 
by their screaming feel the preliminary tremors of an 
earthquake, to which movements human beings are in- 
sensible. This, then, being the case, it does not seem 
at all unlikely that the creatures living on the slopes of 
Mont Pelée heard sounds and felt vibrations the occur- 
rence of which was not noticeable by man. Although 
