JUNE 5, 1902 | 
NATURE 
133 
issuing from a small cleft near the pond ; a sulphurous odour 
was also perceptible. The great eruption in 1812 was exclu- 
sively, or at least in greater part, an ash-eruption, as no lava stream 
‘was seen on the exterior of the mountain. A few insignificant 
beds of andesitic lava still occur interstratified in the tuta. 
Someone told me that the island was rising slowly out 
of the sea on its western and sinking on its opposite side ; 
this, however, was denied by others. Ifany change of importance 
has taken place on the western side during the last convulsion of 
Nature, it should not be difficult to ascertain the fact and deter- 
mine the amount of change of level. [I went in a boat along 
the coast from Chateau Belair to Kingstown and observed that 
where the coast consisted of tufa (not where it was formed of 
solid lava or coarse volcanic agglomerate) it displayed a kind of 
strandline or beach-shelf. It was a horizontal or slowly dipping 
platform about a yard broad. Fig. 2 shows the shelf along a 
promontory seen from some height, Fig. 3 represents a small 
island surrounded with its beach-shelf, while Fig. 4 gives a 
diagrammatic section of the shelf. 
The sea at high water rises about one foot above the shelf 
and sinks at low water about 2 feet underneath it. At ebb-tide 
the outer slope is seen to be covered with seaweed (at X in the 
diagram), as far up as the sea rises the inner wall (at y) 
is covered with a crust of calcareous matter consisting 
of serpulites and the remains of other sea animals, 
Icannot suppose that this peculiar beach was 
solely to the action of the waves. Organic life has 
probably had something to do with it, the rate of recession of 
the cliff being comparatively rapid where the animals lived, 
while on the other hand the seaweed has been to a certain extent 
Ne 
Ree 
Fic. 2. Fic. 3. Fic. 4 
protective. In any case this beach-shelf should be of good 
service in determining whether any sudden change of level has 
taken place during the latest eruptions. 
Christiania. 
A comparison of Dr. Reusch’s observations with those 
which, it is hoped, will shortly be obtained, should be of 
value in showing the changes which have occurred. 
The Paris Academy of Sciences has decided to send a 
special scientific expedition to the scénes of the eruptions. 
The expedition will sail on June 9. 
In extension of the diary of recent volcanic events 
already published in these columns, we give a record of 
occurrences reported during the past week. - 
HANs REUSCH. 
May 10, Tacoma.—Mount Redoubt, in Cook Inlet country, 
Washington State, has been pouring forth dense volumes of 
smoke for a week past, and a few nights ago became luminous. 
Volcanic ashes have been falling for several days, and the snow 
near the mountain is covered with ashes. The last eruption of 
Mount Redoubt was in 1867. 
May 28.—A sharp shock of earthquake was felt in the Cape 
Peninsula at midnight. 
May 28, Fort de France.—There was a tremendous explosion, 
followed by a cloud of black smoke, from Mont Pelée at 8.45 
this morning. 
May 29, Fort de France.—The eruptions of Mont Pelée have 
become more frequent, although less violent. 
May 30, Kingstown (St. Vincent).—There was a fresh 
eruption of. the volcano La Soufriére this morning. It was 
_accompanied by a thunderous noise and trembling of the earth, 
while volumes of vapour were emitted from the crater. The 
eruption lasted an hour. 
May 30, Port de Frarce.—Cable communication with St. 
Thomas was again broken. A violent eruption of Mont Pelée 
took place at 2 p.m. It is reported that the craters on the 
north side of the mountain are pouring out torrents of mud. 
May 31, Fort de France.—Detonations were heard from the 
NO. 1701, VOL. 66] 
due - 
volcano this morning, and volumes of smoke were emitted. 
The Riviere Blanche is again a torrent of steaming hot mud. 
May 31, Aingston.—During the past week Jamaica has been 
experiencing magnificent sunsets, the colours being extra- 
ordinarily rich and beautiful. The phenomenon is due to the 
volcanic dust in the atmosphere. 
May 31, Athens.—For some days past earthquake shocks 
have been repeatedly felt in various parts of Greece. 
DR. HENRI FILHOL. 
OCTOR HENRI FILHOL, professor of compara- 
tive anatomy at the Museum of Natural History, 
Paris, died on April 28 at the relatively early age 
of fifty-nine. A naturalist and paleontologist of the 
first rank, he will assuredly be lamented by a large 
circle of friends, not only in his native land, but also in 
this and other countries, his many and important con- 
tributions to our knowledge of both living and extinct 
animals being of world-wide interest. 
Henri Filhol, son of Edouard Filhol, the famous 
chemist of Toulouse, was born in that town in the year 
1843. Having studied for the medical profession, he 
early obtained his degree of doctor of medicine. His 
first contribution to science appears to have been in 1863, 
when he was about twenty years of age, forat that time 
was published, in conjunction with M. F. Garrigou, his 
paper on “L’Age de la Pierre dans les Cavernes de la 
Vallée de Tarascon (Ariége)” (Comptes rendus, lvii.). 
The French commission sent out for the study of the 
transit of Venus in 1875 included Dr. H. Filhol among 
its members ; and the fact that in 1876 he received the 
Lalande-Guérineau prize of the Academy of Sciences is 
evidence of his confréres’ appreciation of these early 
labours for science. 
One of Dr. Filhol’s most remarkable pieces of work 
was his “Recherches sur les Phosphorites du Quercy ” 
(Ann. Sct. Géol. 1876, t. vii. pp. 220, pls. 10-36, and 
1877, t. viii. pp. I-273 and 297-340, pls. 1-26). In this 
are described the remarkable deposits of phosphate of 
lime, of Upper Eocene age, which occur as great pockets 
in Jurassic beds in the departments of the Lot, of the 
Tarn and Garonne, and of the Aveyron; then follows, 
as the subtitle of the work says, an account of the 
fossils met with in these deposits and especially the 
Mammalia. Numerous new forms are brought to light, 
and others critically revised, in this memoir of more than 
500 pages and 52 plates. é 
Another work of similar character is the “ Etude des 
Mammiféres Fossiles de Saint-Gérand le Puy (Allier) ” 
(Ann. Sct. Géol. 1879, t. x., and 1880, t. xi.), which 
occupies some 338 pages and 51 plates, and was the 
result of studying numerous collections of fossils, made 
during many years, from these Lower Miocene deposits. 
Here again. numerous forms are described, many being 
regarded as new to science. A third work is entitled 
“tude des Mammiféres Fossiles de Ronzon” (Az. Sez. 
Géol. 1881, t. xii. pp. 270,*pls.16-31). The locality is near 
the village of Puy, and the calcareous marl which has 
yielded this great assemblage of fossil vertebrata is 
believed to be of Miocene age. Many mammalian remains 
from the locality had already been collected and described 
by M. Aymard (1856) ; but not only are these critically 
revised in the light of new material, but again new forms 
are made known. A fourth piece of work of the same 
kind is the “Etudes sur les Mammiféres Fossiles de 
Sansan” (Aum. Sci. Géol. 1891, t. xxi. pp. 314, pls. 46). 
M.E. Lartet had begun the study of the remains from 
this Miocene deposit, but died suddenly, leaving the 
-work uncompleted. Dr. Filhol, taking up the study of 
the extensive material preserved in the Paris Museum, 
and with the help of additional specimens collected by 
himself under the auspices of the same museum, pro- 
duced this important memoir. 
