JUNE 12, 1902] 
shaken, and on the same day Osorno, at a distance of 400 miles, 
renewed its activity. ‘These facts,” says Lyell, ‘‘ prove not 
only the connection of earthquakes with volcanic eruptions in 
this region, but also the vast extent of the subterranean areas 
over which the disturbing cause acts simultaneously.” In 
1836, on June 22 (or May 22-23) different places in Central 
America were shaken, and this was accompanied by the eruption 
of a volcano east of Omoa. In this year there was an eruption 
in Guadeloupe. 
Without continuing these extracts further, it seems that 
the sequence of events which has recently taken place 
since the catastrophe in Guatemala on April 19 is but a 
repetition of very similar sequences which have taken 
place in the same quarter of the globe during the past 
two hundred years. The Antillean range is apparently 
one that is extremely susceptible to seismic disturbances 
originating at adistance, and that it may be so is sug- 
gested by its recent geological history. According to 
Dr. J. W. Gregory, when the Isthmus of Panama was 
submerged it is possible that “ Antillia” existed connect- 
ing North and South America, and the Caribbean Sea 
was then a gulf of the Pacific. In Lower or Middle 
Miocene times this was submerged, and abyssal oozes were 
deposited which are now raised in the Barbados to a 
height of 1095 feet above sea level. The magnitude of 
these movements and their rapidity, which has often been 
referred to by the opponents to the theory of the perma- 
nence of continental masses and oceanic basins, indicate 
that we have in the Antillean ridge a line of weakness 
characterised by unusual instability, and it is in all proba- 
bility this instability which renders the Windward Islands 
so responsive to hypogenic changes in the neighbouring 
continent. 6 
Seismic Disturbances. 
The earthquake recorded at Shide on May 8, com- 
mencing at 2h. 49°5m. a.m., was also recorded at Kew, 
Bidston, Edinburgh and Potsdam. The times of maximum 
motion at Shide, Kew and Bidston were 3h. 21°7m., 
3h. 18'2m. and 3h. 23m. 
The time taken for this movement to travel from the 
West Indies to Kew would be about 37 minutes. 
The local time of origin in the West Indies would there- 
fore be May 7, 10.37 p.m. This time, calculated from 
other data, was given in NATURE, May 29, p. III, as 
being about 10.33 p.m. Two other seismograms relating 
to this disturbance as recorded at Shide have not yet 
been examined. When this is done more certainty re- 
specting this time is to be expected. 
Assuming the clock in St. Pierre, which stopped at 
11.50 (or 7.50 a.m. local time) to have been correct, this 
earthquake took place about twelve hours before that 
event occurred. 
It is curious that although this earthquake was noted 
in Potsdam it does not appear to have reached Laibach 
and certain other European stations. 
At Shidea slight earthquake was recorded on May 25 
about 5.28 p.m., and a second shock at adout 4.20 next 
morning. They are both small, and the relationship 
between the preliminary tremors and maximum motion is 
too ill defined to state definitely the distance at which 
they originated. J. MILNE. 
RECORDS AND RESULTS OF RECENT 
ERUPTIONS. 
Sue interesting observations and records con- 
nected with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes 
have come under our notice during the past week. As 
has already been remarked, the exact cause of the 
sudden destruction of the inhabitants of Martinique 
after the eruption of Mont Pelée is a little difficult 
to determine. Witnesses who were on the Roddam 
in the bay of St. Pierre at the time of the disaster 
on May 8, state that when the eruption occurred 
the vessel was struck with such force by the material 
NO. 1702, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
58) 
ejected that she was nearly capsized and seemed to be 
enveloped in “a whirlwind of fire.” Apparently what 
burst from the volcano was highly heated gas carrying 
with it immense quantities of white-hot volcanic ash. 
The vessel eventually reached the harbour of Castries, 
St. Lucia, and a survivor gave a correspondent of the 
Times the following account of his terrible experience :— 
No human being could stand against that terrific deluge of 
molten ashes. Even those who reached the cabin or hold did 
not escape, almost every nook and cranny of the ship being 
filled with the blazing dust. Captain Freeman sought shelter in 
the chart-room, but, the portholes being open, the fire streamed 
in and burnt him badly on face and hands. 
The heat was awful, for the mass of ashes which poured 
into the ship all aglow still retained its heat, and it was only 
with great difficulty and caution that it was possible to move 
about at all. 
When the ship reached Castries, every part was found 
to be covered thickly with volcanic ash. More than 120 
tons of ash were taken from the ship, and as this was 
precipitated in a white-hot condition it is remarkable 
that anyone passed through the burning storm alive. 
The eruption of the Soufriére of St. Vincent was 
accompanied by the same kind of ‘‘hot blast ” as that of 
Mont Pelée. Many victims of the St. Pierre disaster 
bore no outward sign of injury or scorching, but after 
autopsy they were found to have been burnt internally. 
A Daily Mail correspondent at St. Vincent records, 
from the words of a survivor, how most people died :— 
A dark cloud came from the Soufriére about 4 p.m., and a 
fine leaden powder penetrated doors and windows and filled 
the air. People breathed it in, and it was so hot it burnt the 
flesh. The people in the house began to cry out, and struggled, 
shouting for water, and placing their hands on their stomachs. 
They gasped, fainted, and died. All was over in three minutes. 
It is said that this hot blast killed most people, and wherevev 
the powder touched people it burnt their flesh. 
Prof. A. E. Verrill states in Sczezce the opinion that the 
ejection of explosive gases was one of the causes of the 
sudden destruction of life in the Martinique eruption 
His view is as follows :— 
The heat was sufficient to cause the dissociation of hydrogen 
and oxygen from the water on coming suddenly into contact 
with highly heated lava, and in case of sea-water the chlorine 
would also be dissociated from the sodium. These gases suddenly 
ejected with great violence and exploding in the air, above the 
crater, would produce precisely the effects witnessed on an un- 
usually large scale at Martinique. The people were mostly 
killed by the sudden explosion of a vast volume of hydrogen and 
oxygen, which will account for the sudden burning of flesh and 
clothes, as well as of the buildings and vessels. The chlorine, 
at the same time, combining with some of the hydrogen, 
would produce hydrochloric acid, a poisonous and suffocating 
gas, which would quickly kill most of those not instantly 
destroyed by the explosion. 
As to the changes which have occurred at St. Vincent, 
it is reported that a party of American investigators who 
ascended the Soufriére found that the lake had dis- 
appeared, leaving a cavity 2000 feet deep. Vapour was 
still issuing from the new crater. ; 
The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture for the 
West Indies has informed Kew that the botanic station 
and agricultural school in St. Vincent are untouched 
beyond a fall of volcanic dust. 
It is reported in the Barbados Advocate that the 
volcanic ash is adding to the difficulties of sugar-making. 
The dust is everywhere. It has worn some mill-rollers 
so smooth that they can hardly draw in the canes. In 
places the machinery is much injured, and everywhere 
the dust gets into the juice and has to be: strained out, 
flannel bags having to be used to strain the liquor. On 
the evening of May 19 a fine dust of a light grey colour 
was observed to be falling on the Oxford plantation, and 
it was conjectured that it came from Mont Pelée, in 
Martinique. 
