SUMMARY 277 



rior, out of which for countless years the interior magma has been pour- 

 ing its volumes of matter, adding material to the earth's crust, its atmos- 

 phere, and its oceans. 



In view of the great stretches of history behind them and the relative 

 insignificance of the seemingly large products of the recent eruptions of 

 Pele and Soufriere, we are also naturally led to doubt those explana- 

 tions which have ascribed the recent eruptions to ephemeral and super- 

 ficial causes, and to inquire if there is not a deeper-seated and more 

 permanent source of vulcanism than many geologists have been prone 

 to acknowledge. 



Beyond the roar of the land-destroying ocean surf, in the unknown 

 interior, beneath the veneering of the ash-made islands, in the great gas- 

 sodden atmosphere above us, back of all the phenomena described, there 

 is always presented for solution that still greater problem, What made 

 the volcanoes ? 



Discussion as to Origin of the Volcanoes 

 deductions from the windward volcanoes 



The facts presented in the previous pages show that the recent erup- 

 tions of Pele were not sudden nor produced by accidental superficial 

 causes, such as the letting in of oceanic waters through fissures, but, on 

 the other hand, they were a gradual emanation from an ancient, per- 

 sistent deep-seated volcanic center which has existed beneath the vicinity 

 since remote geologic periods. 



The facts have also shown that these volcanoes, from a world-making 

 standpoint, are not destructive engines, but, on the other hand, are great 

 constructive agents building islands in the sea, adding mass to the pre- 

 existing lands and volume to the atmospheric waters. 



Inasmuch as these facts do not accord with the current popular ideas 

 of volcanoes or those in most text-books, we feel that this paper would 

 not be complete without a resume of current theories of vulcanism and 

 the presentation and correlation of some recent and rather revolutionary 

 views thereof, which have been presented by various eminent men of 

 science. 



These views, while not pretending finality, are at least much more in 

 accordance with geological facts than many that have collectively ap- 

 peared hitherto, and will explain more satisfactorily the events of the 

 recent eruptions of Pele than the theories which are more popular. 



A volcano is the terminal exhaust pipe of a concealed underground 

 mechanism. Our geological studies of volcanoes are limited to the cones 

 and craters which represent the outer rims of the exhaust pipes of these 



