4:66 Scientific Intelligence. 



tifully illustrated volume, which is published by the Academie 

 des Sciences of Paris, Prof. Lacroix, the chief of the French 

 Scientific Commission sent to investigate the phenomena of Pelee 

 and the general conditions attending the destruction of Saint- 

 Pierre, presents his final report on his observations. This is the 

 most extended study that has yet been made of the cataclysm of 

 May, 1902, and of the volcanic phenomena of the island that fol- 

 lowed upon this remarkable outburst. Much of what the volume 

 contains has already appeared in advance papers published in the 

 Comptes Rendus^ and the conclusions advanced have also in 

 large part been anticipated, both by the author himself and by 

 the foreign investigators who preceded Lacroix in their investiga- 

 tions, but for all that the work stands as one of the finest contri- 

 butions to vulcanology which geological literature contains, and 

 it is to be hoped will be made a measure for future exploratory 

 work of the same kind that may be initiated. On the main 

 points connected with the now historic cataclysm, Prof. Lacroix 

 holds generally to the views that have been advanced by the 

 American investigators. The destroying blast of May 8 was an 

 explosion of steam, with other gases, directed initially downward 

 from the ancient crateral spot of the volcano, the Etang Sec, and 

 has in kind been repeated a number of times since (the nuees 

 ardentes), as on May 20, June 6, July 9, Aug. 30 (destruction of 

 Morne Rouge) and other periods. Heated to a very high tem- 

 perature, which may have reached 1500° to 2000° or more, densely 

 charged with volcanic debris that it carried in its train, and 

 descending with a velocity which at its point of impact with 

 the unfortunate city is estimated to have been not less than 400 

 to 450 feet per second, it is not difficult to comprehend why the 

 destruction should have been so absolute and far-reaching. In 

 attributing the descent of the destroying " black cloud " to an 

 initial explosive discharge whose direction was downward, and 

 not to the attractive force of gravity, Lacroix stands in accord 

 w T ith virtually all the American investigators, and opposed to 

 Drs. Flett and Tempest Anderson, representing the Commission 

 of the Royal Society of London. The author is inclined to the 

 belief that Saint-Pierre was annihilated in the space of a single 

 minute, or perhaps even wdthin a fraction of this time. As 

 regards the construction of the remarkable Pelean excrescence 

 which has been at various times described as "spine," "tower," 

 "obelisk," and "needle," and which at its greatest development 

 rose above its supporting dome by upwards of 1000 feet, Lacroix 

 holds to his original views, somew T hat modified in its details, that 

 it represented a rapidly solidifying highly viscous (andesitic) 

 lava, whose upward movement was conditioned by almost instan- 

 taneous solidification, and the impossibility under such conditions 

 of taking the downward course of ordinary lava-streams. How- 

 ever much one may feel disposed to differ from this conclusion, 

 the observations which have led to it are carefully stated, and 

 form not the least important part of the work. A large part of 



