THE 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



Art. XLIY. — The Lava Eruption of Stromboli, Summer- 

 Autumn, 1915 ; by Frank A. Perret. 



The recent phase of exceptional activity at Stromboli — a 

 true eruption in the full sense of being both effusive and 

 explosive — may be considered, in a way, as being a repetition 

 of that of 1891, so ably described by Ricco and Mercalli.* It 

 differs from it, however, in some important respects, notably 

 in the relative proportions of the different phenomena, the 

 earlier eruption having been characterized by a far greater 

 degree of seismic and explosive activity, while the recent phase 

 was remarkable for its long continued outpouring of lava. 



It will scarcely be necessary to point out the peculiar import- 

 ance of such an event, for it will be recalled that effusive phe- 

 nomena at this volcano are rare, while the lavas of Vesuvius 

 and Etna do not, in our day, reach the sea. This eruption 

 furnished, therefore, a precious opportunity for the study of 

 the important question of the behavior of incandescent lava in 

 contact with water. 



Through a combination of circumstances, however, which 

 can never be sufficiently regretted, the true condition of Strom- 

 boli during the months of July, August, September and Octo- 

 ber was not realized by those volcanologists who are generally 

 most active in field research, and it was not until the first of 

 November that the present writer learned of the magnitude 

 and importance of the eruptive phase. Upon receiving con- 

 firmation of the reports through the kindness of Profs. 

 Platania and Ricco, of Catania, he sailed on November 7 for 

 Stromboli via Messina on the ill fated " Firenze." 



* A. Eieco and G. Mercalli, Aim. Uff. Cent. Met. Ital., xi, Part III, p. 187, 

 1892. 



Am. Jour. Sci. — Fourth Series, Vol. XLII, No. 252. — December, 1916. 

 31 



