214 J. LOGAN LOBLEY, F.G.S., r.R.G.S._, ON VOLCANIC ACTION 



trituration of repeatedly ejected scorias, is not ejected to the 

 enormous elevation it reaches by the explosive force, but is 

 carried up by the ascending column of hot steam and gases, 

 which in the heavier cold air rises to very high regions before 

 being altogether dissipated or condensed. 



The West Indian Eruptions. 



Probably no volcanic outburst has been the subject of so much 

 descriptive writing as that of the West Indian eruptions of the 

 year 1902. ' Voluminous accounts have appeared in the daily 

 press of Europe and America, articles containing much detailed 

 description are to be found in the monthly magazines, in one of 

 which the subject occupies 50 pages,* and several special com- 

 missions of expert observers have visited the islands and 

 reported on the eruptions and their results. It will, therefore, 

 only be necessary here to very briefly state the general features 

 of the eruptions and to indicate the phenomena that were 

 exceptional and peculiar. 



There is no difficulty in classifying the whole of the out- 

 bursts, both in Martinique and St. Vincent, as explosive 

 eruptions, for although the early accounts mention " lava," all 

 that has since appeared show that there has been no emission 

 of fluid lava. There were the usual premonitions of eruptive 

 activity after dormancy ; subterranean rumblings, accompanied 

 by emissions of steam, had been heard for three months before 

 the outburst; ash- clouds had begun to darken the sky in the 

 latter days of April; and on May 2nd soft ashes lay 16 inches 

 deep over the Savane of the city of St. Pierre. On May 3rd 

 the so-called " smoke " was illuminated, indicating the presence 

 of incandescent matter in the crater throat below. On May 5th 

 a deluge of hot mud poured down not from the summit crater 

 of the Martinique volcano. La Montague Pelee, 4,000 feet, but 

 from a vent at about 2,400 feet above sea level, where had been 

 the " Etang Sec," a dry depression since the eruption of 1851 

 until April 27th last, when it held a pool of water 600 feet in 

 diameter.! This great flow of mud overwhelmed the lower 

 grounds and a large manufactory, the Usine Guerin, at the foot 

 of the mountain, just as Herculaneum at the foot of Vesuvius 

 was overwhelmed by volcanic nmd in A.D. 79. 



After two days of less violent activity. May 8th (1902) wit- 



The Century Magazine, August, 1902. 

 t Fortnightly Review, August, 1902. 



