132 The American Geologist. August, 1902. 
Mr. G. S. Finlay, assistant in geology, is spending most 
of the summer on the chemistry and petrography of some 
rocks from j\Iexico, the areal work oh which he did last winter. 
Mr. Fred Moffit, fellow elect in geology, has spent the last 
four summers in assisting professor T. Nelson Dale in the slate 
belt of New York and Vermont for the U. S. G. survey. He will 
spend four or five weeks in finishing the work in Vermont, 
and the remainder of the summer at Slatington, Pa. Here he 
will be engaged with Prof. Dale in mapping the slate belt for 
the U. S. G. survey. 
Prof. Angelo Heilprin> president of the Philadelphia 
Geographical Society, has returned to Fort de France from 
his explorations of the crater on the summit of Mont Pelee. 
He has settled some important points. The location of the 
new crater has been accurately determined ; it is known that 
there has been no overflow of molten matter from the lip of 
the crater ; there has been no subsidence of the mountain, 
and the hight of Mont Pelee is unchanged. I'here has been 
no cataclysm and no topographical alteration of the coun- 
try. The period of violent eruptions has probably ended, al- 
though the volcano may continue to be somewhat active for a 
long time to come. "As we stood on the edge of the crater," 
says the professor, "a sublime spectacle began. I now have 
some conception of what is going on inside the earth, and 
have been a spectator of nature's secret interior work. We 
were assailed with noise. Far below there was a hissing of 
steam like that of a thousand locomotives, as well as violent 
detonations. The eruption of Mont Pelee of May 8 was 
unique in that it resulted in the greatest destruction of life 
and property ever known by direct agency of a volcano. The 
phenomenon of explosion of flaming gases is probably new, 
but a careful study of observations is necessary before an 
opinion can be reached. The electrical phenomena 'are also 
new. They probably did not play the chief role in the de- 
struction of St. Pierre, but were developed by and aided the 
other force. I have specimens which show the effects of the 
bolts of lightning. The latter were small and intense and 
penetrated within the houses of the citv. For rap^dit^^ of ' 
action and for lives lost Mont Pelee holds the record among 
volcanoes." 
Geological Excursion in the Vicinity of Pittsburg, 
Pa. From June 23 to 30 a number of geologists participated in 
an excursion in connection with the Pittsburg meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science and the 
Geological Society of America. The excursion v;as under the 
leao'ership of Dr. L C. White, of Morgantown, W. A^a.. whose 
extensive acquaintance with the coal, oil and gas fields of west- 
ern Pennsylvania and West Virginia, together with his genial 
manner, made him a most excellent head of such an excursion. 
