297 
ST. VINCENT IN 
1902, AND ON A VISIT TO MONTAX INK PELL]';. 
topography as I observed it in March, 1907, and it is now certain that the bank of 
stones was the surface of a new cone, or dome, which was in process of being built up 
/ 
in the Etang Sec, which, in this eruption at any rate, was the working crater of the 
volcano.* The dome has never shown any crater of explosion on its summit and 
appears to be comparable, for instance, to such masses as the Domite Cones of the 
Auvergne. The pointed rock rose from its summit. It now appears that this rock 
had been independently seen three days previously, viz., on July 6, by a French 
party under Professor Lacroix, and by an American party under Professor Jaggar, 
and that photographs had been obtained by both, which, though very indistinct, 
enabled useful diagrams to be drawn, t It is certain that this rock occupied much the 
same position on the summit of the dome as the spine did later, and one of its 
surfaces showed “long striated smooth slopes” like the later spine. It does not 
appear, however, to have been the identical spine, for its smooth surface faced 
westward instead of eastward, as did the corresponding surface of the latter. Jaggar 
thinks it was an early stage of the same phenomenon ; Lacroix thinks, on the 
contrary, that it was part of a “ bourgeonnement ” (budding) of lava (Lacroix, p. 41) 
and that its shape was due to the splitting off and falling away of the surrounding 
portions, and this view is supported by the craggy condition of the summit of the 
dome shown in photographs taken in October before the upraising of the spine, which 
commenced in earnest in November. 
The French Commission commenced systematic observations from the Morne des 
Cadets early in October, using first an alidade and then a theodolite, and on 
November 3 the measured height of the summit was 1343 metres (4406 feet). 
Lacroix considers that the growth of the spine commenced on the night of the 3rd 
to 4th November, 1902,| and on November 24 it had reached a height of 1575 metres 
(5167 feet) above sea-level, or a growth of 230 metres in 20 days, i.e., at the average 
rate of over 10 metres a day. This was the first maximum height; from that time a 
series of falls gradually reduced the total height till February 6, 1903, when only 
1424 metres (4672 feet) were registered, or a net loss of 151 metres (495 feet), and 
this in spite of a continued rise of the remainder of the spine. From February 7 a 
new period of growth commenced, though less rapid than the former ; on March 25 
the former maximum of 1575 metres was again reached and soon surpassed, and from 
May 10 to 31 and from June 25 to July 6 the height was continuously above 
1600 metres (5249 feet). The absolute maximum reached was 1608 metres (5276 
feet) on July 4, 1903, or 257 metres above the former summit of the mountain, and 
* The other small lake on the summit, the Lac des Palmistes, if a crater at all, was not in action in 
1902, and its place is now occupied by a plain of debris and ejected blocks, including many bread-crust 
bombs. 
t Lacroix, p. 114. Jaguar, “The Initial Stages of the Spine on Pelee,” ‘American Journal of 
Science,’ vol. xvii., January, 1904. 
I Lacroix, loc. at., p. 121 et se<j. 
VOL, CCVIIL—A. 
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