MOMENTS OF INTEREST.

Bush Advocate, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 4 January 1905, Page 7

MOMENTS OF INTEREST.

♦ ' A COMING EARTH TERROR. A column of solid rock 3000 ft high and several hundred feet thick (says Science Sittings) has been squeezed up through the mouth of the crater of oTd Mount Pelee, the volcano which suddenly, as all will remember, burst forth and swept away life and property on the Island of Martinique a couple of years ago. No such amazing phenomenon has ever been beheld, by the eyes of science, and the geologists of the civilised world are watching, and studying this extraordinary new , activity. Somewhere down in the bowels of the earth a pressure is being brought to bear f on the molten, interior of the earth like the squeezing of a giant nut-cracker. Up through the volcano, filling completely t the mouth of the crater, rises this mass of white-hot and soft rock, which is , cooled by the air and rises suddenly upwards for more than half a mile above the top of the mountain. The measurements and other observations now being made are exceedingly interesting. The whole subject becomes absorbing when one speculates upon the tremendous force lying buried in the bowels of the earth, which pushes this giant stone finger further and further heavenwords, | ' and upon the hitherto undreamed of spectacle of this same force, suddenly augmented a thousandfold, ejecting the mighty stopper of this crater as though it were the cork of a champagne bottle. The possibility of such a spectacle is i reasonably deduced from the fact of the existence of a sufficient force to create and thrust upwards 'such an enormous , weight of stone. What would be the effect if this stopper were suddenly to become a projectile? To what awful height would it soar? Where would it land? And would there be anything left of the island of Martinique after such an explosion? . Prior to the series of eruptions which practically wiped out the city of St. Pierre the top of Mount Pelee was like a great cup half a mile across, and in places 2000 ft — more than a third of a mile — deep. On ' the south-west side, towards St. Pierre, there was a deep gash in the crater's rim, and through this the lava ran down the mountain aide in a broad river after the eruption. The form of this crater was considerably changed after the eruption. The rim had crumbled, in several places^ and within a month or two afterwards it was observed that the usual cones of cinders were forming.. It was not until the following October that observers noted any-, thing unusual. Then the clouds of steam and smoke, which had been visible ever since the catastrophe, cleared away, and they saw that Mount Pelee was indeed unique among volcanic mountains. White and glistening in. the sunlight was an enormous tusk thrust forth out of the crater to the height of nearly 300 ft above its' rim. Professor Lacroix at first described it as a "tooth," and soon the news spread iv the scientific world that Mount, Pelee was erecting an obelisk to its own fame — as though there was danger of its. ever being forgotten. Day by Cay the monument was growing. The prpoaa was exactly the opposite to that rhich creates most obelisks. This one started at the top, and as additions were made at th« bottom the whole increasing weight, was thrust upwards. During the last twelve days of August, 1903, the stone pillar attained the remarkable growth of 462 ft. This was in connection with a marked increase in the activity of the volcano. During September the forces below appeared to be exhausted by their great effort. Occasionally there was a slight gain, which was. almost immediately lost. But afterwards it was made plain, that the enormous weight of the obelisk was not yet beyond the resources of the machinery down below. The summit continued to rise higher —and is still rising !