THE
ERUPTION
OF
PELÉE
25
when the earlier phenomena of an eruption could be profitably noted. There are, doubtless, m a n y facts connected with the physics of the opening of a vol canic mountain which have heretofore escaped notice, and some of these m a y have been directly allied to the greater facts which Pelée itself has presented. The extrusion or lifting of giant solid masses b y volcanoes is not, however, an absolutely unknown fact. Abich, as far back as 1882,* described the cliffs of limestone and marble which form an essential p a r t of the centre of the crater of t h e ancient volcano of Palandokän, and which he unhesitatingly assumed to have been lifted to their positions as the result of the volcano's elevatory force. A somewhat similar or identical relation is presented b y the P u y Chopine, in Auvergne, where, as we are informed b y Scrope and others, great blocks of elevated granite, sandwiched between trachyte, and constituting a portion of the basal rock of the volcano, now form p a r t of the upper moiety of the dome and point unequivocally to elevation a t a time or times of eruption. Other examples of this kind in the past histories of volcanoes could be cited, and, doubtless, m a n y more t h a n are a t present known will be found when the craters of volcanoes, active and non-active, will have been more accurately investigated t h a n has been the case until now.† * " Geologische F o r s c h u n g e n in den kaukasischen L ä n d e r n , " ii., p p . 67-78. †F o r individual views on t h e s t r u c t u r e a n d n a t u r e of t h e Pelée obelisk see: Israel C. Russell, " T h e Pelée Obelisk," Science, Dec. 18, 1903; J a g g a r , " T h e Initial Stages of t h e Spine on Pelée," Amer. Journ. Science, J a n . , 1904; Prof. N. H . Winchell, Amer. Geologist, 1904; Gilbert, Science, J u n e , 1904. Also, B r a n n e r , on t h e " P e a k of F e r n a n d o d e N o r o n h a , " Amer. Journ. Science, D e c , 1903. I n a p a p e r on t h e " C r i t e r i a R e l a t i n g to Massive Solid Volcanic E r u p t i o n s " (Amer. Journ. Science, April, 1904), Prof. Russell cites a n u m b e r of instances from a m o n g t h e American volcanic fields—Panum Crater, in t h e Mono L a k e region, California; t h e tower-rock of t h e Bogoslov e r u p t i o n of 1883; Pauline L a k e Crater, Oregon—where s t r u c t u r e s t h o u g h t t o be analogous t o t h e Pelée rock h a v e been developed. These are all explained on t h e h y p o t h e s i s of a r a p i d l y solidifying viscous l a v a , t h r u s t o u t in t h e m a n n e r t h a t h a s generally been a s s u m e d for t h e M a r t i n i q u e m o n o l i t h ; b u t t o w h a t ever e x t e n t these m a y s h a r e t h e Pelée t y p e of s t r u c t u r e , it seems t o me t h a t t h e y receive a n a t least as acceptable i n t e r p r e t a t i o n in assuming t h a t t h e y are merely e x t r u d e d ancient cores (necks). One m a y r e a s o n a b l y hold t h a t s u c h e x t r u d e d cores m u s t exist somewhere, a n d it seems t o m e t h a t careful search will reveal m a n y a m o n g s t r u c t u r e s which h a v e h i t h e r t o received wholly erroneous i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s .