T H E ERUPTION OF PELÉE
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about the annihilation of Saint-Pierre, and that the phenomena of the Vesuvian eruption of the year 79 and of Pelée were largely similar. It seems not unlikely that there may have been eruptions from other volcanoes, the condi tions of which have not been properly investigated, which had much in common with what are assumed to be the distinctive features of the Pelée explosion. Thus, it is noted by M. Fouqué, in his work on Santorin, that at the time of the erup tion of the year 1650 the dead bodies of a number of sailors were found on a drifting vessel several miles from the seat of the eruption, exhibiting ab dominal and head inflation, protruding tongues, and inflamed eyes. These fea tures of bodily distortion were a marked characteristic of the killed in both the Pelée eruptions, and have been attributed to special conditions surrounding the death-stroke. It is interesting to note that Dr. von Volpi, describing his own personal observations on the great eruption of Vesuvius in April, 1872, refers to the terrific scalding that was brought about by superheated steam and the resulting scars on the human flesh: "Man bringt einen Verwundeten, dessen Haut und Fleisch verbrannt sind und krebsroth aussehen. . . . Die Verwundungen rührten nicht etwa von Berührung der feurigen Lava her, sondern von dem glühendheissen Dampfe, der von ihr ausging und bei einer Hitze von 800 Grad alles versengte und verbrannte, was in seiner Nähe war." * The Nuées Ardentes.—Lacroix, it seems to me, has entirely exaggerated the importance and significance of the discharge clouds which he designates by the name of nuées ardentes or denses. My own observations lead me to believe that their characteristics are bound up almost solely with the mass of disrupted products (rock, lava-fragments, dirt, etc.) which they carry with them, and which necessarily weight them down. As a consequence of this the "cloud" takes a course directly on the slope of the mountain. The nuée dense is thus merely the visible part of an overloaded steam-explosion, and it may be said to hold much the same relation to the actual burst that the smoke holds to the true discharge of a cannon. In other words, it is something that follows after. I do not believe that the numerous discharges observed by either the French Scien tific Commission or the commission of the Royal Society, any more than the great nuée dense which nearly enveloped my party on June 5, were anything more than mere accompaniments of explosions that had preceded—unusually severe explosion clouds, which carried an enormous amount of material in their trains. The term used by Lacroix may, nevertheless, serve a useful purpose in distinguishing these explosive, sedimented clouds from the more ordinary free clouds. The work of actual destruction was determined by the blasts which carried out these trains of disrupted materials and not by the materials them selves; and it is certain that a large or the major part of the wrecking or blowing to pieces of Saint-Pierre was effected in advance of the coming of the "black * Unsere Zeit., Leipzig, 1872, p. 397. The correspondence assumed to exist between the Pelean eruption of May 8, 1902, and the eruption of Vesuvius of the year 79 has been dis cussed by Sapper (Die Umschau), and Lacroix (Revue Scientifique, Oct. 27, Nov. 3, 1906), who arrive at conclusions at variance with those held by the writer. 5