the origin of the volcanological concept nuee ardente

The Origin of the Volcanological Concept Nuee ardenteAuthor(s): Marjorie HookerSource: Isis, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Winter, 1965), pp. 401-407Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/228767 .

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The Origin of the Volcanological

Concept Nuee ardente

By Marjorie Hooker X

T HE ATTENTION OF the world was centered on the island of Mar- tinique in 1902 when the eruption of long quiescent Mt. Pelee caused

the destruction of the town of St. Pierre and its thirty thousand people. Two years later, with the publication of Alfred Lacroix's scientific report em- bodying the work of the official French mission, the attention of geologists was focused on his description and interpretation of the eruptions, and particularly on the phases signified by nuees ardentes, or glowing clouds. In the intervening sixty years, many volcanologic accounts have credited Lacroix with the introduction of the term nuee ardente and the first description of this type of eruption.1 A bit of delving into Lacroix's letters written from Martinique and a careful reading of his report show that, in his first observation, he had used other terms for the phenomenon but in the end had decided to revive the term nuee ardente, which had been used to describe earlier eruptions in the Azores. The place of origin of the term is of more than historical interest. No scientist witnessed the Azorean volcanism in 1580 and 1808; eyewitness accounts furnished the information from which the nuee ardente type of eruption was first deduced and described. Nevertheless, as seismic activity and volcanism are still prevalent throughout the region of the Azores, the possibility of a recurrence of the same type of eruption is always present. Another eruption could substan- tiate the interpretation of the term nuee ardente.

Undoubtedly fostered to a certain extent by the accomplishments of his professor Ferdinand Fouque, Alfred Lacroix's interest in volcanic rocks began long before the disastrous eruption of Mt. Pelee. In 1890, Lacroix published a paper on the volcanic rocks of Guadeloupe in the Antilles and, shortly after that, another on the composition of rocks from the nearby islands of Martinique and Saba; in the years to follow he published a suc- cession of papers on other volcanic rocks. It is not surprising, therefore, that on 26 May 1902, two weeks after the eruption of Mt. Pel6e was announced at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Lacroix presented a summary of his research on previous eruptions of that volcano; that on 2 June he reported on cinders ejected on 3 May which were brought back

* U.S. Geological Survey. Publication author- canology," pp. 365-390 in Geology, 1888-1938. ized by the Director. Fiftieth Anniversary Volume (New York: Geo-

1 See, for instance, Howel Williams, "Vol- logical Society of America, 1941), p. 379.

ISIS, 1965, VOL. 56, 4, No. 186. 401



MARJORIE HOOKER

to France. On 9 June, one week later, another report comparing the rocks of the 1851 and 1902 eruptions was presented for him in his absence by Michel-Levy; the author was on his way to Martinique.

At the 26 May meeting, the Academy of Sciences had decided to send a scientific mission to Martinique and had appointed an Antilles Commis- sion to implement the decision. On 2 June, the names of the three men chosen by the Commission and approved by the Academy were announced: Alfred Lacroix, in charge of the mission, assisted by Charles Rollet de l'Isle, hydrographic engineer, and J. Giraud, naturalist. The trio was instructed to make a brief trip to Martinique to get preliminary information with which to plan a more extended study. Lacroix and his two colleagues embarked on 9 June, and arrived in Fort-de-France on 20 June. Six weeks later, on 1 August, they returned to France, unfortunately just missing a

major eruption on 30 August. When the news of this latest eruption reached Paris, the Minister of the

Colonies directed Lacroix to return to Martinique immediately and gave him the additional responsibility of recommending and enforcing such measures as he considered necessary for the safety of the people. Lacroix embarked once more, on 15 September, reached Fort-de-France on 1 Octo- ber, and remained for almost six months, before returning to France on 13 March 1903. During both visits Lacroix sent back to the Academy a stream of letters and reports on all phases of the eruptions and various related conditions on both Martinique and St. Vincent. Several of these

reports, and his final, two-volume one, provide a part of the background information on the origin of the term nuee ardente.

When Mt. Pelee erupted early on the morning of 8 May 1902, a large, dark cloud swept down the southwest slope of the mountain with incredible swiftness and in a span of minutes completely destroyed the village of St. Pierre and its inhabitants. Although Lacroix did not view this cloud, nor the one that accompanied the eruption on 9 July (he was on the nearby island of Guadeloupe at the time), one of his early reports 2 from Mar-

tinique, based on local eyewitness accounts, referred to the " nuage noir," " nuage dense," and " nuage obscur." In letters written 23 and 29 Novem- ber and 10 December,3 after he had actually seen similar but smaller clouds, he described them as " nuages denses" and " nuages lourds." After observ-

ing the eruptions of 16 and 18 December, his report,4 which carried the words " nuages denses " in the title, consistently used " nuages " or " nuages denses." Lacroix closely observed the cloud phenomenon of three eruptions of Mt. Pelee on 21, 22, and 25 January. For the first time his brief report5 described the clouds as "nuees ardentes " with no mention of "nuages

2 Alfred Lacroix; C. Rollet de l'Isle; J. sur les eruptions volcaniques de la Mar-

Giraud, "Sur 1'eruption de la Martinique. tinique," ibid., pp. 1301-1307.

Rapport de la mission envoyde par l'Academie," 4Alfred Lacroix, " Les eruptions de nuages Academie des Sciences, Comptes Rendus (Paris), denses de la Montagne Pe," ibid. 1903 136:

1902, 135:419-431. 1902,2 135:419-431. 5 Alfred Lacroix, "L'eruption de la Mon- 3 Alfred Lacroix, " Nouvelles observations tagne Pelee en janvier 1903," ibid., pp. 442-443.

402



ORIGIN OF THE VOLCANOLOGICAL CONCEPT NU?E ARDENTE

denses." The change is so noticeable that one is immediately curious as to why Lacroix so abruptly abandoned the terms he had been using for several months in his earlier communications. I shall return to this point later.

At the meeting of the Academy, on 6 April 1903, following his return to France, Lacroix spoke briefly on the Pelee eruptions, clearly using " nuees ardentes" to describe the clouds. In this report6 is his first brief and

parenthetic reference to the eruptions on San Jorge Island in the Azores.

La deuxieme question sur laquelle l'eruption de la Martinique fournit des documents nouveaux est celle des nue'es ardentes. On savait depuis long- temps que dans les eruptions anciennes de quelques volcans il s'etait produit des nuages denses, a haute temperature qui, en rasant le sol, avaient etendu au loin leurs ravages, brulant et asphyxiant les etres vivants, detruisant la vegetation sur leur passage [on peut citer, en particulier, les eruptions de San Jorge (ASores) en 1580 et en 1808]. On n'avait aucun renseignement positif sur leur nature et sur les actions mecaniques exercees par eux. Du reste, les recits auxquels ces phenomenes terrifiants avaient donne naissance, amplifies encore par l'imagination populaire, laissaient planer les doutes les plus justifies sur leur caract&res et sur leurs causes, et faisaient meme sus- pecter leur realite; la plupart des traites de Geologie sont muets sur leur compte.7

In his comprehensive report, which was published the next year,8 Lacroix told of the change from "nuages denses " to "nuees ardentes." He ex-

plained that he had not been sure in his own mind of the phenomenon until he had actually been present (between November 1902 and February 1903) at a series of eruptions of this type varying in intensity, that he had studied them in detail, and that he had given a preliminary description. After

referring to the earlier brief reports, he continued:

Dans mes premieres notes, j'ai designe celui-ci sous le nom de nuages denses, afin de rappeler l'une de ses proprietes caracteristiques. Dans une note du 6 avril 1903, j'ai, pour la premiere fois, employe l'expression de nuees ardentes, dont je me suis servi depuis lors. J'ai pu, a mon retour en France, me con- vaincre que cette manifestation eruptive, que; jusqu'alors, j'avais cru entiere- ment nouvelle, parce qu'il n'en est fait aucune mention dans les Traites de Geologie, avait ete cependant observee a San Jorge aux Acores, lors des eruptions de 1580 et 1808 et qu'elle avait 6te alors designee sous le nom de nuees ardentes, par les habitants de cette ile. I1 m'a paru bon de reprendre ce vieux terme qui est tres expressif; j'emploie le qualificatif ardent dans le sens de brulant et non d'incandescent, ces nuees ne presentant de phenomenes d'incandescence que la nuit, au moment de leur depart du dome. Je discuterai plus loin les documents que j'ai pu recueillir sur ces &ruptions anciennes.9

Lacroix was not entirely correct in saying that his note of 6 April was

6 Alfred Lacroix, "Sur les principaux re- 8 Alfred Lacroix, La Montagne Pelee et ses sultats de la mission de la Martinique," ibid., eruptions (Paris: Masson et Cie, 1904). pp. 871-876.

7 Ibid., p. 874. Ibid., p. 170.

403



MARJORIE HOOKER

the first time that he had used the term, for, as we have seen, it appeared throughout his brief note written in late January. The information on the Azorean eruptions begins where he says, "L'article publie par M.

Fouque sur San Jorge et ses eruptions m'a mis sur la trace des documents

qui vont etre discutes plus loin." 10

This article was one of several that Fouque wrote after his visits to the Azores in 1867 and 1868 when there was volcanic activity in the vicinity of Fayal and Terceira Islands. Most of these were published in the Comptes Rendus of the Academy of Sciences; the one on the San Jorge eruptions was published in the Revue Scientifique in June 1873.11 It is a little difficult to ascertain whether Fouque actually visited San Jorge Island, but I would

judge that he had. His description of the two eruptions in 1580 and 1808 is a very well-written account of approximately 2,500 words, and the information must have been gleaned, at least in part, from the local inhabitants, for at the time of his visit none of the old records had yet been published. Referring to the eruption of 1580, he says:

Un des phenomenes les plus singuliers de cette grande eruption est la pro- duction de ce que les tdmoins contemporains ont appele des nuees ardentes. D'apres la description qu'ils nous ont laissee, ces nuees jaillissaient du sol sous forme de globes de flammes melees de fumees caustiques; elles se mou- vaient avec une telle vitesse vers le pied du coteau qu'il etait impossible de se soustraire par la fuite a leur contact mortel.12

And farther on he states, on the eruption of 1808:

L'druption de 1808 n'est pour ainsi dire que la reproduction de la precedente a deux cent vingt-huit ans d'intervalle. Elle ddbute dgalement le ler mai, apres plusiers journees signalees par de nombreux tremblements de terre.

Les detonations cessent dans la journee du 17, mais alors apparaissent des nuees ardentes semblables a celles de l'eruption de 1580.... 3

The documents that Lacroix consulted in search of more information on the Azorean eruptions are in the Archivo dos Acores, where a series entitled " 0 Vulcanismo nos A~ores .. .," culled from old contemporaneous accounts, was brought together by E. Canto.14 Along with translations of sections from the Archivo dos Afores,15 Lacroix says: "C'est l'analogie vraisemblable de ce phenomene avec celui de la Montagne Pelee qui m'a conduit a adopter le nom de nuees ardentes a la place de celui de nuages denses que j'ai employe au debut de mes recherches sur cette question." 16

Lacroix then comments, "Ces descriptions ne laissent guere de doute sur l'identite du phenomene observe a San Jorge et de celui qui a detruit le Morne-Rouge; ..."

10 Ibid., p. 364. 14 Ernesto Canto, " 0 Vulcanismo nos A5ores," 11 Ferdinand Fouque, "San Jorge et ses Archivo dos Acores (Ponta Delgada, San

eruptions," Revue Scientifique de la France et Miguel, Azores), 1878-1893, 1-12. de l'ttranger, ser. 2, 1873, 2, no. 51:1198-1201. 15 Ibid., 1880, 2, no. 8; ibid., 1883, 5, no. 28.

12 Ibid., p. 1199. 16 Lacroix, La Montagne Pelee ..., pp. 364- 13 Ibid., pp. 1199, 1200. 366.

404



ORIGIN OF THE VOLCANOLOGICAL CONCEPT NUIE ARDENTE

When I visited the Azores in 1959, Colonel Jose Agostinho (retired Chief of the Meteorological Services of the Azores and the authority on volcanism in the islands) discussed with me the origin of the term in the old Portu- guese description. We consulted the parts of the Archivo dos Afores cited by Lacroix that were in the small library in Angra do Heroismo. Colonel Agostinho has very kindly provided additional information about the original account of the 1808 eruption. The account was written by Father Joao Inacio da Silveira (1767-1852), a curate at the nearby village of Santo Amaro on San Jorge and an eyewitness of the eruption. It remained unpub- lished until 1871, sixty-three years later, when Dr. Joao Teixeira Soares added some notes of his own and published Father Silveira's text in a local

paper, Jorge Quinzenal Politico, Literario e Noticioso. This account was

reproduced in the Archivo dos Afores 17 in the series " 0 Vulcanismo nos

ACores," apparently again with added notes, for this printing includes a reference to the 1873 article by Fouque.

The portion of Father Silveira's original account that includes the words "ardente nuvem," and the English translation furnished by Colonel Ago- stinho, are given here.

Em desassete do dito mes de Maio .... de repente se levantou um tufao de fogo ou vulcao e introduzindo-se nas terras lavradias levantou todos aqueles campos at6 abaixo as vinhas com todas as arvores e bardos, fazendo-se uma medonha e ardente nuvem e correndo ate abaixo da igreja queimou trinta e tantas pessoas na igreja e nos campos .... vindo alguns com os couros das maos e pes pendurados, outros tao inchados e pretos que se nao conheciam, outros com as pernas quebradas e alguns expirando.

On the 17th day of May .... a typhoon of fire broke out of the volcano and came down through the cultivated fields to the vineyards, trees and hedges, forming a fearful and burning cloud running down to the church, and burned more than thirty people in the church and in the fields .... some had the skin of their hands and feet hanging, others became so swollen and blackened that they could not be recognized, some had broken legs, and some were dying.

Two items still need to be fitted into the picture. Lacroix has told us that the article published by Fouque in 1873 had put him on the trail of other documents, but the documents that he cites were published later than 1873. And too, nowhere has he said what brought Fouque's article, published thirty years before, to his attention. It is my surmise that he had another source of information, none other than Fouque himself. Fouque was not only Lacroix's professor and mentor; he was also his father-in-law. And

so, when Lacroix and his wife returned from the initial trip to Martinique, Fouque must have been eagerly awaiting their firsthand reports and cer-

tainly was one of the first to hear them. The annihilation of thirty thousand

people in a matter of minutes had shocked the world, and it is not difficult

17 Archivo dos Acores, 1883, 5. Father Sil- sua Historia, by Joao Candido da Silveira veira's description also appears in a book, Ilha Avelar (Horta, Fayal, 1902), pp. 431-436. de S. Jorge-Afores - Apontamentos para a

405



MARJORIE HOOKER

to imagine that Fouque and Lacroix talked far into the night about the eruption and the causes of the destruction. It is not unlikely that Fouque recalled the tales heard years before in the Azores and even unearthed the Revue Scientifique containing his article on the San Jorge eruptions. And here may be the explanation of Lacroix's sudden change (in his January letter, noted on page 402 of this article) to " nuee ardente " in place of the terms that he had been using. Lacroix was asked to return to Martinique rather hurriedly after the 30 August eruption and left France soon after he had arrived there. His multifold duties left little free time, and if Fouque's article was in his possession, he may not have had an opportunity to read it immediately. Moreover, it was not until mid-November that he actually saw a cloud on the march down the slopes of Mt. Pelee. But having read the article and having observed several eruptions accompanied by nuees, he may have even then made up his mind to use Fouque's term. However, he said later that on his return to France he had been able to convince himself that the manifestation that he had thought to be entirely new had been observed on San Jorge. He may have been convinced by reading the old Azorean accounts, but it is more likely that he was convinced by a discussion with Fouque.

Whether or not Lacroix was correct in believing that the clouds accom- panying the eruptions of Mt. Pelee were similar to those that had occurred on San Jorge, it is a fact that the term nuee ardente was introduced into the scientific literature by Fouque in his 1873 article on the eruptions in the Azores and that it was derived from the Portuguese words nuvem ardente used by the Azoreans. Why was it overlooked for so many years? Such

eruptions are relatively rare and are not always observed when they do occur. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, travel to the parts of the world where eruptions were more likely to be taking place was not an everyday affair, so there was probably little or no occasion to follow up Fouque's description with accounts of similar occurrences and com- parisons. It is an interesting sidelight that, among the many observers at Mt. Pelee, Lacroix was the only one who regarded the phenomenon as something different from an ordinary volcanic explosion charged with extra steam. He was even chided by Angelo Heilprin 18 who wrote, " Lacroix, it seems to me, has entirely exaggerated the importance and significance of the discharge clouds which he designates by the name of nuees ardentes or denses." Had it not been that as perceptive and inquiring an observer as Lacroix was chosen for the Antilles Mission, the nuee ardente phenomenon would not have received the vigorous, pioneering treatment accorded it. With the stimulus provided by Lacroix's compendious and fluent account, supplemented by Frank Perret's vivid, discerning description 19 of the next

is Angelo Heilprin, The Eruption of Pelee 19 Frank A. Perret, "The Eruption of Mt.

(Philadelphia: Geographical Society of Phila- Pelee, 1929-1932," Carnegie Institution of delphia, 1908), p. 65. Washington, Publication No. 458, 1937.

406



ORIGIN OF THE VOLCANOLOGICAL CONCEPT NUIE ARDENTE 407

eruptions of Mt. Pelee in 1929-1932, the term has enjoyed widespread acceptance in volcanologic terminology and throughout the literature has been retained in the French form - nuee ardente.

On 11 January 1904, Alfred Lacroix was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in recognition of his magnificent work on the eruptions of La Montagne Pelee. Jacques Avias tells us 20 that Lacroix used to like to remark, humorously, "Je suis entre a l'Institut sous l'irresistible poussee d'un volcan," which was literally true.

20Jacques Avias, "Alfred Lacroix et la des Oceanistes, 1950, 6, no. 6:219-229. petrologie oceanienne," Journal de la Societe'



the origin of the volcanological concept nuee ardente

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