Fire & Brimstone

The closest thing to Hell on earth last week was in the midst of the sea--a tortured little patch of dismal grey rock some 235 miles south of Tokyo. For at least four weeks--since it was first sighted by the crew of a British destroyer--the islet, a product of submarine volcanic eruption, has been boiling the sea into clouds of sulphurous steam, belching great blasts of smoke and roiling the muddy bottom for miles around.

First photographs of the world's newest island arrived in the U.S. last week. Its dimensions, at last report: about 80 feet high, 150 by 200 yards in area--and still growing.

The island is a part of Japan's volcanic chain, which began a period of renewed activity in 1940 after nearly 30 years' quiescence. Some islands in the chain now reach as high as 1,000 feet; some are inhabited. But scientists think it is probable that the eruption creating the new island will soon cease and that the rocks will gradually recede into the sea.

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