cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were entirely buried under the stones and ashes thrown out. Incredible mischief was also done to the neighbouring country, and numbers of people lost their lives, among whom was Pliny the elder. It is the opinion of the best judges, however, that this eruption was by no means the first that had ever happened. The very streets of those cities which were at that time overwhelmed are unquestionably paved with lava. Since that time thirty different eruptions have been recorded, some of which have been extremely violent. In 1538 a mountain, three miles in circumference and a quarter of a mile in perpendicular height, was thrown up in the course of one night. In 1766 Sir William Hamilton began to observe the phenomena of this mountain; and since that time the public has been favored with more exact and authentic accounts of the various changes which have taken place in Vesuvius than what were to be had before. The first great eruption taken notice of by this gentleman was that of 1767, which, though very violent, was mild in comparison with that of 1538. From 1767 Vesuvius never ceased for ten years to send forth smoke, nor were there many months in which it did not throw out stones, scoriæ, and cinders; which, increasing to a certain degree, were usually followed by lava; so that from the year 1767 to 1779 there were nine eruptions, some of them very considerable. In the month of August that year, however, an eruption took place, which, for its extraordinary and terrible appearance, may be reckoned among the most remarkable of any recorded concerning this or any other volcano. During the whole of July the mountain continued in a state of fermentation. Subterraneous explosions and rumbling noises were heard; quantities of smoke were thrown up with great violence, sometimes with red-hot stones, scoriæ, and ashes; and towards the end of the month these symptoms increased to such a degree as to exhibit, in the night, the most beautiful fire-works. On Thursday 5th August the volcano appeared most violently agitated; a white and sulphureous smoke issued continually and impetuously from its crater, one puff seeming to impel another; so that a mass of them was soon accumulated, to appearance, four times the height and size of the volcano itself. These clouds of smoke were exceedingly white, resembling an immense accumulation of bales of the whitest cotton. In the midst of this very white smoke, vast quantities of stones, scoriæ, and ashes were thrown up to the height of 2000 feet; and a quantity of liquid lava, seemingly very heavy, was lifted up just high enough to clear the rim of the crater, and take its way down the sides of the mountain. This lava, having run violently for some hours, suddenly ceased, just before it had reached the cultivated parts of the mountain, nearly four miles from the spot whence it issued. The heat all this day was intolerable at the towns of Somma and Ŏttaiano; and was sensibly felt at Palma and Lauri, which are much farther off. Reddish ashes fell so thick on the two former that the air was darkened so that objects could not be distinguished at the distance of ten feet. Long filaments of a

vitrified matter, like spun glass, were mixed and fell with these ashes; several birds in cages were suffocated, and the leaves of the trees in the neighbourhood of Somma were covered with white and very corrosive salt. About twelve at night on the 7th, the fermentation of the mountain seemed greatly to increase. Our author was watching the motions of the volcano from the mole at Naples, which has a full view of it. Several glorious picturesque effects had been observed from the reflection of the deep red fire within the crater of Vesuvius, and which mounted high amongst those huge clouds on the top of it: when a summer storm, called in that country a tropea, came on suddenly, and blended its heavy watery clouds with the sulphureous and mineral ones, which were already like so many other mountains piled up on the top of the volcano. At this moment a fountain of fire was shot up to an incredible height, casting so bright a light that the smallest objects were clearly distinguishable at any place within six miles or more of Vesuvius. The black stormy clouds, passing swiftly over, and at times covering the whole or a part of the bright column of fire, at other times clearing away and giving a full view of it, with the various tints produced by its reverberated light on the white clouds above, in contrast with the pale flashes of forked lightning that attended the tropea, forming such a scene as no power of art can express. One of the king's game keepers, who was out in the fields near Ottaiano while this storm was at its height, was surprised to find the drops of rain scald his face and hands: a phenomenon probably occasioned by the clouds having acquired a great degree of heat in passing through the above-mentioned column of fire. On the 8th the mountain was quiet till towards six P. M., when a great smoke began to gather over its crater; and about an hour after a rumbling subterraneous noise was heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano; the usual throws of red-hot stones and scoriæ began and increased every instant. The crater, viewed through a telescope, seemed much enlarged by the violence of last night's explosions, and the little mountain on the top was entirely gone. About nine a most violent report was heard at Portici and its neighbourhood, which shook the houses to such a degree as made the inhabitants run out into the streets. Many windows were broken, and walls cracked by the concussion of the air on this occasion, though the noise was but faintly heard at Naples. In an instant a fountain of liquid transparent fire began to rise, and, gradually increasing, arrived at last at the amazing height of 10,000 feet and upwards. Puffs of smoke, as black as can possibly be imagined, succeeded one another hastily, and accompanied the red-hot, transparent, and liquid lava, interrupting its splendid brightness, here and there, by patches of the darkest hue. Within these puffs of smoke, at the very moment of emission, a bright but pale electrical fire was observed playing briskly about in zig-zag lines. The wind was southwest, and, though gentle, was sufficient to carry these puffs of smoke out of the column of fire: and a collection of them by degrees formed a black and extensive curtain behind it; in other

parts of the sky it was perfectly clear, and the stars bright. The fiery fountain, of such immense magnitude, on the dark ground just mentioned, made the finest contrast imaginable; and the blaze of it reflected from the surface of the sea, which was at that time perfectly smooth, added greatly to this sublime view. The lava, mixed with stones and scoriæ, having risen to the amazing height already mentioned, was partly directed by the wind towards Ottaiano, and partly falling, still red-hot and liquid, upon the top of Vesuvius, covered its whole cone, part of that of the summit of Somma, and the valley between them. The falling matter, being nearly as inflamed and vivid as that which was continually issuing fresh from the crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which could not be less than two miles and a half in breadth, and of the extraordinary height above-mentioned, cast a heat to the distance of at least six miles round. The brushwood on the mountain of Somma was soon in a blaze, and the flame of it being of a different color from the deep red of the matter thrown out by the volcano, and from the silvery blue of the electrical fire, still added to the contrast of this most extraordinary scene. The black cloud, increasing greatly, once bent towards Naples, and threatened the city with speedy destruction; for it was charged with electrical fire, which kept constantly darting about in bright zig-zag lines. This fire, however, rarely quitted the cloud, but usually returned to the great column of fire whence it proceeded; though once or twice it was seen to fall on the top of Somma, and set fire to some dry grass and bushes. Fortunately the wind carried back the cloud just as it reached the city, and had begun to occasion great alarm. The column of fire, however, still continued, and diffused such a strong light, that the most minute objects could be discerned at the distance of ten miles or more from the mountain. Mr. Morris informed our author that at Sorrento, which is twelve miles distant from Vesuvius, he read the title page of a book by that volcanic light. All this time the miserable inhabitants of Ottaiano were involved in the utmost distress and danger by the showers of stones which fell upon them, and which, had the eruption continued for a longer time, would most certainly have reduced their town to the same situation with Herculaneum and Pompeii. The mountain of Somma, at the foot of which the town of Ottaiano is situated, hides Vesuvius from the view of its inhabitants; so that, till the eruption became considerable, it was not visible to them. On Sunday night, when the noise increased and the fire began to appear above the mountain of Somma, many of the inhabitants flew to the churches, and others were preparing to quit the town, when a sudden and violent report was heard; soon after which they found themselves involved in a thick cloud of smoke and ashes; a horrid clashing noise was heard in the air, and presently fell a vast shower of stones and large pieces of scoriæ, some of which were of the diameter of seven or eight feet, which must have weighed more than 100lbs. before they were broken, as some of the fragments which Sir Willian Hamilton found in the

streets still weighed upwards of sixty pounds. When these large vitrified masses either struck against one another in the air, or fell on the ground, they broke in many pieces, and covered a large space of ground with vivid sparks of fire, which communicated their heat to every thing that was combustible. These masses were formed of the liquid lava; the exterior parts of which were become black and porous by cooling in their fall through such a vast space; whilst the interior parts, less exposed, retained an extreme heat, and were perfectly red. In an instant the town and country about it were on fire in many parts; for there were several straw huts in the vineyards which had been erected for the watchmen of the grapes, all of which were burnt. A great magazine of wood in the heart of the town was all in a blaze; and had there been much wind the flames must have spread universally, and all the inhabitants would have been burnt in their houses; for it was inpossible for them to stir out. Some, who attempted it with pillows, tables, chairs, the tops of wine casks, &c., on their heads, were either knocked down or soon driven back to their close quarters under arches and in the cellars of their houses. Many were wounded, but only two persons died of their wounds. To add to the horror of the scene, incessant volcanic lightning was whisking about the black cloud that surrounded them, and the sulphureous smell and heat would scarcely allow them to draw their breath. In this dreadful situation they remained about twenty-five minutes, when the volcanic, storm ceased all at once, and Vesuvius remained sullen and silent. Some time after the eruption had ceased the air continued greatly impregnated with electrical matter. The duke of Cottosiano told our author that having, about half an hour after the great eruption had ceased, held a Leyden bottle, armed with a pointed wire, out at his window at Naples, it soon became considerably charged. But, whilst the eruption was in force, its appearance was too alarming to allow one to think of such experiments. He was informed also by the prince of Monte Mileto that his son, the duke of Populi, who was at Monte Mileto the 8th of August, had been alarmed by the shower of cinders that fell there; some of which he had sent to Naples weighing two ounces; and that stones of an ounce weight had fallen upon an estate of his ten miles farther off. Mileto is about thirty miles from the volcano. The abbé Cagliani also related that his sister, a nun in the convent of Manfredonia, had written to enquire after him, imagining that Naples must have been destroyed, when they, at so great a distance, had been alarmed by a shower of ashes which fell on the city at 11 P. M. so much as to open all the churches and go to prayers. As the great eruption happened at nine, these ashes must have travelled 100 miles in two hours. Nothing could be more dismal than the appearance of Ottaiano after this eruption. The houses were unroofed, half buried under the black scoriæ and ashes; all the windows towards the mountain were broken, and some of the houses themselves burnt; the streets choked up with ashes in some narrow places not less than four feet thick; and a few of the inhabitants who had just returned

Monte

were employed in clearing them away, and piling them up in hillocks, to get at their ruined houses. The palace of the prince of Ottaiano is situated on an eminence above the town, and nearer the mountain. The steps leading up to it were deeply covered with volcanic matter; the roof was totally destroyed, and the windows broken; but the house itself, being strongly built, had not suffered much. An incredible number of fragments of lava were thrown out during the eruption, some of which were of immense magnitude. The largest measured by Sir William Hamilton was 108 feet in circumference, and seventeen in height. This was thrown at least a quarter of a mile clear of the mouth of the volcano. Another, sixty-six feet in circumference, and nineteen in height, being nearly of a spherical figure, was thrown out at the same time, and lay near the former. This last had the marks of being rounded, nay almost polished, by continual rolling in torrents or on the sea shore. Our author conjectures that it might be a spherical volcanic salt, such as that of forty-five feet in circumference mentioned by M. de St. Fond in his Treatise of Extinguished Volcanoes. A third of sixteen feet in height, and ninety-two in circumference, was thrown much farther, and lay in the valley between Vesuvius and the Hermitage. It appeared also, from the large fragments that surrounded this mass, that it had been much larger while in the air. Vesuvius continued to emit smoke for a considerable time after this great eruption, so that our author was apprehensive that another would soon ensue; but from that time nothing comparable to the above has taken place. From the time of this great eruption to 1786 our author kept an exact diary of the operations of Vesuvius, with drawings, showing, by the quantity of smoke, the degree of fermentation within the volcano. The operations of the subterraneous fire, however, appear to be very capricious and uncertain. One day there will be the appearance of a violent fermentation, and the next every thing will be calmed; but, whenever there has been a considerable ejection of scoriæ and cinders, it has been a constant observation that the lava soon made its appearance, either by boiling over the crater or forcing its way through the crevices in the conical part of the mountain. In the year 1794 there was a very tremendous eruption, and the mischief done was very considerable; the lava covered and totally destroyed 5000 acres of rich vineyards and cultivated land, and drove the inhabitants of Torre del Greco from the town, a great part of the houses being either burned or so injured as to be uninhabitable. The damage done in the vineyards by the ashes was also immense. The writer of this was on the top of Vesuvius in the month of May 1802; the mountain was perfectly quiet, with smoke issuing from a few crevices like the smoke of a small fire. The effects of the eruption in 1794 were very visible, especially in Torre del Greco. A very violent eruption has been mentioned in the papers about two years ago, but we have no authentic description either of its nature or of its effects. Sir William Hamilton observes that the inhabitants of Naples in general pay so little attention to the operations

of this volcano that many of its eruptions pass unnoticed by at least two-thirds of them. At the same time we know from undoubted evidence and enquiry on the spot, that, during a violent eruption which seems to threaten danger to the city, the Neapolitans carry their clamors and their superstition to almost an incredible height; going in troops to their churches, and particularly addressing themselves to their tutelar saint, Januarius. It is very probable, however, that the moment the danger is over they forget it. It is remarkable to observe with what readiness and sang froid they inhabit the towns and villas on the brow of the mountain, and how quickly they return to spots which have suffered the most severely. Torre del Greco exhibited in 1802 the appearance of a ruined town; but the inhabitants were living in it in perfect security; a church had been completely overwhelmed, i. e. covered with lava, leaving about the height of two moderate stories of the steeple visible. To this they were at that time adding a new church, which was nearly completed. We were assured upon the spot that, in the eruption 1794, the lava flowed down slowly like a river into the sea; that when it was opposed by walls or houses it accumulated and covered them, unless it found an easy vent elsewhere. It was added, and we firmly believe it, that the accumulated mass of liquid rock continued hot for a full twelvemonth. The inhabitants are not much alarmed by a stream of lava, which moves slowly, from which they can always remove themselves, and carry off their moveable property; the great danger consists in the clouds of burning ashes, which fly to a great distance, and the fall of which can neither be anticipated nor avoided. In 1794 we were told that one night an immense mass of matter issued with prodigious force from the crater, and rose to a great perpendicular height; it for the most part fell down into the crater again, leaving a considerable hollow, which in 1802 was already covered with a slight vegetable mould.

The Italian geologist Breislak has given an interesting description of the eruption of 1794; the most important particulars of which we shall select.

The present cone of Vesuvius, he says, is truncated, so as to form an inclined plane, sloping from the north-east to the south-west. The circumference of the summit, which forms the brim of the cauldron, is about 3000 feet; and at the bottom is distinguished an oblong plain, the greatest diameter of which is from east to west. Having since ascended several times to the top of the cone, I perceived that its depth had gradually diminished, and that the bottom of the crater became higher daily, owing to the different matter which falls down, especially from the almost perpendicular sides on the east and north. One can at this time easily scan the extent and depth of its mouth, but occasionally it is much encumbered, and sometimes totally clogged. In 1755 the bottom of the funnel rose so considerably, that it presented a vast plain only twenty-three feet beneath the brim, and in the midst of this plain was another cone from eighty to ninety feet high, with a small crater, from which the crup

tions proceeded. Braccini has left us a curious description of the state of Vesuvius, after a long period of rest, and before the grand eruption of 1631. The whole of it, or at least the greater part of it, had become accessible. Having himself descended into the crater, he says, he found it covered with plants and trees, and that a road down it was practicable for the space of a mile; at this depth a very deep cavern was seen, which having passed, the way was again open for two miles by a very steep but at the same time very safe road, owing to the trees growing near to each other. At length a large plain presented itself, surrounded by a number of grottoes and caverns, which might be entered, but which the party were deterred from on account of their darkness. This plain, which was not accessible otherwise than by a very rapid slope, nearly three miles in length, must assuredly have been much beneath the level of the sea. When the volcano is at rest, vapors are seen to arise from the cauldron's brim, or from the interior of its sides, which are very perceptible. When the mouth of Vesuvius is observed from any distance, and during the prevalence of moisture in the atmosphere, a mass of vapor seems to rise from it which mingles with the clouds.

The western portion of Somma must be considered as connected with the cone of Vesuvius by a hill of smaller eminence, denominated Monte Cantaroni, on which is the hermitage del Salvatore. This hill is intersected by three valleys, that deserve to be examined with attention, on account of the quantity of primitive substances which the volcano has thrown thither during old eruptions. The northern valley is that termed La Fossa di Pharaone, near the plain, and Vallone della Vetrana, in its more elevated part, where the current of lava flowed in 1785. This vale, hollowed by rains, is the only interval between mount Somma and mount Cantaroni. South of this vale are two others, nearly parallel, the first called Rio Cupo, the second Fossa Grande, which, taking a direction from east to west, emerge in the plain of St. Jorio. Its northern side, nearly perpendicular, rises to a considerable height above the valley, and being composed only of cemented fragments of porous lava, called capillo, of masses of spongy lava, and other substances of an adhesive quality, is subject frequently to crumble and fall in large quantities. Along the whole extent of the southern side, at its upper part, is seen an ancient current of lava, which at first sight appears to be several strata of lava imposed one on the other, but which a little attention shows is but one current, in which horizontal chasms have been occasioned by refrigeration, and into which the wind has since introduced a slight quantity of vegetable earth. This lava is hard and compact; it contains but few fragments of augite or pyroxene, and seems to be an assemblage of leucites, the superficial crystalline lustre of which having been impaired, by decomposition, makes it resemble variolite in its exterior. Many detached masses of this current have fallen to the bottom of the valley. Each fall of matter brings down calcareous stones, mica, and mixtures of felspar and vesuvian. The lava of 1767, which threatened the villages of

La Barra and St. Jorio, discharged itself into this valley, which it filled to a certain height, and afterwards flowed further, spreading itself to the plain. As it is already covered by the crumblings from the flank, in order to examine it, the enquirer must repair to the plain of St. Jorio, in the neighbourhood of the chapel of St. Vito. Its grain is crystallised but fine, and oftentimes so close as to be nearly equal to petro-silex, or hornstone. It contains many small crystals of pyroxene and fragments of leucite, which is rarely found in its perfect form of crystallisation. The lava of La Scala passes beneath the garden of La Favorita. It is of the color of ashes, whitish, and of a crystallised grain. It contains many crystals of pyroxene, few of leucite, and small pieces of felspar, in groups in its cavities. This lava, where it is hewn on the sea-shore near La Cavalleria, is worthy of attention. Under a uniform bed, from fifteen to twenty feet in thickness, the lava is found divided into strata of from three to four feet: these divisions are formed by parallel and horizontal lines; and, where these are dug down to, the lava is found to have separated itself spontaneously into beds. Below them are large prisms, commonly hexagonal, which are disjoined with great ease: in some places these prisms, instead of the lower, are found in the upper part of the current. The same tendency to a basaltic conformation, which is noticed in the lava of La Scala, is observed again in the neighbouring current of Calastro. This, after passing through a defile below Vallelonga, spreads to a broad front on reaching the sea. What most deserves observation in the lava here are the small crystallisations it presents, which seem to be the olivine of Werner. It is moreover of a deeper color than the lava of Scala, more porous, and like that, contains many crystals of augite and fragments of felspar. Next to this lava is found that of the eruption of 1794. Of the different eruptions of Vesuvius, this is the most recent, and was one of the most considerable.

Vesuvius had continued tranquil for a long time. On the 12th of June, 1794, towards eleven in the evening, a very violent shock of an earthquake was felt, which induced many of the inhabitants of Naples to leave their houses for the night. The tranquillity of the mountain did not, however, appear disturbed, either on the 13th, 14th, or 15th, nor did it exhibit any symptom of an approaching eruption; but towards nine in the evening of the last day many symptoms were manifested. The houses about the mountain experienced violent shocks, which gradually increased in force: a very powerful one was felt at ten o'clock in Naples and its environs. At this instant, on the western base of the cone, at the spot called La Pedamentina, and from the midst of ancient torrents, a new mouth disgorged a stream of lava. This opening was 2375 feet in length, and 237 in breadth. Scarcely had the stream of lava begun to flow, before four conical hills, each having its small crater (the third alone excepted, which had two distinct mouths), arose out of the stream itself. From these different mouths stones were darted into the air with great noise, and in a state so highly