rumbling of the volcano,-these were the principal incidents of this horrible, yet sublime scene. The ruins of Pompeia, buried beneath heaps of drosses and powders, did not certainly present a spectacle near so striking. To these objects, so powerfully calculated to fix the senses, was added another, which forcibly touched the heart; this was a doleful group of fifteen thousand persons, bewailing the destruction of their city and property, who had had but a moment's notice to flee and abandon their homes for ever, and were reduced to become wanderers, and dependent on the world for refuge.

About dawn the summit of Vesuvius ceased to be visible: it was covered with a thick cloud, frequently furrowed with lightning. This cloud gradually spread itself, and in a little time overshadowed the gulf, the city of Naples, and its vicinage. It was formed of a large quantity of that fine sand called ashes, and prevented all sight of the fire of the volcano. The sun, as it appeared above the horizon, presented a still more dismal picture. From the abundance of ashes in the air, it seemed more pale than during the strongest eclipse: and a black scarf appeared to be spread over the whole of the gulf and the country. At the extremity of the horizon, towards the west, the day was more clear, while the light at Naples was fainter than twilight; and, with Pliny the younger, one might have said, 'Jam dies alibi illic nox omnibus nigrior densiorque.'

During this mournful night the air was perfectly unagitated, and the sea calm: it was not disturbed even in the slightest degree, at least in the gulf of Naples. The slightest action of the volcano on it would have been perceptible at the base of the mountain, and I was within a distinct view of this part of the sea; but its influence on that element was absolutely null.

While one current of lava flowed over the western flank of Vesuvius, spreading ruin and desolation, another fell down its eastern slope, from an opening of inferior height, and a greater distance from the summit. This current was not visible at Naples: all that was perceived of it was a great light in the atmosphere, produced by reflection from the rolling fire. At first it took an eastern direction, turned afterwards to the south, and descended to the spot called Cognolo. There it fortunately found the valley of Sorienta, sixty-five feet wide, 121 deep, and 1627 long. This valley the lava filled; but, as the volcano still continued to emit fresh matter, the current afterwards spread into the plain of Forte, near to Pozzelle, where it divided into three branches; one proceeded towards Bosco, another towards Mauro, and the third to the plain of Mulara. The length of this current of lava was not less than an Italian mile; but, as it flowed constantly over old lavas, it did but little harm, merely laying waste and occupying a small extent of vineyard. From the spot where it diverged from its first direction, it projected a small branch in a continued line: falling to this point over a very rapid slope, the speed with which it flowed must have been considerable: and a portion of preserving its first impulse, naturally fell

its mass

in this small stream, in which were four mouths in the shape of an inverted cone, the base of which is in the surface of the lava. This stream terminates in a small and regular hill of a conical figure, on the summit of which are two mouths in form of inverted cones. The dimensions of this second current are nearly half those of the first; consequently the mass of the whole is adequate to 2,804,440 cubic fathoms.

The coincidence and perfect resemblance of these two currents of lava sufficiently prove that they had but one common origin, and but one cauldron in which the matter was fused of which they were composed. How great then must that recipient be in which such an enormous mass could be contained! And what powerful exertion of strength must have been required to break through the mountain in such opposite directions! The lava, agitated by the expansion of elastic fluids, made its first efforts to liberate itself on the eastern flank, and found a passage; but the resistance it met with from the mountain no doubt occasioned its reflux or rebound against its opposite flank. The western current, taking its departure from a more elevated mouth, more quickly terminated its course; but the cauldron chiefly emptied itself by the eastern opening. The lava issued from it very slowly, compared with the celerity with which that flowed which proceeded from the eastern mouth, because it was no longer driven forward, or compressed by the total mass, which was already greatly diminished.

On the morning of the 16th the lava ceased to flow over the western side, and the mouth of the volcano began to resume activity. The whole of its cone was covered with a very thick rain of ashes or powders, which totally hid it from sight, so that nothing could be distinguished on Vesuvius, which was wholly inaccessible. In this state it continued four days, during which many shocks of earthquakes were felt, and loud claps of thunder were heard. Thunders raged in every part of the adjacent country, and the flashes of lightning, by which they were accompanied at intervals, for an instant allowed a view of the mountain through the darkness in which it was involved by the rain of powders. This darkness was so prodigiously great that at Caserto, and other places ten or twelve miles from Vesuvius, it was impossible to walk the streets at mid-day without torches, and that circumstance was renewed which is related by Pliny on the occasion of the eruption in the time of Titus, 'faces multæ, variaque lumina solvebant obscuritatem.' It is utterly impossible to determine with precision the quantity of ashes or powders that fell in the course of these days, as it was different in different places, according to the direction of the wind; it is, however, computed, on the base of observations at different places, that fourteen inches and six lines in depth fell on an area the radius of which is three miles, the summit of Vesuvius being the centre.

After the eruption of 1794 the cone lost much of its elevation; a portion of it, after being shaken and even raised by the convulsion, sinking down into the crater and almost filling up the cavity. The fire raging in the hollow of the

mountain, having thus lost its upward vent, burst through the side and poured out the lava, which rolled down the declivity all the way to the sea, burning up the cultivated ground, and covering with a fluid which afterwards became solid and hard the chief part of the town of Torre del Greco. The total number of great eruptions on record is above thirty, reckoning from the celebrated one of A. D. 79, which proved destructive to Herculaneum. One of the latest, though not most formidable eruptions, took place in the end of the summer of 1819. The mountain had discharged almost daily small quantities of fire and lava; but on the 27th of July a thick smoke, accompanied by flames, and the discharge of red hot stones, rose from the crater. The shocks succeeded each other, and seemed to cause a trembling on the summit of the mountain. Next day, the crisis took place; one side of the crater was suddenly rent with a dreadful crash, and its highest point, with the chief part of its south-west side, fell in. From the breach thus opened there burst forth a great stream of lava; and this is at present (1829) the principal opening, although eruptions take place sometimes above, and sometimes below it, according to the pressure of the melted substance in the interior of the crater. The permanent effect of this last eruption has been to lower the height of the summit. VETCH, n. s. Lat. vicia. A plant with a VETCH'Y, adj. papilionaceous flower, pro

VETERINARY ART, from veterinarius, the name by which a farrier was known in the time of Columella. This term seems itself deduced from veterinus, a term applied by Pliny to the horse, in allusion we presume to the staid and steady disposition of that noble animal when properly reduced to the hand, and which, like the evocati or veterans of the Romans, is every way worthy of our trust and confidence.

PART I.

OF VETERINARY SURGERY. In conformity to the general usage we may adopt the denomination surgery, in a more extended sense, to denote the curative treatment of all those diseases which are incident to horses, since the mere administering of a ball requires a certain adroitness in the manual operation; and we have for the sake of convenience attempted a classification of the diseases of the horse, which will answer the purpose of an index.

The laying a foundation for an arrangement of caballine maladies, besides habituating the mind to the logic of method, admonishes the practical reader to renew his observations and to cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with the respective situations and tendencies of disorders; for experience has taught us that nothing has a greater influence in sharpening our perceptive faculties than the carrying of a rational outline of a treatise of this kind in the head. Nor ought we to forget another species of utility

Browne.

which the formality of an arrangement possesses, which is, that it helps those who are otherwise unfurnished with a test to discover how far the writer himself is able to fulfil his engagements with the reader.

Had our limits permitted us we should have been glad to preface this article with a history of this valuable animal, by illustrating and discussing the merits of those elegant observations which are to be found in the writings of Xenophon, Varro, Virgil, Columella, &c., and by means of which it would have appeared that, though the chirurgical treatment of disorders has shared in the modern improvements, yet the ancient methods of studying, training, and humoring the disposition of the horse were as choice and excellent as the diction in which they are described.

SECT. I.-CLASSIFICATION OF THE DERANGEMENTS IN THE SOLIDS AND FLUIDS OF A HORSE'S BODY.

Order I.-SOLIDS.

cules which compose an organ, or as they are Alterations in the arrangement of the moleotherwise called changes of continuity. The essential character of a genus is derived from the nature of the texture which is effected.

Genera I.-BONES.

Species 1. Bone spavin, an osseous enlargement upon the inner side of the hock.

Order II.-DISEASES ORIGINATING IN AN ALTERATION OF THE FLUIDS OF A HORSE'S BODY. Genera I. SANGUIFEROUS SYSTEM.-Inflamma

tion occasioned by an unusual quantity of blood determined to any particular part or organ, or in a general excess of the red fluid.

Species 1. Synochus (ovvexw, contrain, alluding, we presume, to the general superabundance of constringing sensation of an iufarcled blood vessel), blood in the system.

2. Phrenitis (pony, diaphragm, by a metaphor, the mind which divides or discriminates), inflammation of the brain.

3. Peripneumonia (rept, about, and πενμv), inflammation of the lungs.

4. Pleuritis (λvpa, side, membrane which lines the chest or thorax), inflammation of the pleura.

5. Influenza and catarrhus (karɛppea, to flow downwards), inflammation of membranes occasioned by the acrimony of the humors.

6. Gastritis (yaorno, genitive yaorpos, the belly), inflammation of the stomach.

7. Peritonilis (TEOITOVELOV, web which encloses the bowels, from EOITELY, extend round about), inflammation of the peritoneum.

8. Enteritis (Evrɛpa, inwards), inflammation of the coats of the intestines.

9. Splenitis (onλny, the spleen), inflammation of the spleen.

10. Hepatilis (ар аrоs, the liver), inflammation of the liver.

11. Nephritis (veppoç, a kidney), inflammation of the kidneys and bladder.

12. Ophthalmia (opaλμoç, the eye) inflamma

tion of the eyes.

13. Psorophthalmia (opa, a scab, and opaλμoç), inflammation of that part of the conjunctiva which lines the eyelids.

14. Podilis (ovg Todos, the foot), inflammation of the foot.

15. Anticore, painful swelling about the breast and belly.

Genera II.-ABSORBENT SYSTEM.

Species 1. Anasarca (ava, upon, gape capros, flesh), general dropsy. Superabundant humors in the cellular substance, under the skin of the body.

2. Hydralcus (vdwp, water, ελkog, an ulcer), water farcy. Accumated water producing ulceration.

3. Ascites (aokog, a leathern bottle, from a fancied resemblance which the body bears to that vessel), water in the cavity of the abdomen. 4. Hydrothorax (vdwp, Jwpaž, the chest), water in the cavity of the chest.

5. Hydropericardium, water within the bag which contains the heart.

6. Hydrocephalus (vdwp, repaλŋ, head), water within the meninges of the brain.

7. Hydrocnemia (vôwp, kvnμn, leg), dropsy of the legs.

8. Diarrhea (dia, through, pew, flow) unnatural defluxion of fluid down the intestinal canal.

Genera I.-DISEASES OF THE BONES. Species 1. Bone-spavin is a hard tumor or excrescence formed on the inside of the hock; it sometimes occurs on the lower part of the hock, at others it is more deeply seated in the centre of the joint; the latter is by far the most painful. Cure.-Firing, and blistering immediately after.

2. Ring-bone. The term ring-bones is given to hard swellings extending round the fore part of the foot in the form of a ring, on the lower part of the pastern near the coronet; they occasionally appear a little above the coronet only on each side, they are then termed splinters of a ring-bone. The causes of these affections are various; they are produced by strains, blows, and other causes, which occasion a diminution of synovia, when the great and little pastern bones enter more closely into contact with each other, producing stiffness of the joint. The former as frequently arises from a blow as any other cause, the latter from a stub; they are said to be occasionally hereditary. Cure.-Firing the only remedy likely to do good.

3. Splints. Hard excrescences which form on the shank bone of the horse are termed splints; they vary in size and shape, and are sometimes so large as to press against the back sinew, causing stiffness, and in some instances decided lameness. Those of a smaller kind are seldom of much importance, unless situated on or near the joint. The treatment in all these cases requires but little variation. The horse will be very lame on the first appearance of these excrescences and for some time previous, requiring judgment on the part of the practitioner to ascertain the cause. Gentle treatment must be had recourse to in the first instance, and the following blister will be found efficacious :-Take Spanish flies, euphorbium, of each two drachms and a half; Egyptiacum, strong vinegar, of each two ounces; spirit of turpentine, water of pure ammonia, of each ten drachms; oil of thyme one ounce. and put into a bottle, shaking previous to using. Lameness from a splint may sometimes be removed by placing a pledget of old linen, wet with goulard or saturnine lotion, on it, and confining it with a bandage kept constantly wet. I have seen a good effect from diluted vinegar also. Saturnine lotion.-Super-acetate of lead one ounce, vinegar four ounces, water one pint. Mix.

Mix

4. String-halt. The string-halt, Mr. White