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been at that time a swell in the sea, or a depression or sinking of the earth under it.

From what we have seen lately here, and from what we read of former eruptions of Vesuvius, and of other active volcanoes, their neighbourhood must always be attended with danger; with this consideration, the very numerous population at the foot of Vesuvius is remarkable. From Naples to Castel-a-mare, about fifteen miles, is so thickly spread with houses as to be nearly one continued street, and on the Somma side of the volcano, the towns and villages are scarcely a mile from one another; so that for thirty miles; which is the extent of the basis of Mount Vesuvius and Somma, the population may be perhaps more numerous than that of any spot of a like extent in Europe, in spite of the variety of dangers attending such a situation.

With the help of the drawings that accompany this account of the late eruption of Vesuvius, and which I can assure you to be faithful representations of what we have seen, I flatter myself I shall have enabled you to have a clear idea of it; and I flatter myself also, that the communication of such a variety of well attested phænomena as have attended this formidable eruption, may not only prove acceptable, but useful to the curious in natural history.

In a subsequent letter from Sir Willian Hamilton to Sir Josephi Banks, dated Castel-a-mare, anciently Stabiæ, Sept. 2, 1794, are the two following remarks, to be added to this paper.

1. Within a mile of this place the mofete are still very active, and particularly under the spot where the ancient town of Stabiæ was situated. The 24th of August, a young lad by accidént falling into a well there that was dry, but full of the mephitic vapour, was immediately suffocated; there were no signs of any hurt from the fall, as the well was shallow. This circumstance called to my mind the death of the elder Pliny, who most probably lost his life by the same sort of mephitic vapours, on this very spot, and which are active after great eruptions of Vesuvius.

2. Mr. James, a British merchant, who now lives in this neighbourhood, assured me that on Tuesday night, the 17th of June, which was the third day after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, he was in a boat with a sail, near Torre del Greco, when the minute

shes, so often mentioned in my letter, fell thick; and that in the dark they emitted a pale light like phosphorus, so that his hat, those of the boatmen, and the part of the sails that were covered with the ashes, were luminous. Others have mentioned to me the having seen a phosphoric light on Vesuvius after this eruption; but until it was confirmed to me by Mr. James, I did not choose to say any thing about it. [Phil. Trans. 1795.]

CHAP. X.

ETNA AND ITS ERUPTIONS,

SECT. 1.-General History.

We have purposely dwelt with considerable minuteness upon the

volcanic phænomena of Vesuvius in the preceding chapter, not only because they have been more explicitly detailed than those of any similar mountain, but that we might bring the history of this class of natural wonders as much as possible into one form. In the volcanoes which we shall yet think it our duty to describe, we shall endeavour to confine ourselves to the peculiar and prominent features by which every one is distinguished from every other.

Etna is the most striking phænomenon of the island of Sicily; and though less frequently delineated than Vesuvius, is so much more gigantic, that the latter, if placed by the side of it, would seem nothing more than a small ejected hill, and is in fact not longer than several of the mountains by which it is surrounded. The whole circuit of the base of Vesuvius does not exceed thirty miles, while Etna covers a space of a hundred and eighty miles, and its height above the level of the sea is computed at not less than eleven thousand feet; and while the lava of the first not often devolves its stre further than to an extent of seven miles, Etna will emit a fire capable of traversing a path of thirty miles. The cra suvius, moreover, has seldom exceeded half a mile in c2 while that of Etna is commonly three, and sometir The best description of this crater, which we b own day, is that given by Spalanzani. Acco an oval extending from east to west, inclo lava and scoriæ; the inner sides being

2 D

cami liquid ter of Ve rcumference, es 'six, miles..ave received in our rding to him, it forms sed by vast fragments of of various declinations, in

crusted with orange coloured concretions of muriat of ammonia, the sal ammoniac of the shops. The bottom is a plain nearly horizontal, about two-thirds of a mile in circumference, with a large circular aperture, giving vent to a column of white smoke, below which is visible a liquid fiery matter, like metal boiling in a furnace. Such is the height of Etna, that its eruptions rarely attain its summit, but more usually break out at its sides. Near the crater begins the region of perpetual snow and ice; which is followed by a woody do- main, consisting of vast forests of oaks, beeches, firs and pines, while the areola of the crater is almost destitute of vegetation. In this middle region appear also chesnut trees of enormous size, one of which, distinguished by the name of cento cavallo (troop of horses) measures not less than two hundred and four feet in circumference.

Etna is perhaps one of the oldest volcanoes in Europe; and though less minutely described by modern philosophers and travellers than Vesuvius, obtained far more of the attention of the Greek and Roman writers. The fire which is so perpetually burning in its bowels induced the poets to place in this tremendous cavity the forges of the Cyclops, who were placed under the government of Vulcan, and the prison of the giants who rebelled against Jupiter. These fictions progressively grew into popular truths among the vulgar, who regarded Etna, in consequence, as the residence of Vulcan, aud the seat of his empire. And hence they erected a temple to him on the mountain, in which, according to Ælian, a perpetual fire was maintained, in the same manner as in the temple of Vesta, this element being an appropriate Vulcanic symbol.

Homer makes mention of Mount Etna, but at the same time takes no notice of its eruptive power; and hence there is a strong presumptive proof that its volcanic properties were unknown at that æra. Thucydides is the earliest historic writer that alludes to these enomena. He enumerates three eruptions of the mountain tothe conclusion of his third book, one of which he fixes at four and seventy-four years before the birth of our Saviour, a seears later, while to the third he assigns no date whatcomposed an ode in the 78th Olympiad, about four the second eruption, and adverted to by Thucy'escribes its violence, and retains the popular

ph. wards

hundred.

cond fifty y ever. Pindar or five years after. dides, in which he a fable just alluded to, tha. and that their struggle to g

Jupiter had buried the giants in its bowels, et loose was the cause of the fiery com

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