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Volcanic Mountains: Pompeii

The first eruption recorded in history, took place in the year 79; at which time the two cities of Pompeii and Hercu- 79; at which time the two 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 have been favoured with more exact and authentic accounts of the various changes which have taken place in Vesuvius, than were to be obtained before . The first great eruption taken notice of by this gentleman was that of 1769, when 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 1769 there were nine eruptions , some of which were very considerable.

In the month of August that year, an eruption took place, which, for its extraordinary and terrible appearance, may be , 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; quanwith 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 fireworks.

On Thursday the fifth of August, the volcano appeared most violently agitated: a white and sulphureous smoke issued with unceasing impetuosity from its crater, one puff seeming to impel another; so that a mass of vapour was soon accumulated, to all 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 two thousand 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, near four miles from the spot whence it issued.