90 Sir H. Davy on the Phenomena of Volcanoes, 



ter was always visible, more or less interrupted by cooled lava. 

 It changed its direction according to the obstacles it met with ; 

 and never, according to appearances, extended so much as a 

 mile from its source. During the whole of this time the cra- 

 ters, of which there were two, were in activity. The large 

 crater threw up showers of ignited ashes and stones to a height 

 apparently of from 200 to 500 feet ; and from a smaller crater, 

 to the right of the large one on the side of Naples, steam arose 

 with great violence. Whenever the crater could be approached 

 it was found incrusted with saline incrustations ; and the walk to 

 the edge of the small crater on the 6th of January was through 

 a mass of loose saline matter, principally common salt coloured 

 by muriate of iron, in which the foot sunk to some depth. It 

 was easy, even at a great distance, to distinguish between the 

 steam disengaged by one of the craters, and the earthy matter 

 thrown up by the other. The steam appeared white in the 

 day, and formed perfectly white clouds, which reflected the 

 morning and evening light of the purest tints of red and orange. 

 The earthy matter always appeared as a black smoke, forming 

 black clouds ; and in the night it was highly luminous at the 

 moment of the explosion. 



On the 20th of February, the small crater which had been 

 disengaging steam and elastic matter, began to throw out 

 showers of stones ; and both craters from the 20th to the 23rd 

 were more than usually active. On the night of the 23rd, at 

 half past 11 o'clock, being in my bed-room at Chiatimone, 

 Naples, I heard the windows shake ; and going to the window, 

 I saw ascending from Vesuvius a column of ignited matter to 

 a height at least equal to that of the mountain from its base ; 

 and the whole horizon was illuminated, notwithstanding the 

 brightness of the moon, with direct volcanic light, and that 

 reflected from the clouds above the column of ignited matter. 

 Several eruptions of the same kind, but upon a smaller scale, 

 followed at intervals of a minute and a half or two minutes ; 

 but there were no more symptoms of earthquake, nor did I 

 hear any noise. : On observing the lava, it appeared at its 

 origin much broader and more vivid ; and it was evident that 

 a fresh stream had broken out to the right of the former one. 

 On the morning of the 24th I visited the mountain ; it was not 

 possible to ascend to the top, which was covered with clouds, 

 nor to examine the orifice from which the lava issued. The 

 stream of lava near the place where it terminated was from 

 50 to 100 feet broad. It had precisely the same appearances 

 as the lava which had been so long running. I collected the 

 saline matter condensed upon some of the masses of scoria 

 which were carried along by the current and deposited on the 



edge 



