VESUVIUS. 229 



The volcano then rested 124 years; the second eruption taking 

 place A. d. 203 ; and the third, which was much more violent, occurred 

 2G9 years later, in the year 472. On this occasion the ashes fell over % 

 nearly the whole of Europe ; they were transported to Constantinople, 

 and even to Egypt and Syria. In 1036 there occurred a violent erup- 

 tion, during which lava was for the first time ejected. 



The eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 was of extreme violence, and was 

 accompanied hy great currents of lava, which flowed over the villages 

 at its base on the side of the Bay of Naples. There were at the same 

 time thrown out immense torrents of hot water, which wrought great 

 desolation. 



The eruption of 1779 is described by Sir "William Hamilton as 

 among the grandest and most terrible of these phenomena. White 

 sulphurous smoke like heaps of cotton rose up in piles four times as 

 high as the mountain, and spread about it to a proportional extent. 

 Into these clouds, stones, scoriae, and ashes, were projected to the height 

 of at least 2,000 feet. On subsequent days columns of fire shot forth 

 to full three times the height of the mountain. Masses of rock of 

 great size were projected out of the crater, one of which measured 108 

 feet in circumference and 17 feet in height. Ponton says the jets of 

 lava were thrown up to a prodigious height. A portion of the ashes and 

 stones was drifted away to some distance ; but the greater proportion 

 of these, and nearly all the lava, still red-hot and liquid, fell upon the 

 cone, on part of Monte Somma, and into the valley between them. 

 The whole mass which thus fell, still vividly glowing, formed a con- 

 tinuous fiery expanse about two and a half miles in breadth, which, 

 with the lofty column of fire issuing from the top, presented a magni- 

 ficent but very terrific spectacle. The heat, radiating from this vast 

 glowing surface, is said to have been perceptible at a distance of six 

 miles all around. 



In June, 1794, occurred a terrible eruption, which destroyed the 

 town of Torre del Greco. A single stream of lava was estimated by 

 Breislak as containing more than 46,000,000 cubic feet. A vent 

 opened near the bottom of the mountain, 2,375 feet in length and 237 

 feet in breadth, which became filled with lava, and on the hardening 

 of this presented a dike in every respect similar to the ancient basal- 

 tic dikes. 



The eruption of 1822 broke up the whole top of the mountain, and 

 formed an elliptical chasm about three miles in circumference, and 

 supposed to be 2,000 feet deep. The principal cone tumbled in, with a 

 terrible crash, on October 22d, and the following evening there began 

 an eruption which lasted 12 days. The internal detonations of the 

 mountain were described as terrific, while the ashes and dust were so 

 great as to produce at noon in the neighboring villages a darkness 

 deeper than midnight. 



The eruption of 1855 presented a most imposing spectacle. "We 



