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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Fig. 1. Vesuvius as represented in Roman Times. From facsimile engraving of a 

 Pompeian fresco in ' Pitture d' Ercolano e dintorni.' 



memorable for a number of calamitous happenings, and suggests that 

 the injury wrought by Vesuvius of which Rodulphus informs us may 

 have fallen properly about that time. Bombs were projected on that 

 occasion to a distance of three miles, issuing from a greater number of 

 orifices than usual, and the noxious gases accompanying the eruption 

 rendered the country round about uninhabitable. 6 



An interval of thirty years ensued before the ninth eruption (1037), 

 which was succeeded by a little over a century's repose. After 1139 

 no further disturbance is known to have taken place until early in the 

 sixteenth century, although Mount Epomeo, in the neighboring island 

 of Ischia, was active in the year 1302. Brief records of the ninth and 

 tenth eruptions are found in monastic chronicles, compiled in near-by 

 abbeys, and of noteworthy importance. Foremost should be mentioned 

 the monastic histories written during the eleventh century at Monte 

 Cassino, a famous abbey of ancient foundation and mother of all Bene- 

 dictine monasteries, which shone like a light in the dark ages. Of 



Fig. 2. Vesuvius about the Year 1500. From the earliest known engraving of the mountain 

 and surroundings, printed 1514. 19, Palma; 23, Sarnus fl.; 24, Pompeii; 29, Turre Nunciatae ; 

 31, Herculaneum; 32, Marilianum'; 33, Pomilianum ; 35, Palsepolis ; 38, Sebethusfl.; 39, Neapolis. 



'M. G. E., SS., Vol. VII., p. 61. 



