302 Dr. Donati on the 



eight apertures closed. In the evening, the three first only, 

 and with detonations less loud than before, threw into the air 

 jets of sparks. The first, to the east, was in constant action ; 

 that to the north, and the one between them, exploded from 

 time to time like the first ; and all the other smaller ones, 

 sometimes exploding, sometimes throwing up showers and 

 columns of sparks, presented the appearance of most brilliant 

 fireworks. 



The lava which filled the bottom of the crater was in some 

 parts semicircularly divided by concentric strata of fire, which, 

 in the northern and south-eastern parts, appeared as if ani- 

 mated by a subterraneous current of air ; and from time to 

 time, in some places, globular masses of the fused matter rose 

 on the surface and rolled towards the centre. The barometers 

 lowered ; and the rain which fell during the night brought 

 some degree of calm. 



On the night of the 25th the northern aperture only re- 

 mained in action. It ejected, with a loud bellowing, (at inter- 

 vals of half an hour, and sometimes an hour,) smoke and 

 flames : the latter were visible even from Naples ; and the 

 smoke rose in the form of pine trees, inclining to the north. 

 The great aperture to the east, and the smaller ones, were in a 

 state of tranquillity. Rain fell again in the night ; and on the 

 morning of the 26th with hail. Vesuvius and the Monti di 

 Somma were covered with the latter ; but during the day it 

 disappeared. In the evening, the explosions of the northern 

 mouth recommenced, so that every two minutes this aperture 

 vomited globes of dense black smoke ; and large quantities of 

 very fine sand, of a dark brown colour, rose in the air and fell 

 towards the north-west, on the summit of the cone and within 

 the crater, throughout the greater part of the night. All the 

 other mouths were entirely spent. The same aperture, during 

 the whole of the 27th, becoming gradually exhausted, gave 

 very slight shocks, resembling in sound the discharge of a 

 musket ; and in the evening, reviving for a few minutes, gave 

 five or six as loud as the report of a cannon, discharging 

 at the same time flames and smoke, and during the night, 

 ceased. 



On the morning of the 28th, Vesuvius remained in a state 



