THE 



EDINBURGH 

 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



Art. I. — Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples. Communi- 

 cated by the Author in a Letter to the Editor. 



No. I. — On Mount Vesuvius. 



" fractas ubi Vesbius egerit iras 



" jEmula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis." 



Stat. Syl. IV. 4. 



j Sir, 

 In the series of papers, of which the following forms the first, 

 I propose to illustrate in a general way the interesting pheno- 

 mena of the Bay of Naples, — a region pregnant with interest 

 to the naturalist in every branch of his study, — a region, the 

 features of which are treasured up in the memory of the geo- 

 logist as one of the most varied and important that he can ever 

 hope to inspect among volcanic districts, — recorded too by the 

 historian, sung by the poet, and moralized upon by the philo- 

 sopher as he sits under the grief-dispelJing shades of the ver- 

 dant Pausilipo. No distinct and exclusive account of the Bay of 

 Naples has, as far as T know, been published in English. Ha- 

 milton's Campi Phlegroei extend to other quarters, and are 

 rather meagre and unsatisfactory in their details, besides that 

 their high price makes them generally inaccessible. The 

 Topographia Fisica della Campania of Breislak, published 

 in Italian and French, is by far the best work on the subject 

 with which I am acquainted, and I largely borrow from its 

 pages. As my wish is to attempt a concise description of the 

 subject before us, in our native language, and in separate es- 

 says of moderate length, neither a mere compilation from the 



VOL. IX. NO. II. OCTOBER 1828. N 



