Dry Rot, — Pompeii and Hcrculanejim. 233 



tietits will successively be placed under the care of Sir William 

 Adams in this Institution. 



26, Albemarle-stveet, March 10, 1818. 



DRY ROT. 



The Eden sloop of war (new), which was lately sunk in Ha- 

 moaze, to endeavour to cure her of the dry rot, has been risen, 

 commissioned, and taken into dock. On opening her, she has 

 been found defective in every part, and must undergo a thorough 

 repair. The Topaze frigate, also ordered for commission, which 

 was repaired not long since, is found to be in the same state. 

 The Dartmouth frigate, built at Dartmouth, three years old, 

 never at sea, is also undergoing a complete repair. Not a ship 

 is taken into dock but is found to be nearly rotten. The very 

 best ships do not average more than twelve years existence. The 

 San Domingo, 74, was ripped up (four years old) at Portsmouth. 

 The Queen Charlotte, 1 10, was built at Woolwich, sent round 

 to Plvmouth, found rotten, and underwent a thorough repair ; 

 she was also several months under the careof Dr. Lukin, an Ad- 

 miralty chemist, who received 5000/. for his ineffectual labours 

 to stop the progress of vegetation in the ship. After a short 

 cruise, the Queen Charlotte was laid up at Portsmouth, where 

 she remains in a very defective state. 



NEW OPINION IN REGARD TO POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM. 



It is, at present, the general belief that the two celebrated 

 cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed and de- 

 stroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. It is now, 

 however, maintained, that this was not the case. Pompeii is 

 said to be covered by a bed of lapillo, of the same nature as tha-t 

 we observe daily forming by the agency of water on the shore at 

 Naples; while Herculaneum is covered by a series of strata, al- 

 together forming a mass sixty feet thick, of a tuff having the 

 characters of those tuffs formed by water. From the facts just 

 stated, it is conjectured that the cities were destroyed by a rising 

 of the waters, which deposited over them the stratified rocks, and 

 not bv matter thrown from Vesuvius. It is also said, that no 

 eruption of Vesuvius took place in the year 79. 



MANUSCRIPTS OF HERCULANEUM. 



A letter from Naples says — " Among the manuscripts disco- 

 vered at Herculaneum, there is a copy of Justin, and one of Aulus 

 Gellius, in such a state of preservation that the persons appointed 

 to decipher these manuscripts are able to read them almost 

 without any difficulty. This discovery is the more valuable, on 



account 



