156 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ON THE PRESENT CONDITION OF VESUVIUS. 

 BY B. SILLIMAN, JUN. 



The eruption of Vesuvius in February 1850, and that of the year 

 previous, entirely changed the summit features of this ancient moun- 

 tain of fire. The former crater disappeared, being filled with scoria 

 and ashes, while two craters now occupy the summit of the cone. 

 The deepest and most active of these is that of February 1850, which 

 is situated on the side of the cone nearest to Pompeii. It is some- 

 what lower and lias a much greater depth than its immediate neigh- 

 bour, which is on the side of the bay of Naples. We had no means 

 of measuring its depth accurately, but judging from the time re- 

 quired for the returning sound of a stone cast into its mouth, as well 

 as from inspection and comparison, we assumed the depth of the 

 new crater to be from 800 to 1000 feet. It is acutely funnel-shaped 

 at an angle of not less than 60°. It is impossible, because of the 

 steam and vapours of sulphurous acid, to see its bottom, even if not 

 prevented by the danger of the descent to a position where one 

 might hope to catch a glimpse of its bottom. Its activity at present 

 is confined to the emission of vapour, and even this seems at times, 

 when viewed from the sea, to be wanting. On the summit, how- 

 ever, these vapours appear dense enough and are sufficient to pre- 

 vent the possibility of making the entire circuit of the crater. From 

 this cause we were unable to examine the lip dividing the crater of 

 1850 from its neighbour. The observer is much struck not only 

 with the change of form in the summit, as shown by the drawings 

 of Prof. Scacchi, but also with the sharpness of the lip of both cra- 

 ters, which is such that it is hardly possible for more than two per- 

 sons to stand abreast upon it. During the late eruption, the lava 

 found vent from the base of the cone on a level with the sand plain 

 which fills the ancient crater of Somma. It here poured out a tor- 

 rent of scoriaceous red lava through a well-defined canal. This is 

 now entirely cold, and we collected from its sides abundant speci- 

 mens of aphthitalite, which frosted over the rugged cavern like snow. 

 Near this spot also are two fumeroles, formed during the last erup- 

 tion ; the largest about 25 feet high, with an aperture of near ten 

 feet, its outer walls black, rugged and forbidding. The flow of lava 

 from the eruption of 1849 was in the direction of the ancient Pom- 

 peii, and it was copious enough to destroy a small village with its 

 vineyards at the distance of several miles. The king of Naples has 

 since erected a new village for the unfortunate inhabitants near the 

 site of the former one. 



During the past six years the king of Naples has also constructed 

 a carriage road up the side of Vesuvius as far as the Hermitage, 

 where he has a Royal Meteorological Observatory, under the direc- 

 tion of the celebrated Melloni. This road follows in a very serpen- 

 tine path over and around the hill of ashes, which all who have seen 

 Vesuvius will remember as forming a remarkable feature in its to- 

 pography. In this manner, sections have been opened in the hill 

 for a distance of three or four miles, and were these viewed without 



