1819.] Mr. Murray on the Herculanean MSS, fyc. 199 



Humphry tells us the papyri of Herculaneum were never acted 

 on by fire, and that the consolidation of the tuffaand infiltration 

 of water have converted them into a state analogous to peat or 

 Bovey coal. To those who have seen the MSS. at the Studii of 

 Naples, a similar conclusion must be obvious. The bro vn 

 colour of the papyrus contrasted with the jet-black letters of tue 

 MSS. leads us to believe that the temperature at least has not 

 been sufficient to convert it into a perfect charcoal. 



Nothing can be more grossly absurd than the idea which refers 

 the destruction of Herculaneum to a wave of the sea. Such 

 persons tell us that lapillo is constantly forming on the shores 

 of the gulphs of Naples similar to that which ruined the cities of 

 Herculaneum and Pompei. I can, however, assure you that 

 there is no such exhibition. In descending from the declivity 

 of Monte Somma to the Fosso grande, I passed through a section 

 of ashes which I consider to be the very same with those which 

 overwhelmed the two celebrated cities in question. The follow- 

 ing is the opinion of Cheval. de la Condamine (see Remarks, 8cc. 

 1768) : " The substance which fills the inside of the city was 

 never melted nor liquid ; but is an immense amassment of ashes, 

 earth, gravel, sand, coal, pumice stones, and other substances, 

 launched up from the mouth of the volcano at a time of its 

 explosion, and fallen down all around it. These at first buried 

 all the buildings, and afterwards by degrees got into the inside 

 of them by their own weight, and the drift of winds and rain, 

 and lastly, by the falling in of the roofs and floors. This 

 mixture, clung together by the infiltration of waters, became 

 condensed by time, forming a kind of sand-stone, more or less 

 hard, but easily penetrable." I was particular in my observa- 

 tions of Herculaneum, and the opinion I formed of the pheno- 

 menon was precisely that of Sir H. Davy, so corroborative of that 

 of de la Condamine. 1 also compared this tuffa with that in 

 other parts around Vesuvius, and their identity is not with me a 

 subject of question. I might add, that the superior proximity 

 of Herculaneum compared with Pompei would subject the former 

 to torrents more dense and terrible than those lighter materials 

 which would be transported toward Pompei. We are informed 

 by Tacitus, that the volcano in the dreadful eruption of 79 

 changed its scite and aspect; and Horace relates that then 

 Vesuvius was rent in two places, and discharged immense tor- 

 rents of flame. Herculaneum is in a very humid situation 

 compared with Pompei, and is much more exposed than that 

 city to infiltration of water. Its present very moist condition 

 proves the fact. Perhaps too, torrents of mud and water, as 

 frequently occur in the volcanoes in the range of the Cordilleras, 

 may have issued from one of the craters formed ; and though it 

 might inundate Herculaneum, could not be carried as far as 

 Pompei. I must, however, suppose that the ashes, though not 

 incandescent, were of a highly elevated temperature. 



