200 Mr. Murray on the Herculanean MSS, fyc. [Sept. 



I am quite, however, at a loss to comprehend that position of 

 Sir H. which applies to Pompei. In this he states that the 

 papyri were found reduced to ashes, or earthy matter, and 

 ascribes this to the constant contact of air permeating the loose 

 coverlet of Pompei. But it is yet to be proved that the simple 

 contact of air, even for a series of ages, will cause charcoal to 

 assume a volatile form. 



I found in Pompei a mass of iron with ashes adhering to it 

 which had evidently undergone fusion ; the heat, therefore, I 

 think, must have been considerable, sufficient surely to convert 

 he flimsy leaves of Egyptian papyri to ashes. Moreover, cotton- 

 wick, oil, even bread, and other matters, have been discovered 

 in this city completely carbonized; and this may easily be 

 ascribed to their peculiar situation, or difference in mass, &c. or 

 the unequal pressure or density of the ashes which covered 

 Pompei. Those which were excluded from the free atmosphere 

 would be charred, and remain in that form; whilst other vegetable 

 or animal matters incinerated in contact with air would be 

 reduced to earthy matter. Permit me now to quote the opinion 

 of Abbe Iiomaiietii on this subject : " Tutti gli oggetfi, che 

 fuorono dalle materie roventi attacati, si calcinarono, e finanche 

 le statue di bronzo, e di marmo : gli alteri, che non toccati po- 

 tettero resistere, si conservarono perfettamente. Tra questi 

 dobbiam riporre i papyri, che solamente incarboniti dal' attivita. 

 del calore, han poi potuto resistere all' umido del terreno : 

 cio che non e avvenuto ne a Pompei, ne ad altre sepolte citta, 

 nelle quali i papyri dall' umido carrotti si non trovati in cinere 

 convertiti." 



From a careful survey of the ashes which buried Pompei, I 

 conceive that a whirlvnnd may have been caused by the extreme 

 rarefaction of the atmosphere in consequence of the increment 

 of heat. This may serve to account for some irregularities in 

 the deposition of the ashes. In the section of ashes at the 

 amphitheatre, the strata dip from N.N.W. to S.S.E. but in other 

 parts incline more to N. In some of the recent excavations in 

 the houses, the ashes dip from W. to E. The ashes on the floor 

 of the arena of the amphitheatre do not exceed the size of a pea. 

 In the section already referred to, the ashes vary from the form 

 of dust to the size of a pea, and then to that of the fist, or 

 more ; over the pumice, which consists of angular fragments, rests 

 a film, then succeed ashes formed of heterogeneous materials, 

 some of them dense and heavy, and over all a stratum of fine 

 powder consolidated by water. 



Pompei is built on a current of lava containing considerably 

 sized crystals of leucite, or amphigene. 



Perhaps you are not aware that the Baron de Zach has proved 

 by direct experiment that the temples of Pompei are not oriented, 

 as the opinion of Vitruvius and others would lead us to infer. 

 He has also determined the latitude of Pompei to be 



