444 



FIRST YEAR SCIENCE 



In 63 A.D. the region about the mountain was shaken 

 by a severe earthquake which did much damage. This 

 was followed by other earthquakes during a period of six- 

 teen years. In August, 79, the whole region was fright- 

 fully shaken, and the previously quiet mountain began to 

 belch forth volcanic dust, cinders and stones, so that for 

 miles around the sun was obscured, and a pall of utter 

 darkness shrouded the country, lighted at intervals by 

 terrific flashes of lightning. 



A large part of the ancient crater, now known as Monte 

 Somma, was blown away, and the villas and towns near 

 the mountain were covered with the ash and cinders 

 ejected. So deep were many of these buried that their 

 sites were utterly forgotten. Pompeii and Herculaneum, 

 after lying buried and almost forgotten for hundreds of 

 years, have been recently partially uncovered. 



These fossil cities show the people of to-day how the 

 ancient Romans lived and built. The topography of 



the country and the 

 coast line were greatly 

 changed by this erup- 

 tion. Pompeii formerly 

 was a sea coast city at 

 the mouth of a river. 

 It is now a mile or more 

 from the sea and at a 

 considerable distance 

 from the river. 



From the date of its 

 first historic eruption 

 until the present time Vesuvius has had active periods 

 and periods when quiet or dormant. Sometimes the 

 activity is mild, and at other times tremendously violent. 

 At times the material ejected is fragmental and at other 



MOUNT VESUVIUS. 

 Showing the famous eruption of 1872. 



