LESSON XXXVI. 



ON rOLCANOS. 



The dread Volcano ministers to good : 



Its smother'*! flames might undermine the world. 



Loud ;Etnas fulminate in love to man. 



YOUNC. 



A WONDERFUL appearance on the face of 

 nature, which we have not yet reflected upon, is a 

 burning mountain, or Volcano; to describe which, 

 in the manner it deserves, would almost surpass the 

 power of words. A Volcano contains in its bowels 

 sulphur, bitumen, pumice stones, and other mate- 

 rials which serve as food to a subterraneous fire, 

 the effects of which are more violent than those of 

 gunpowder, or even of thunder : hence a Volcano 

 has been sometimes compared to a cannon of a very 

 large size. The orifice or mouth of a Volcano is, 

 in some cases, more than a mile across : and from 

 this mouth are emitted torrents of smoke and 

 flame; rivers of bitumen, sulphur, and melted 

 metal, the mixture bearing the name of lava; 

 clouds of cinders and stones, and sometimes it 

 ejects enormous rocks to many leagues distance, 

 when merely to stir them would baffle the utmost 

 efforts of human strength. The combustion is 

 N se 



