ITALY. LE'TtER XI. 121 



LETTER XL 



Naples, Feb. 17, 1772. 



fTHO have my fhare of the laft week of the 

 JL Roman carnaval, I am obliged to fhorten 

 rny flay at Naples. Had I the happinefs to be 

 entirely independent, I mould (lay here fome 

 months more, and make a trip to Sicily. But I 

 fhall in a few days return to Rome. 



You are entitled to an account of Vefuvius, 

 Solfatara, and other volcanic curiofities ; and to- 

 day I will difcharge this debt. 



The hiftory of the different eruptions of Vefu- 

 vius, and the operations at Solfatara, are pretty 

 well related, and, with fome curious obfervations, 

 leading to a phyfical knowledge, publifhed in the 

 different defcriptions which have been quoted by 

 P. la Torre, in the French edition of his book. 

 But a true, pure, and fyftematical Natural Hif- 

 tory of thefe Volcanos is flill to be expedted, fmce 

 the greater part of thefe authors have been defti- 

 tute of mineralogical and minery-fcience. A per- 



ufal 



