230 FIRST YEAR COURSE IN GENERAL SCIENCE 



ash and condensed steam, falling as rain, made a mud 

 covering which after some time hardened into stone. The 

 location of the ancient Pompeii was discovered in 1748. 

 Excavations which have been made -since that time show 

 that the mud crept into all places, even into ovens and 

 chests in the houses. Articles and bodies buried by it have 

 been preserved in form by the mud which hardened around 

 them. The hardening mud formed a mould having exactly 

 the form of the object within, and after a time the object 

 crumbled to dust. The remains have been removed and 

 plaster casts have been made in the moulds. Jewel boxes, 

 loaves of bread, and a watch dog chained beside a door are 

 some of the objects which have been reproduced in this 

 way. 



In 1906 there was a violent eruption of Vesuvius which 

 destroyed many small villages on the slope. Streams of 

 lava overflowed and also burst through the sides of the 

 crater, burying houses and fertile fields. 



Sometimes poisonous and very hot gases pour down the 

 slopes of a volcano, causing death to plant and animal life. 

 Such was the case in the eruption of Mount Pelee in the 

 West Indies in 1902. More lives were lost there than at 

 Pompeii, but they were destroyed by superheated steam 

 and other hot gases. The ruins of the city of St. Pierre, 

 near Mount Pelee, were not buried as Pompeii was. There 

 were no survivors to rebuild the city, as San Francisco was 

 rebuilt, and it is still a desolate waste. 



250. The Cause of Volcanic Eruptions. There are a 

 few volcanoes which have been made since history began, 

 and descriptions by eye-witnesses are recorded. From an 

 opening in the ground, or sometimes from under the sea, 

 rose clouds of steam, and columns of ash and rock, or lava. 

 The solid matter fell around the opening and built up a 

 cone, and the hardening lava added to its extent. Many of 

 the cone-shaped volcanoes undoubtedly began in this way. 



