VESUVIUS. I/ 1 



among the number of nearly extinguished craters. At 

 a later epoch, ^Elian asserted that the mountain itself 

 was sinking, so that seamen lost sight of the summit at 

 a less distance across the seas than of old. Yet within 

 the last two hundred years there have been eruptions- 

 from Etna rivalling, if not surpassing, in intensity the 

 convulsions recorded by ancient historians. 



I shall not here attempt to show that Vesuvius and 

 Etna belong to the same volcanic system, though there 

 is reason not only for supposing this to be the case, but 

 for the belief that all the subterranean regions whose 

 effects have been shown from time to time over the 

 district extending from the Canaries and Azores, across 

 the whole of the Mediterranean, and into Syria itself, 

 belong to but one great centre of internal action. But 

 it is quite certain that Ischia and Vesuvius are outlets 

 from a single source. 



While Vesuvius was dormant, resigning for a while 

 its pretensions to be the principal vent of the great 

 Neapolitan volcanic system, Ischia, we have seen, was 

 rent by frequent convulsions. But the time was ap- 

 proaching when Vesuvius was to resume its natural 

 functions, and with all the more energy that they had 

 been for a while suspended. 



In the year 63 (after Christ) there occurred a violent 

 convulsion of the earth around Vesuvius, during which 

 much injury was done to neighbouring cities, and 

 many lives were lost. From this period shocks of 

 earthquake were felt from time to time for sixteen 

 years. These grew gradually more and more violent, 



