398 VOLTAIC ACTION, AND 



panied an eruption of Vesuvius that he wit- 

 nessed in October, 1 822 ; and which resembled 

 the awful displays of lightning that attended 

 its eruption in 89, when Pompeii and Hercu- 

 laneum were overwhelmed with lava ; and by 

 which his father lost his life. " From every 

 part of the immense cloud of ashes that hung 

 suspended over the mountain, flashes of forked 

 lightning darted continually. They proceeded 

 in greatest number from the edges of the cloud. 

 They did not consist, as in the case of a thunder 

 storm, of a single zigzag streak of light, but a 

 great many confiscations of this kind appeared 

 suddenly darting in every direction, from a cen- 

 tral point, forming a group of brilliant rays, 

 resembling the thunder bolts placed by the 

 ancient artists in the hands of the cloud com- 

 pelling Jove." (Scrope on Volcanos, p. 81.) 



It is also related by Sir William Hamilton, 

 that the eruptions of Vesuvius in 1767, 79, and 

 94, were attended with the most tremendous exhi- 

 bitions of lightning ; and the two latter with 

 extremely loud explosions of thunder. Zigzag 

 lightning darted incessantly from the enormous 

 black clouds that hung over the crater, resem- 

 bling in all respects that of ordinary thunder 

 storms ; and accompanied by heavy showers of 

 rain, with whirlwinds, like those which attend 

 water spouts. Sometimes balls of fire issued 

 from the black cloud, which burst into serpen- 



