THE EARTH. 



'I 



as we were at, infinitely exceeded tlieni in greatness. Sorvn 

 after, it began to throVv up ashes, whicli, becoming the sport ot 

 the winds, fell at great distances, and some many miles To 

 this succeeded showers of stones, which killed many of the in- 

 habitants of the valley, but made a dreadful ravage among the cattle. 

 Soon after, a torrent of burning matter began to roll douTi the sides 

 of the mountain, at first with a slow and gentle motion, but 

 soon with increased celerity. The matter thus poured out, 

 when cold, seemed upon inspection to be of vitrified earth, the 

 whole united into a mass of more than stony hardness. But 

 what was particularly observable was, that upon the whole sur- 

 face of these melted materials, a light spongy stone seemed to 

 float, while the lower body was of the hardest substance of which 

 our roads are usually made. Hitherto there were no appearances 

 but what had been often remarked before j but on the third or 

 tourth day, seeming flashes of lightning were shot forth from the 

 mouth of the mountain, with a noise far exceeding_the loudest 

 thunder. These flashes, in colour and brightness, resembled 

 what we usually see in tempests, but they assumed a more 

 twisted and serpentine form. After this followed such clouds 

 of smoke and ashes, that the whole city of Naples, in the midst 

 of the day, was involved in nocturnal darkness, and the nearest 

 friends were unable to distinguish each other in this frightful 

 gloom. Jf any person attempted to stir out without torch-light, 

 he was obliged to return, and every part of the city was filled 

 with supplications and terror. At length, after a continuance 

 of some hours, about one o'clock at midnight, the wind blowing 

 from the north, the stars began to be seen ; the heavens, though 

 it was night, began to grow brighter ; and the eruptions,' after a 

 continuance of fifteen days, to lessen. The torrent of melted 

 matter was sf en to extend from the mountain down to the shore 

 the people began to return to their former dwellings, and the 

 whole face of nature to resume its former appearance." 



The famous Bishop Berkeley gives an account of one of these 

 eruptions in a manner something different from the former.' 

 " In the year 1717, and the middle of April, with much difficulrj 

 I reached the top of Jlount Vesuvius, in which I saw a vast 

 aperture full of smoke, which hindered me from seeing its depth 



1 Phil. Trans, vol. ii p. £09. 



