VOL. XLI.J PHILOSOPHICAL TKAN8ACTIONS. 363 



the air was quite serene, and clear of ashes; and on the mountain there wap 

 no other appearance besides that of a little smoke. 



In the year 1724, the quantity of ashes and stones, thrown from the top of 

 the mountain, was so heaped from the bottom up to the edge of the ol 

 mountain, that the whole space from the old hill to the new, appeared but one 

 continued mountain. 



In 1730, there was another eruption of Vesuvius, though very inconsiderable 

 in respect of the last. 



This present year 1737, to the month of May, the mountain was never 

 quiet : sometimes emitting great quantities of smoke, at other times red-hot 

 stones ; which, for want of a sufficient impelling force, fell on the same 

 mountain. In the beginning of May, a smoke only was seen to issue from 

 the open mouth at the top; and from the 10th to the IQth, subterraneous 

 rumbling noises were heard. 



On the 19th, fire was seen to burst out in thick black clouds ; and the same 

 day there were several loud reports, returning quicker towards the evening : 

 And still more on Sunday night, when there constantly appeared a very great 

 smoke mixed with ashes and stones : and the neighbourhood felt some shocks, 

 like those of a weak earthquake. 



On Monday the 20th, at the 13th hour, the mountain made so loud an ex- 

 plosion, that the shock was strongly felt even in the cities 12 miles round. 

 Black smoke, intermixed with ashes, was seen suddenly to rise in vast curling 

 globes ; which spread wider, as it moved farther from the basin. The explo- 

 sions continued very loud and frequent all this day, shooting up very large 

 stones through the thick smoke and ashes, about a mile high, to the horror of 

 the beholders, and the danger of all the neighbouring buildings. 



At the 24th hour of the same Monday, May 20, amidst the noise and 

 dreadful shocks, the mountain burst on the first plain, a mile distant ob- 

 liquely from the summit, and there issued from the new opening a vastly 

 large torrent of fire; whence, by the quantity of fire incessantly thrown 

 up into the air, at a distance all the south side of the mountain seemed 

 in a fiaine. The liquid torrent flowed out of the new vent, rolling along 

 the plain underneath, which is above a mile long, and near 4 miles broad ; and 

 in its way it spread very speedily near a mile wide ; and by the 4th hour of the 

 night, it reached the end of the plain, and to the foot of the low hills situate 

 to the south. But as these hills are rugged with rocks, the greater part of the 

 torrent ran down the declivities between these rocks, and into two valleys ; 

 falling successively into the other plain, which forms the basis of the mountain ; 

 and after uniting there, it divided into 4 lesser torrents, one of which stopped 



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