VOL. LXX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 621 



shower, as the volcanic matter, which broke through the roof of the palace, 

 and fell into the garrets, on the balconies, and in the courts, had not been re- 

 moved. It was composed of the scoriae of fresh lava much vitrified, great and 

 small, mixed with fragments of ancient solid lavas of different sorts: many 

 pieces were enveloped by the new lava, which formed a crust about them ; and 

 others were only slightly varnished by the fresh lava. These kind of stones 

 being very compact, and some weighing 8 or 10 pounds, must have fallen with 

 greater force than the heavier scoriae, which were very porous, and had the great 

 surface abovementioned. The palace of Ottaiano is built on a thick stratum of 

 ancient lava, which ran from the mountain of Somma when in its active volcanic 

 state. Under this stratum we were shown 3 grottoes, from which issues a con- 

 stant extreme cold wind, and at times with impetuosity, and a noise like water 

 dashing on rocks. They are shut up with doors like cellars, and are made use 

 of as such, as also to keep provisions fresh, and to cool liquors. He had never 

 seen these ventaroli before.* 



Sir Wm. observed that the tract of country, completely covered with a 

 stratum of the volcanic matter abovementioned, was about 2-1- miles broad, and 

 as much in length, in which space the vines and fruit trees were totally stripped 

 of their leaves and fruit, and had the appearance of being quite burnt up; but, 

 to his great surprize, having visited that country again 2 days afterwards, he 

 saw those very trees, which were apple, pear, peach, and apricot, in blossom 

 again, and some with the fruit already formed, and of the size of hazel-nuts. 

 The vines there had also put forth fresh leaves, and were in bloom. Many 

 foxes, hares, and other game, were destroyed by the fiery shower in the district 

 of Somma and Ottaiano. 



The conical part of Vesuvius was, after the eruption, covered with fragments 

 of lava and scoriae, which made the ascent much more difficult and troublesome 

 than when it was only covered with minute ashes. The particularity of this last 

 eruption was, that the lava which usually ran out of the fianks of the volcano, 

 forming cascades, rivers, and rivulets of liquid fire, was now chiefly thrown up 

 from its crater in the form of a gigantic fountain of fire, which falling still in 

 some degree of fusion had, in a manner, cased up the conical part of Vesuvius 

 with a stratum of hard scoriae: on the side next the mountain of Somma, that 

 stratum was more than 100 feet thick, forming a high ridge. The valley 

 between Vesuvius and Somma had received such a prodigious quantity of lava 



* At Cesi, in the Roman State, towards the Adriatic, there are many such ventaroli ; and the 

 inhabitants of that to\vn, by means of leaden pipes, contain the fresh air from them into the very 

 rooms of their houses, so that by turning a cock they can cool them to any degree. Some, who have 

 refined still more on this luxury, by smaller pipes, bring this cold air under the dining table, so as to 

 cool the bottle of liquor on it. — Orig. 



