348 L. W. Fulcher — On Vulcano and Stromboli. 



for the purpose of collecting the chemical products, boracic acid, sal- 

 ammoniac, sulphur and alum, which the volcano affords in large 

 quantities and at the time of Prof. Judd's visit there was a well- 

 made road proceeding by zig-zags up the side of the cone, and 

 descending into the crater by means of a viaduct, to facilitate the 

 conveyance of the products of the " fabbrica " near Faraglione. 

 Here the products were roughly separated and forwarded to England 

 for purification. 



The cone presented a similar appearance to Prof. Mercalli, who 

 visited it four years later, in 1878. except that another orifice about 

 12 feet in diameter existed in the east side of the crater floor. It did 

 not then exhale any vapour. It was produced by a slight eruption 

 in 1875. Prof. Mercalli also noticed subterranean rumblings, which 

 were especially audible on the north side. From 1873 to 1879 

 Vulcano continued in activity, at least one eruption occurring in each 

 year. The ejected material were ashes and lapilli, which in the 

 eruption of July, 1876, were carried by the wind as far as Lipari 

 and Salina. No lava has been emitted in any of the eruptions from 

 1873 up to the present time. Indeed, the last lava flow was that 

 obsidian stream mentioned above as existing on the noi'th-west of the 

 crater, which is usually assigned, on the testimony of Dolomieu, to 

 the year 1775, but on the authority of Trovatini, a Liparote monk, 

 who in the early part of the present century (1810) described a 

 violent eruption of this crater as having taken place in February, 

 1771, inclines Prof. Mercalli to this latter year as more probable. 



The gases evolved by the fumaroles were often ignited, the flames 

 being tinged with various colours, according to the nature of the 

 minerals (arsenic, sulphur, or boracic acid) which were predominant 

 in their exhalations. In one case, the eruption of 1873, one of the 

 fumaroles burnt with a pale flame which has been attributed to pure 

 hydrogen, but although hydrogen has been detected among the 

 gaseous emanations of this volcano, one cannot help thinking that it 

 was more probably due to sulphuretted hydrogen. 



In January, 1880, Mr. Rodwell ascended the cone. Steam was 

 issuing at high pressure from various orifices. On the south-west 

 side of the crater floor was a large opening, from which exceedingly 

 hot air arose. Hot sand and green and blue flames were occasionally 

 emitted, while loud rumblings proceeded from it as if much agitated 

 lava existed below, but no lava could be seen. For the five years 

 1880-1885 Vulcano seems to have been comparatively tranquil, 

 only emitting dense volumes of " smoke " at times. But in January, 

 1886, it broke out again with great violence. On the 10th January 

 it ejected scoria? and ashes, and the eruptions continued with moderate 

 energy till they culminated in a tremendous explosion on the 26th. 1 

 Incandescent material, scorias and ashes, some of the ej ectam en ta being 

 of very large size, were shot out in abundance with a terrific uproar. 

 The chemical works were destroyed, and many of the workmen in 

 fear abandoned the island and took refuge at Lipari. A small 

 internal cone was in the crater, but after a while disappeared. 

 1 Nature, vol. xxi. p. 400. 



