March 16, 1804. 
strated’ eight years ago that several sugars result thus, 
among them a fermentable one, called by me methose 
and declared later to be inactive laevulose by Fischer. If 
we now express Our view on the formation of albuminous 
matter in plant cells, especially in the microbes, by equa- 
tions, we obtain: 
It, aClst_©) 
—— 
formic aldehyde 
+NH,=C,H,NO,+2H;0 
asparaginic 
aldehyde 
, IL 3C,H,NO,=C,,H,.N,O,+2H,0 
Ill. 6C,,H,,N,O,+12H+H,S=C,,H,,,N,,SO,,+2H,0. 
simplest expression 
for albumen 
This theory would doubtless indicate the simplest way 
possible for the formation of proteids; it is true, that 
some objections could be raised especially in regard to 
equation I., but we will at a future occasion explain what 
principal conclusions drawn from this hypothesis were 
confirmed by experiments. 
_INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS TO A: COURSE OF 
ILISCWUIRIBS ON WWIKEANOILOXE NY MIN) “WBE, IR. 
UNIV. OF NAPLES. 
BY H. J. JOHNSTON-LAVIS, M.D., M.R.C.S., F.G.S., ETC., 
NAPLES, ITALY. 
VULCANOLOGY, or the science which concerns volcanoes 
and their phenomena, is a very important branch of 
geology, or the science which treats of the earth’s crust 
in general. Geology is yet hardly a century old, because 
before that time it consisted of little else than a collection 
of romantic hypotheses and incredible superstitions. This 
remark applies with still greater force to vulcanology, for 
the study of which it is most necessary to possess an ex- 
tensive knowledge of physics and chemistry, besides a 
highly developed faculty of observation. Notwithstanding, 
for a century or two previous to the nineteenth there 
were acute observers, and we in Naples well know such 
names as those of Sorrentino, Duca e Padre della Torre. 
Towards the end of the last century the active and extinct 
volcanic regions of Italy attracted the attention of four 
great scientists, each of a different nationality: these four 
illustrious men were Spallanzani, Sir William Hamilton, 
Dolomien and Breislak. Although their nationality was 
different, they had two merits in common—that of scientific 
truth and that of Baconian methods of reasoning. In 
other words, they were pure scientists, since by that term 
we understand one who observes carefully, records neither 
more nor less than he observes and draws from these facts 
and those collected by others his conclusions without 
disregard toa clear knowledge of the principles involved, 
and without imagining facts that never existed which give 
rise to the enunciation of romantic hypotheses and 
scientific castles in the air. It is therefore more to these 
four men that we owe the advance of human knowledge 
concerning volcanoes than to all the writers who preceded 
them. 
In the first years of the nineteenth century, vulcano- 
logical literature was enriched by many scientists, because 
as the allied sciences were then making great strides, they 
were able to offer to vulcanologists much more powerful 
and accurate means of investigation. Thus we had Hum- 
boldt, Scrope, Daubeny, Pillaand Gemmellaro. 
Following these came a phalanx of illustrious students 
of that branch of geology, some still amongst us, others 
XXNI., 
‘Tour. f. Prakt. Chem., 1886, p. 3215 and Ber. d. D. Chem. Ges., vol. 
_ Pe 447- 
S(QIUBINGIE, 5 
145 
unfortunately dead in person but living and immortal in 
the memory of man as heroes of science and of human 
knowledge. Amongst these we may enumerate Lyell, 
Dana, Scacchi, Palmieri, Silvestri and Phillips, whilst at 
present many younger and gifted investigators are not 
wanting. 
No other branch of science has been so heavily burdened 
by extravagant hypotheses which have so much retarded. 
its progress as that of vulcanology. It is not only in the 
first half of the present century that we find an extensive 
literature, the production of men who advertised them- 
selves as scientists when in truth they did little else but 
write memoirs and books to promulgate and sustain 
fantastic, extravagant, imaginary and impossible hypoth- 
eses. Even to-day only those who like myself have had 
the misfortune tobe obliged to review the vulcanological 
literature can appreciate the large quantity of rubbish 
which is yearly published in the name of science. Never- 
theless, amongst so much of this chaff we do meet with 
grain, but also very good grain. 
As asubject of study, Vesuvius holds the first place in all 
vulcanological investigations of this and the last century. 
A few figures will make this fact more evident. Some 
four years since my wife and myself collected the titles 
of books, memoirs, and other writings referring to the 
south Italian volcanoes for the purpose of publishing a 
bibliographical list. We found the following numbers: 
Graham’s Island or Isola Ferdinandea - 28 
Roccamonfina = = 5 33 
Lipari Islands - = : - 119 
Alban Hills - - - 210 
Campi Phlegreei - - - 539 
Etna = 2 a “i 885 
Vesuvius - - - 1552 
From this table we comprehend how much has been 
written concerning our great active volcano, which we 
find constitutes nearly half of what has been written about 
all the volcanic regions south of Rome. If we add to 
these the titles referring to the Campi Phlegrei we then 
find that in a total of 3361 not less than 2091 concern the 
volcanic district around Naples. Let me, however, give 
you a still more striking fact. The Naples branch of the- 
St. Alpine Club possesses the richest vulcanological 
library in existence. The catalogue contains more than 
7000 entries of papers, books and manuscripts. However, 
in this number are included books that not only treat of 
vulcanology but in a large part refer to seismology and to 
a smaller extent to geology. It will be seen, therefore, 
that the Neapolitan volcanic district represents more than 
a quarter of all vulcanological literature. 
It is true that the history of Etna and the A®olian 
Islands reaches farther back than that of Vesuvius, but on 
the other hand the history of this latter is by far the most 
complete. From a chronological point of view Vesuvius 
and also the Campi Phlegraihave a more important 
place in history than any of their rivals. Even if the 
Pompeiians, the Herculaneans and the Stabians did lose 
all their property eighteen centuries since, the modern 
world has recovered it as achzological treasures whose 
value represents, from the point of view of culture, many 
times the original one, and the compound interest on the 
same for the whole interval; and this we owe to our 
Vesuvius. The phlegrean region around Naples is so en- 
chained with the poetry of the heroic and classic periods, 
that without it the legends of Cuma, of Pithecusa, of 
Sparctacus, of Partenope, of Baja and so many others, 
which fills pages and pages of ancient history, would not 
exist. 
Sometimes poetic ecstasy attacks the mind of the 
scientist; for quite the contrary to what the general 
public believe, science, rather than abolish poetic senti- 
