146 SCIPNGE: 
ment, further developes it, but in a more serious and re- 
fined form. If you will allow me I will describe to you 
one of my day dreams concerning the ground that we are 
now standing on, and which we will entitle the ‘*‘ Campania 
Felice without its Volcanoes.” 
When, as we wander around Naples, we reach the hill 
of Cuma and we encounter a fewruined walls and a few 
pot-sherds that peep out through the rich vegetation of 
that spot, where now the only inhabitants are the goats 
and the lizards, our imagination speeds back for nearly 
three millenniums when this same rock, almost in its 
present state, was chosen by the daring Greek navigators 
as the site of their new colonial town. All of us know the 
history of Cuma, all of us know that this little bit of Italy 
for the half of historic time held a very important place. 
We are deeply impressed when we make an effort to con- 
ceive clearly what three thousand years really is, how 
many generations lived and died during that time and in 
that place—but far, far greater are we impressed when we 
think that three thousand years is but a fraction in the 
geological history of that hill, and finally our mind fails to 
grasp the value of time when we consider that the physical 
record of this hill is not more than a minute fraction of 
the geological records of our globe. 
Without going very far back in the geological history 
of our region I will ask you to follow me to the first part 
of the pliocene epoch, an epoch, as all know, con- 
sidered quite near our own time. All of us now admire 
the beauty of the Gulf of Naples, which has few rivals in 
the entire world, but at that time its conformation was 
very different to what itisnow. It then formed a very 
much larger gulf, represented to-day by the plain we cail 
the Campania Melice with a large part of the Verra di 
Layoro. Wemust figure to ourselves a broad gulf, limited 
on the north by the promontory of Gaeta, where its con- 
fines were limited by high limestone cliffs. Its coast had 
roughly the following trend: From Gaeta, it corresponded 
with the present provincial road to close under Castel- 
forte and from there was almost represented by the valley 
of the Garigliano as far as the gorge between Mt. Faito 
and Mt. Cammino, by which narrow strait it was in com- 
munication with the sea covering the present plain of 
Cassino. Winding round the south of Mt. Cammino,it again 
extended northwards to Mignano. ‘the eastern coast of 
this strait corresponded with the present line of railway 
from Mignano to Taverna S. Felice, which coast turning 
eastwards passed under Presenzano to extend into the 
mountains by the valley of the Volturno. From this 
point the coast, winding round several islands, represented 
to-day by hills and mountains separated from the main 
mass of the Appenines, extended into these latter, form- 
ing so many fiords. lhe sea then covered all the plain, 
and its waves beat the foot of the mountains behind 
Pietramelara, Pigmataro Maggiore, Capua, Caserta, Nola, 
Palma, Sarno, Angri and Castellamare and then corre- 
sponded roughly with the present coast of the peninsula of 
Sorrento. In the middle of this great gulf rose two im- 
portant isles—Capri and Mt. Massico, besides a quantity 
of smaller ones. Numerous fiords penetrated the Ap- 
penines where to-day we have the Garigliano, the Vol- 
turno, Valle di Maddaloni, Walle Candina, and the 
Valle di Avella. In fact this part of the coast of 
Italy in those pliocene times was very similar in con- 
figuration to that of the Istrian coast of to-day. 
The rivers brought down to-the sea sand and mud 
which, settling at the bottom of the gulf, prepared an 
almost flat sea bed, which later was to form the founda- 
tion of the Campanian plain. At that period the Cam- 
pania Felice was only sea, and where to-day flourish 
vines, Oranges, lemons and gardens of flowers then only 
grew marine algae. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 580 
The great fissure in the earth’s crust which corresponds 
with the western coast of Italy, and along which were 
formed the Italian volcanoes, opened a way for the igneous 
magma to the bottom of this gulf. Numerous eruptive 
centres were formed, giving rise to the volcanoes of Ischia, 
Roccamonfina, Campi Phlegreeiand Vesuvius. ‘The order 
in which these different groups were formed is still an un- 
solved enigma. ‘Tschia, as has been long known, shows 
by the fossiliferous deposits clothing its flanks to have 
undergone great elevation since its original formation, and 
as we have no such evidence in the other volcanoes, we 
must conclude for the greater antiquity of Tschia. I also 
believe that the volcanic group of Roccamonfina is very 
much older than that of the Phlegrzan Fields and 
Vesuvius because we find the pyperno and the piper noid tuff, 
very old volcanic deposits in these regions, forming a 
mantle over Roccamonfina when it was almost a complete 
mountain. It must not be forgotten, however, that in the 
““Museum Breccia” first described by me we'have 
evidence of the effusion in these regions of many varieties 
of rocks long anterior to the Acserno. 
Gradually the large quantity of lava and fragmentary 
materials that were ejected at the bottom of the gulf 
greatly diminished its depth, and this, combined with 
general elevation, resulted inthe emergence of a number 
of volcanic islands at Roccamonfina, Tschia, Naples; and 
probably Vesuvius was at first, like the others, an island. 
Constant general elevation soon drove back the sea, leav- 
ing high and dry all that region we so well know. ‘This 
plain with its volcanic hills and mountains constitutes one 
of the most beautiful, the most fertile and the healthiest 
regions of our earth if man were more capable of appreciat- 
ing, enjoying and developing this pezzo adi cielo caduto ta 
terra. 
So many are the advantages that our Vesuvius offers to 
the student of vulcanology that’ I think it advisable to 
pass them in review. This renowned volcano occupies a 
very central position in the civilized part of the globe, 
only a few kilometres from Naples, with all the resources 
of a great city, andin communication by numerous lines 
of passenger vessels and railways with all parts of Europe 
and America. Means of visiting Vesuvius are numerous, 
whilst the volcano is now entirely surrounded by a net- 
work of railways, besides good roads. By road and _rail- 
way the top of the mountain can be reached, and uponits 
flanks can be found hotels and accommodation of all kinds, 
besides a meteorological observatory intended to be used 
for the daily study and record of its varying phases. ‘he 
simple but interesting form of the mountain, the extraor- 
dinary and unrivalled variety of its productions, which sur- 
pass in number, beauty and interest those of any other 
volcano yet studied, are also a matter of maximum im- 
portance to the student. Besides this, of equal im- 
portance we must reckon that continuous activity with 
variation within such limits as-to permit detailed study on 
the spot and still more fully in the university laboratories 
or elsewhere. 
Besides, scattered over Italy and within a few hours’ 
reach are several other active volcanoes, each having its 
own special interest, besides a large number of extinct 
ones and subsidiary velcanic phenomena, all of which 
beyond their scientific interest have a very great im- 
portance to the inhabitauts from an agricultural, ir dustrial 
and hygienic point of view. This is especially the case 
in the immediate vicinity of the active ones, so that it 
becomes the duty of the government to maintain asystem 
of observation and record and to develop a school in 
which students may acquire a scientific knowledge of vul- 
canology. 
At Naples we have a chair of terrestrial physics, but as 
under this name is included a vast amount of different 
