100 J. W. Judd — On Volcanos. 



with many grander volcanic piles and with more striking manifes- 

 tations of igneous action ; yet it may, perhaps, be doubted whether 

 in any of these the nature, products, aiid causes of the phenomena 

 displayed can be so advantageously studied as in Vulcano. 



In seeking to sketch the early history of this volcano it would be 

 a hopeless task to attempt the separation of truth from its embellish- 

 ments in the legendary stories of the oldest classical writers ; yet 

 we may at least accept the traditions associated with Vulcano as 

 proving that, during the earliest periods of the occupation of the 

 district, its outbursts had been both frequent in their occurrence and 

 striking in their characters. As we come to later times, however, 

 more trustworthy statements concerning its general condition and 

 its paroxysmal displays of violence are found, in the writings both 

 of geographers and historians. 



Thucydides, in the fifth century before Christ, speaks of Vulcano 

 as throwing out a considerable smoke by day and flame by night. 

 The appearance of flames was doubtless due, as in all volcanic 

 eruptions, to the reflexion of glowing surfaces of lava in the crater 

 from the clouds of ejected matter rising above it, or to fragments of 

 incandescent solid or liquid matter mingled with the latter. 



In the next century, Aristotle records a grand eruption of Viilcano, 

 during which a new hill was formed ; the quantity of ashes thrown 

 out being so great as to entirely cover the city of Lipari (six miles 

 distant from the volcano), and to extend to several of the towns of 

 Italy. This eruption had not entirely ceased at the time when 

 Aristotle wrote. 



Callias, writing in the third century before Christ, describes 

 Vulcano as possessing two craters ; one of which was nearly 2000 

 feet in circumference, and threw out burning stones of prodigious 

 size, with a noise that could be heard at a distance of more than 

 fifty miles. 



In the next century a very remarkable and important eruption 

 took place, during which a new island gradually rose above the sea- 

 level, great numbers of fish being killed. This account is usually 

 interpreted as applying to the formation of Vulcanello. Posidonius, 

 Pliny, and other writers who record this interesting event, are not, 

 however, agreed as to the exact year in which it took place. From 

 an account of Vulcano, written in this same century by Polybius, 

 and preserved by Strabo, the mountain appears to have had three 

 craters, two tolerably well preserved, and one in part fallen in. The 

 larger crater was round, and about 1000 yards in circuit; its interior 

 was funnel-shaped, the bottom of it being only about 50 feet in 

 diameter, and 600 feet above the sea-level. It is clear that these 

 observations must have been made during a period of inactivity in 

 the volcano. 



Diodorus, who was a native of Sicily, speaks of Vulcano in his 

 time, namely the century before the Christian era, as throwing out 

 burning stones, like Stromboli and Etna. Strabo, who wrote just 

 before the time of Christ, tells us that the three openings or craters 

 of Vulcano ejected ignited matters, that filled up a part of the sea to 



