[c 



8 



n 



J( 





k 



] 



i^'e ceutini. 



, plate 2. 



fpiH 



nor 



coneS' 



!i seen 



Iviii 



akiB 





1 inou» 



t3!5 



le 



le 





che 



Ch. XXVL] CHANGES IN APPEARANCE OF MOUNTAIN. 



21 



by niglit ; and burning rocks rolled down witli lond uproar 



into the sea/ 



Alessi in his history of Etna refers to Seneca^ who, in the 

 first century of our era reminds Lucillius that mount Etna 

 had in his time lost so much of its height that it could be no 

 longer seen by boatmen from certain points whence it had 

 been previously visible. At a much later period, Ealcando 

 relates that the lofty summit of Etna had fallen in in 1179, 

 and it was destroyed, according to Fazzello, for the third time 

 in 1329. Again it was engulphed for the fourth time in 

 1444, and finally the whole top of the mountain fell in in 



1669. 



* 



may 



well have produced the form of a truncated cone, represented 

 in the accompanying drawing (fig. 79). 



/ 



i\ 



f< 



— The great eruption 



last alluded to of 1669, deserves particular attention as the 

 first noticed by scientific observers. An earthquake had 

 levelled to the ground all the houses in Mcolosi, a town 

 situated near the lower margin of the woody region, about 



20 



om 



of Etna, and 10 



m 



sea 



at Catania. Two gulfs then opened near that town, from 

 whence sand and scoriae were thrown up in such quantity, 

 that in the course of three or four months, a double cone was 

 formed, called Monti Eossi (or Monte Eosso) about 450 feet 

 high. But the most extraordinary phenomenon occurred at 

 the commencement of the convulsion in the plain of S. Lio. 

 A fissure six feet broad, and of unknown depth, opened with 

 a loud crash, and ran in a somewhat tortuous course to 



of Etna. Its direction was 

 ngth 12 miles. It emitted a 



within a mile 



summit 



most vivid light. 



Five other parallel fissures of consider- 

 able length afterwards opened one after the other, and 

 emitted vapour, and gave out bellowing sounds which were 

 heard at the distance of 40 miles. This case seems to 

 present the geologist with an illustration of the manner in 



were 



which those continuous dikes of vertical porphyry 

 formed, which are seen to traverse some of the older lavas of 



om 



H 



* Alessi, Storia critica dell' Eruz. dell' Etna, p. 149. 



