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VESUVIUS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



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TORONTO, MAY, 1854. 



Memoranda of Vesuvius and its BJcigJltoourliood- 



By the Bev. Henry Scadding, D.D., Cantab. Read before the Canddian 

 Institute, March 2oth, 1854. 



Those who have visited Saratoga will perhaps remember the 

 High-Rock Spring. It has its name from the circumstance that 

 its water, containing much lime in solution, has formed a mound 

 of calcareous matter some five feet high, with a well-defined cen- 

 tral throat, up which the fluid column in former times ascended. 

 This conical hillock must have had its beginning from the water 

 in. the first instance rising with force through the surface of the 

 soil, and depositing a sheet of calcareous matter. The same pro- 

 cess going on from year to year, minute strata accumulated, until 

 the present altitude of the mound was attained. The falling of a 

 tree then caused a fracture in the mass, since which occurrence 

 the water, instead of flowing over the top, has found a lateral 

 outlet. 



"We compare indeed small things with great, and slight with 

 enormous energy ; but the High-Rock Spring may serve to illus- 

 trate the manner in which volcanic hills are formed. An aperture 

 is found, in a fissure we will suppose, in the crust of the earth ; fluid 

 matter is forced up from below, and, as it spreads itself out around 

 the orifice from which it issues, it becomes solid : another ejection 

 takes place : another thickness swells the dimensions of the grow- 

 ing mound : the process is repeated, until, in a succession of years, 

 or in some instances in a few hours, a mountain is accumulated. 

 A central channel is preserved, up which fresh matter still ascends, 

 except when the energy below diminishes or a side-vent is opened. 



All the mountain chains upon the globe, indeed, were probably 

 thrown up by the force which we still see active in volcanoes. 

 But with, the majority of mountain chains there does not appear 

 to have been any explosion. The elastic gases have lifted the 

 superincumbent strata without forcing for themselves a passage. 

 In many regions of the globe, semi-fluid granite just protruded 

 itself through long fissures in the overlying deposits, and became 

 set — a ponderous ocean at the time, in some localities at least — 

 tending to depress and perhaps cool the uprising mass. 



The mountains which we call volcanoes have, especially in 

 regard to their upper portion and cone, grown by the accretion 

 of ejected volcanic substances. In some volcanoes these ejections 

 continue to take place from the original orifice or crater; in others, 

 the interior force has become diminished, so as to be capable of 

 thrusting the molten fluid only up to a certain point, where it 

 continues in a state of ebullition either visible to the eye, or con- 

 cealed by a crust of solidified lava; in others, lateral openings are 

 formed at points below the ancient crater ; and in others, the vol- 

 canic energy seems to have worn itself out. 



Of the last class are the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne and 

 Velay in France, of Catalonia in Spain, of the Eifel district in 

 Germany: — of the next to the last are iEtna, the Peak of Tene- 

 riffe, and Cotopaxi : — of the next preceding, Kirauea in Hawaii is 

 an example : — and of the first mentioned numerous class, Vesuvius, 

 the mountain in respect to which I am about to offer a few memo- 

 randa, is a type. 



Vol. II, No. 10, May, 1S54. 



Vesuvius, as compared with other active volcanic mountains, 

 takes a low place, being only 3947 feet in height, while Antisana, 

 in South America, the highest active volcano on the globe, is 

 19,137 feet high. 



But although Vesuvius is one of the humblest of volcanic 

 mountains, it has from many circumstances received peculiar 

 attention. It is conveniently accessible to European observers. 

 It is situated in the midst of a region rich in associations mythic 

 and historic, unrivalled for physical beaut}', and altogether strongly 

 attractive to every imaginative and thoughtful person who has it in 

 his power to visit foreign lands. 



It is a memorable moment when, on waking in the morning 

 and finding the steamer in which you have been travelling still 

 and at anchor, you are told that you are in the Bay of Naples.- 

 You hasten to the deck. You take an excited survey of the widely- 

 sweeping panorama which overwhelms the eager e} T e. Ships in 

 crowds are near you, and craft with the obliquely-set latine yard- 

 arms. Boats are moving silently on the surface of the iridescent 

 water, which is giving back from the eastern heavens the kindling 

 glories of the rising sun. Sailors are rowing ashore : you hear 

 the regular creak of the row-locks as they work their oars, contrary 

 to custom, with their faces towards the bow. Fishermen are pay- 

 ing out then- long nets, hand over hand, indulging at the same 

 time in a low chant-like song. In front of you, terrace rises above 

 terrace of cheerful habitations, crowned with monastic edifices and 

 massive fortifications. Behind you are castles and encircling moles 

 — one bearing a colossal figure with hand upraised to bless (St. 

 Januarius) — 'another sustaining a lanterna or pharos4ower, whose 

 light still gleams down towards you along the surface of the water, 

 though the day comes on apace. To add to the excitement of the 

 scene — drawing again on the incidents of a morning indelibly 

 impressed on my own recollection — a royal salute is fulminated 

 from the castle on the left, which is no sooner ended, than respon- 

 sively from another in the far distance on the right, a similar series 

 of explosions takes place, each detonation following late after the 

 quick scintillation of the flash, making the deck on which you stand 

 to shake, and reverberating finely among the hills. Be it under- 

 stood that the King has had an additional Prince born within the 

 palace which you see yonder near the shore, and a festival of six- 

 teen days has been proclaimed-^sixteen days which, every morn 

 and every eve, are to be signalized by similar stunning demonstra- 

 tions, by illuminations also, and reviews and music, and whatever 

 else may constitute a Neapolitan holiday. 



But of all the objects which attract the attention as you gaze 

 around the grand panorama before you, two mountains, side by side, 

 close upon the right, isolated, of purple hue, and well-defined from 

 base to summit, rivet at last the eye. On the morning already 

 referred to, the glow of daybreak had outspread itself immediately 

 behind them. The planet Venus was splendidly conspicuous ver- 

 tically over them, looking as if she had been a meteor, shot up and 

 and held suspended at the culminating point. And there she re- 

 mained beautifully visible for a considerable time after the sur- 

 rounding constellations had "paled their ineffectual fires" before 

 the ascending sun. Over the easternmost of the two mountains 

 rested what appeared at the moment to be a dark cloud, varying 

 considerably in form, looking in shade quite black in parts, and 

 occasionally rolling up pitchy volumes, like the smoke issuing 

 from the great funnel of an Atlantic steam-ship when fresh coal 

 is being put on below, the whole mass becoming at last magnifi- 

 cently fringed with fiery gold, as the sun gradually emerged from 

 behind it and pierced its niurky folds. ^These twin-mountains to- 

 gether form Vesuvius. 



I observe in the ancient, so-called classic maps, that the name 



