L I P A K r. 



3000 years ago. But if we confult other ancient and ere- fwcUed fo mucli, that tliO-y rofe fcveral tinies above tlie edges 



dible writers, we fhall find that before jEohis, Liparus 

 reigned in this iflanJ, and that from him it took its name, 

 being before called " Melogonis," or, according to others, 

 " Meligimis." The antiquity of this ifland may alfo be 

 inferred from the manner of its produdlion by fubler- 

 raneous eruptions, in which the decompofilion of volcanized 

 matters is neceflary, which requires a conllderable interval of 

 time. If, therefore, Lipari had inhabitants and cities, and 

 was a cultivated country before the dellruition of Troy, it is 

 evident that it mull have exilted many ages prior to that event. 

 But from the time when mention is made in hillory of this 

 ifland to the prefent day, it is pretty certain that no true 



of the crucible, and flowed over its ildcs. The tivo kinds 

 of pumice, though both derive their origin from the fame 

 feldfpar, which is the bafe both of the lava and the glafs, 

 afford different refults in the fame fire ; fince their volume, 

 inifead of being augmented, is diminiftied, only retaining it* 

 former colour. 



Tiie haven of Lipari forms a curve in the fhore, which 

 to the louth bejiins at the foot of the Monte Capifullo, 

 and ends to the north-ea(l at the bottom af the Monte della 

 Rofa. After having examined that part of the fhore 

 wliicii is contiguous to the harbour, lying under the caftle, 

 and on the right fide of Monte Capifullo, our author made 



eruption or current of lava has taken place in it ; for if this the circuit of the remainder of that curve to the bafe of 



liad been the cafe, fome memorial would have been pre- Monte della Rofa. The objefts that here attracted his 



ferved of it as well as of thofe of Stromboli and Vulcano. notice were firil a tufa, which the induftry of the in- 



The ftoves and the warm baths of Lipari are the only places) habitants had converted into a foil fuitable to fmall vine- 



jn the whole ifland where any figns remain of unextinguiflied yards, and next a mafs of crags and precipices, partly 



volcanos. Spallanzani made a circuit of this ifland for the fallen into the fea, and partly threatening to fall ; among 



purpofe of firft examining its fhores, and he then afcended which, befides fcorije of an iron colour, he met with 



its mountains in its interior parts. In examining its (hores 

 he beiran with the city of Lipari, which extends along the 

 fhores in the form of an amphitheatre ; and in his refearches 

 in the harbour itfelf, under the caftle of the city, he found 

 that it is erected on an immenfe rock of lava, that riles per- 

 pendicularly from the watcr,'and is entirely dcftitute ot all 

 vegetation, except a few ftalks of the Indian fig (C'aClus 

 opuntia, Linn.) which grew in its filTures. This lava has 

 for its bafe feldfpar, is of a fine compaft grain, of a fcaly 

 fracture, dry to the touch, and gives fparks, like flint, with 



beautiful volcanic breccias of lava of a petrofiliceous bafe, 

 containing fmall particles of glafs and pumice. At the foot 

 of the Monte della Rofa, where the harbour of Lipari 

 ends, our author perceived on the fhore a (tone, which, froin 

 its fingularity, drew his attention. It formed a rock rihng 

 in part above the fea, and in part concealed by the water. 

 It was at firft taken for a iafper : its ground was of a red- 

 blood colour ; it gave fparks ffrongly with fteel, was of a 

 rather fine grain, and had alnioft the hardnefs of quartz. 

 On a more attentive examination this ftone was perceived 



ileel. The colour is cinereous, approaching in many jilaces not to be fimple like the jafper, but of a compound forma- 



to that of lead. This lava is joined to large maffes of glafs, tion, containing in it reddifh fcales of feldfpar and fhorls, 



which form a whole with it, without any feparations or divi- which gave it the character of that kind of porphyry 



fions in the middle. It is therefore the fame lava, cither which has for its bafe a hard horn-ftone. This fubllance 



retaining its own nature or tranfmuted into glafs. This our author, after careful invelligation, cannot exclude from 



glafs, like the lava, gives fparks with fteel ; but the lava is the number of true and real lavas, though he cannot affirrr» 



opaque, whereas the glafs, in the angles and thinner edges, that its rednefs is an effeft of calcination, as is the cafe m 



has a confiderable degree of tranfparency. The ancient ex 

 iftence of fire in this place is evinced by another circum- 

 fiance, w'a;. that the vitreous fubftances already noticed are 

 frequently accompanied by pumice, which are, in faft, only 

 an imperfedl glafs. In viewing the fteep mafles of glafs and 

 lava, which rife perpendicularly from the fea, like a wall, 

 they are fecn to be interfperfed with different ftrata of pu- 

 mice, which is of two kinds ; the one heavy and compadl, 

 the other light and porous, and both of a cinereous colour. 

 The firft fort is of the fame nature with the lava of the 

 rock ; but the other kind is rather fcaly than filamentous, 

 and its fcales have a degree more of vitrification than the 

 other. This pumice is ufually a continuation of the other, 

 and, according to our author, derives its origin from the 

 greater degree of heat which it has fuftained. Upon atten- 

 tively examining this mixture of lava, glafs, and pumice 

 which forms the body of the rock, it appeared evident that 

 there muft have been feveral currents that had flowed down 

 the fides, and, perhaps, from the fummit,of the contiguous 

 mountain Delia Guardia, into the fea ; fince the diredlion of 

 their defcent is found on that fide, and even the filaments of 

 the pumices point towards that mountain. The lava, glafs, 

 and pumice exhibited neither feldfpars, ftiorls, nor any other 

 extraneous body, either, as our author conceives, becaufe 

 they have''hielted by the fire, or, perhaps, becaufe they never 

 exilled in them. The lava and glafs of the rock, when ex- 

 pofed to the furnace in fcparate crucibles, fnfed into a light- 

 grey glafs ; the globules which before appeared in them 

 melting at the fame time ; during liquefadion thefe fub- 



other lavas, fince of this it does not exhibit the flighteft 

 indication. The reafons ot faft on which Spallanzani 

 grounds his opinion, that this porphyritic rock has pafled 

 into the iLite of lava, are two ; the great number of minute 

 cells it contains in many parts of it, and the direction of 

 thofe cells. Hence he concludes, that this ftone is rot only 

 a true porphyritic lava, but that it once flowed from the 

 mountain to the fea, and in its motion the naturally cir- 

 cular figure of its pores or cells was ch.inged into an oval. 

 The fame appearance has always been oblerved, on a fmaller 

 fcale, in re-mehed lavas, and glafles. All the fpecies of this 

 kind of lava are not, however, of a blood-red colour ; 

 fome of them are of n duller red, though the component 

 principles of both are eirentially the fame. This lava, when 

 fufed in the furnace, doubled its volume, and its upper 

 part affumed a vitreous convexity, which was fmooth, 

 fhining, femi-tranfparent, and of a greenifh tinfture ; but 

 internally it was a very black vitreous fcoria, extremely po- 

 rous, and fufficiently hard to give fparks with fteel. 



In purfuing his tour our auth.or found that Lipari, hke 

 the other jIIoIkui illes, is at its bafe more or lefs corroded 

 by the fea, which is frequently in a llate of violent agitation i 

 the lower excavations caufe the parts above them to give 

 way, and, in a feries of years, great maffes fall into the fea. 

 To this the nature of the lava, wl.-ich is full of cracks and 

 filTures, conlidcrably contributes ; not to mentioa the in- 

 fluence of the humidity of the atmofphcre, and other de- 

 itruftive elements. Large heaps ot thefe fragments accu- 

 mulate on the fhore, and make room for others, and thus 



ftances, which filled only one t^uarter part of the crucible, a gradual diminution ot the iilaod takes place. Beyond the 



Wbour 



