§ 46. 



TERTIARY VOLCANOES OF FRANCE. 2t>7 



neighbouring mountains of the Vivarais. This information 

 induced them to survey the country ; and upon arriving at 

 Clermont, the capital of Auvergne, a town with about 30,000 

 inhabitants, they were satisfied that the whole region was 

 of volcanic origin ; for in the vicinity of that town they 

 discovered consolidated currents of lava, black and rugged 

 as those of Italy, extending uninterruptedly into the plains 

 below, from some conical hills of scoriae, which still pre- 

 served the form of craters.* " To those who now visit 

 central France, and see everywhere unequivocal marks of 

 volcanic agency, — the numerous hills formed entirely of 

 loose cinders, porous and diversified as if just thrown from 

 a furnace, and surrounded by plains of rugged lava, on 

 which even the lichen refuses to vegetate, — it appears 

 scarcely credible, that previously to the last half century, 

 no one had thought of attributing these marks of desolation 

 to the only power in nature capable of producing them. 

 This, however, is perfectly natural, and not without ex- 

 amples. The inhabitants of Herculaneum and Pompeii 

 built their houses with the lava of Vesuvius, ploughed up 

 its scoriae and ashes, and ascended its crater, without dream- 

 ing of their proximity to a volcano which was to give the 

 first proof of its energies by burying them beneath its erup- 

 tions ; and the Catanians regarded as a fable all mention of 

 the former activity of Etna, when, in 1669, half their town 

 was overwhelmed by its lava currents."! 



* Recherches sur les Volcans eteintes du Yivarais : par M. Faujas 

 St. Fond. Paris, 1778. 



f Geology of Central France, by G. Poulett Scrope, Esq. F.R.S., 

 1827. In 1815, Professor Playfair visited Auvergne, and concisely, 

 but graphically, described the volcanic phenomena there exhibited. 

 Mr. Bakeweil, in 1823, drew attention to this remarkable district in 

 his " Travels in the Tarentaise, by Robert Bakeweil, Esq." 2 vols. 

 8vo. 1823; and subsequently Dr. Daubeny, Messrs. Scrope, LyelL and 

 Murchison, have severally published highly interesting memoirs on 

 the geological phenomena of Auvergne. 



