( 115 ) 
the GRorrA del cane. 
Kapi has been given to a small cavern between 
broy Pozzuoli, on this account, that if a dog be 
Of re~"‘ it; and his nose held to the ground, a difficulty 
'*0(1 e instantly ensui's, mid he loses all sensation, 
i'fe. if he be not speedily removed into purer air. 
tioi ,5 grottoes endowed with the same delete- 
tifcfQ^'‘'*lity, especially in volcanic countries ; and the pes- 
Otialj * ' apours they exhale are quickly fatal both to ani- 
sligl, ”tan, though they do not ofthr to tlie eye the 
'"‘^'t'ation of their presence. These vapours are, 
the tlie greater part temporary ; while that of 
Pro(jyp'j‘'TA DEL Cane is perpetui, and seems to have 
*0an deadly effects even in tlie time of Pliny. A 
Oieplj:,- erect within does not suffer from it, the 
vapour rising to a small height only from the 
'j'l • ft may, therefore, be entered without danger. 
Sas, nf a torch extinguished in this vapour, or 
“Ut ,? downward, assumes a whitish colour, and passes 
that tl, hottoni of the door. The reason of this 
"e hirtlOD 1-- I 1 r .1 r. 
that th f hottoni of the door. The reason of this is, 
feadiiy^rfhes which proceed from the torch mix more 
h- ^’*tli the gas than witli the atmospherical air. It 
supposed, that the mischievous effects of the 
(as b' 
>cen 
'^.''Pourw mat tne miscmevous 
heity . . the result of tlie air being deprived of its elas- 
Phus L ht It has been clearly demonstrated by M. Adol- 
^^'''teiicp'^ that they are solely to be attributed to the 
The p p uatbonic acid gas. 
who the keeper, or guide, at the grotto, 
" gratubv™"'* strangers the experiment of the dog for 
P*tiuin- i ’ the animal, when he is half dead and 
J'*|o the °P®ti air, and then proceeds to throw him 
short''-'^“*’°“’‘>ug lake of Agnano, thus insinuating that 
a t® resto'.”^-''t®''sion in the water is necessary to his com- 
s exn^^°"‘ however, is a mere trick, to ren- 
"Uic pfgj t'frient more specious, and to obtain a hand- 
the credulous, the atmospherical air 
; f he eell?^ '^®t purpose. 
'^'®d a re naturalist, the Abbe Sp.alanzani, pro- 
gular series of experiments on tlie mephitic 
