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IV. An Account of an Eruption of Mount Fefuvius , which 
happened in Auguft, 1779. In a Letter from Sir Wil- 
liam Hamilton, K. B. F, R. S. to Jofepli Banks, Efq, 
P . R. S . 
Read Dec. 16, 1779. 
«. t R Naples, 
late eruption of Mount Vefuvius was of fo fin- 
“*■ gular a nature, fo very violent and alarming, that it 
neceffarily attracted the attention of every one, not only 
in its immediate neighbourhood, but for many miles 
around; and, confequently, feveral llight defcriptions of 
it have been already handed about, and fome (as I am in- 
formed) more accurate and circumftantial are preparing 
for the prefs (a> . 
That on which the Abbot bottis is actually em- 
ployed, by command of his Sicilian Majefty, will un- 
doubtedly be executed with the fame accuracy, truth, 
(a) The inhabitants of this great city in general give fo little attention to 
Mount Vefuvius, though in full view of the greateft part of it, that I am well 
convinced many of its eruptions pafs totally unnoticed by at leaft two thirds of 
them. 
5 
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