5 2 A/r. more’s Account of. \ &c. 
That fome of the fine filaments found after the eruptions 
of the volcanos were formed in this manner is not unlikely : 
but as we fee about the iron furnaces the vitrified fcoria drawn 
into fine threads, of very confiderable length, by the fimple 
action of the wind from the bellows, is it not very probable, 
that the far greater part at leaf! of thofe filaments fcattered 
over the land, and which were found two or three feet long, 
were drawn out before the ejection of the lava from the crater 
by the force of thofe violent torrents of wind which mu ft be 
required to fupport and actuate fo intenfe a fire as at thofe times 
fills the body of the mountain ?. 
In all matters of this kind there is great fcope for conjec- 
ture, and much muft be allowed to it ; and I have prefumed to- 
fubmit this opinion to you, not with an intention to difpute the 
probability of what has been already advanced on this head, but 
to point out from what occurs immediately under the eye of every 
workman about our iron furnaces, fome eafy and fimple mode 
of accounting for fo lingular a phenomenon, and as an intro- 
duction to my prefenting to the Royal Society a fpecimen of fo 
curious a production. 
The extreme fnenefs to which thefe filaments are reduced, 
and their brittlenefs, render it almoft impoflibleto convey them 
to any diftance, preferving at the fame time any confiderable 
length of the fibres ; thefe which I have now the honour to lay 
before you referable cotton in appearance, but if examined with 
a microfcope will be found in all refpects fimilar to thofe 
defcribed by Sir william Hamilton. 
I am, &c. 
