128 
“ From which circumstances it seems very probable to conclude, that it 
proceeded from some such subterraneous inkindling as resembles gunpow¬ 
der* both by the noise it yielded, and in the suddenness of its firing, and its 
the course of it, which was still very hot (although covered with such a thick coat of ashes) quite 
down to the sea at Torre del Greco, which is more than five miles. It was not possible to get up to 
the great crater of Vesuvius, nor hud any one yet attempted it. The horrid chasms that existed from 
the spot where the late eruption first took place, in a straight line for near two miles toward the sea, 
cannot be imagined. They formed vallies more than two hundred feet deep, and from halt a mile to 
a mile wide; and where the fountains of fiery matter existed during the eruption, were little moun¬ 
tains with deep craters. Ten thousand men, in as many years, could not make such an alteration on 
the face of Vesuvius. Except the exhalations of sulphureous and vitriolic vapours, which broke out 
from different spots of the line above-mentioned, and tinged the surface of the ashes and scoriae: in 
those parts with either a deep or pale-yellow, with a reddish ochre colour, or a bright white, and in 
some parts with a deep green and azure blue (so that the whole together had the effect of an iris), all 
had the appearance of a sandy desart. Our adventurers then went on the top of seven of the most 
considerable of the new-formed mountains, and looked into their craters, which on some of them 
appeared to be little short of half a mile in circumference; and although the exterior perpendicular 
height of any of them did not exceed two hundred feet, the depth of their inverted cone within was 
three times as great„ It would not have been possible to have breathed on these new mountains near 
their craters, if they had not taken the precaution of tying a double handkerchief over their mouths 
and nostrils; and even with that precaution they could not resist long, the fumes of the vitriolic acid 
were so exceedingly penetrating, and of such a suffocating quality. They found in one a double crater, 
like two funnels joined together; and in all there was some little smoke and depositions of salts and 
sulphurs, of the various colours above-mentioned, just as is commonly seen adhering to the inner walls 
of the principal crater of Vesuvius. 
The reader of sensibility will not object to the length of these notes, exhibiting the most grand and 
wonderful works of an Almighty power, in a part where the philosophic principles, relatively con¬ 
nected with Botany, are subjects under discussion. We hope and expect, that on this account, the 
eager inquirer into the science of Botany will excuse what he may judge to be an intrusion on a topic 
he might feel, at the present time, more anxious to be instructed in. 
* Gunpowder, the most terrible engine invented for the destruction of life, whereby mortals imi¬ 
tate the august armoury of the Deity, is generally supposed to be the discovery of Roger Bacon, who 
died in 1291. Fearful of the mischievous uses, that might arise from this invention, he describes it 
in mysterious characters, omitting the most essential ingredient. His words are, “ Ope salis petrae, 
sulphuns, et Lure mope can ubre, facies, si scias tonitrum, et coruscationem artificium.” “ By 
means of salt-petre, sulphur, and Lure mopo can ubre, you can make an artificial thunder and light¬ 
ning. The baibaious words Lure mopo can ubre, are now known to be an anagram for carbonum 
pulvere, and he mentions “ the possibility of its application for overturning cities and empires.” Too 
faithfully has this been verified, but the author of such an application is concealed from us. Polydore 
Virgil, who appears to have known him, says, “ a German, whose birth was ignoble, and whose 
name I hope never will be handed down to posterity, invented an iron tube, for containing of gun¬ 
powder, which was employed by the Venetians in the year 1380.” By the Venetians, the use of 
gunpowder, says Gibbon, was communicated without reproach to the Sultan of E«ypt and Persia, 
iJieir alhes against the Ottoman power; the secret was soon propagated to the extremities of Asia, 
an the advantages of the strong and skilful over the weak and unpractised, was annihilation in an 
ms ant. Before the end of the century in which it was introduced, it became familiar to all the states 
™ • a y ’ ' , Pa ' n ' FranCe ’ and En S land - If we contrast, continues the historian, the rapid 
T Ls f miSch ; e ™ US ‘ nVenti ° n Wi * Ule Sl ° W and laWious ad ™nces ° f reason, science, and 
manl . \ FeaCC ’ * Phl ° S ° P 1 her ’ accordill S t0 his temper, will either laugh or weep at the folly of 
mankind. 1 o contemplate the tremendous power as a chemist, is fortunately our province, for war 
