NAPLES. 
562 
je£l, have diftrefled its inhabitants with frequent appre- 
henfions and calamities. A hiftory of Naples would not 
be complete, if it did not include that of the famous 
mountain from which thefe wonderful ftreams of lava 
proceed. 
Mount Vcfuvius, as is well known, is a celebrated vol¬ 
cano, about fix miles fouth-eaft of the city of Naples. It 
appears an infulated mountain, Handing in the middle of 
a plain, but is confidered as connected with the Apen¬ 
nines. The bale of the mountain is about 4.0 miles in 
circumference ; the height is Hated at from 3700 to 3900 
Englith feet. Vefuvius has two fummits ; the mofl north¬ 
ern is called Somma, the other is properly called Vcfuvius. 
Somma is fuppofed, with much reafon, to have been part 
of the cone of a larger volcano, in which the prefent vol¬ 
canic cone of Vefuvius was formed. “ It is impoHible,” 
fays fir James Hall, “ to fee the mountain of Somma, 
which, in the form of a crefcent, embraces Vefuvius, with¬ 
out being convinced that it is a fragment of a larger vol¬ 
cano, nearly concentric with the prefent cone ; which in 
l'ome great eruption has deHroyed ail but this fragment. 
In our own times, an event of no fmall magnitude has 
taken place in the fame fpot: the inner cone of Vefuvius 
having undergone fo great a change during the eruption 
in 1794, that it now bears no refemblance to what it 
was in 1785.” Trail/'. of the Hoyal Society of Edinburgh, 
vol. vii. 
The fide of this mountain next the fea yields wine, 
particularly the two famed wines called Vino Greco and 
.Lachrynuc Chrjii. One of the greateH inconveniencies to 
which this kingdom is expofed, is earthquakes; which the 
eruptions of Mount Vefuvius contributes, in l'ome mea- 
i'ure, to prevent. 
From the building of Rome to the year 79 of the Clirif- 
tiari era, a period of feven centuries, Vefuvius appears 
to have been in a Hate of profound repefe, as no mention 
is made of any eruption during the whole of that time ; 
and the ancient writers who refer to this mountain al¬ 
ways fpeak of its extraordinary beauty and fertility. 
There were, however, certain appearances near the fum- 
mit which left no doubt of its prior volcanic Hate, and 
the cities in its vicinity were paved with the lavas of an¬ 
cient eruptions. 
Vitruvius, who flouriflied in the reign of AuguHus, 
fays (lib. ii. cap. 6.) “ that Vefuvius had formerly been 
burning, and had covered all the adjacent country with 
its fires.” Diodorus Siculus, who wrote at the latter 
end of the fame reign, refers to a tradition of a volcanic 
eruption of Vefuvius 1 'een by Hercules. Strabo, a con¬ 
temporary writer, deferibing this mountain, fays, “ here 
riles Vefuvius, inhabited through all its delicious fields, 
the fummit alone excepted, which fpreads into a barren 
plain, difplayingalhes and caverns formed of burnt rock 
whence it may be conjectured, that this fummit was for¬ 
merly in a Hate of conflagration, and prefented fiery craters, 
which became extinguilhed when the materials were ex- 
haufted- Silius Italicus, in the time of Nero, fays, “ Ve¬ 
fuvius, by its fires, had formerly caufed great ravages 
both on the land and at fea.” 
The firfl great eruption on authentic record took place 
in the reign of Titus, on the 24th of Augull, A. D. 79 ; 
and on the fame day the towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii, 
and Stabite, were buried under Ihowers of volcanic land, 
Hones, and fcoriae. Such was the immenfe quantity of 
volcanic fand (called allies) thrown out during this erup¬ 
tion, that the whole country was involved in pitchy 
d.arknefs ; and, according to Dion, the allies fell in Egypt, 
Syria, and various parts of Alia Minor. The particulars 
of this eruption are deferibed in a letter from the younger 
Pliny to Tacitus : his uncle, the elder Pliny the riatu- 
ralifl, loH his life by this event. He had the command 
of the Roman fleet on the coafl of Campania; and, wifli- 
ing to fuccour thole perfons who might delire to efcape 
by fea, and alfo to obl'erve this grand phenomenon more 
nearly, he left the Cape of Mifenum, and approached the 
fide of the bay nearer! to Vefuvius. He landed and ad¬ 
vanced towards it; but was involved in whirlwinds of ful- 
phureous vapour, in which he expired. 
After this period, Vefuvius continued a burning moun¬ 
tain for nearly a thoufand years, having eruptions of lava 
at intervals. The fire then appeared to become entirely 
extinft, and continued fo from the beginning of the 
twelfth century to the beginning of the Sixteenth, a pe¬ 
riod of about 400 years. Woods were growing on the 
Ikies of the crater, and pools of water were colle&ed in 
its centre. In the year 1538, a mountain, three miles in 
circumference and a quarter of a mile in perpendicular 
height, was thrown up in the courfe one night. Since 
the eruption of 1538, it has remained burning to the pre¬ 
fent time, having violent eruptions of lava and allies at 
intervals. Thefe have been more frequent during the 
lafl century, and the beginning of the prefent, than at any 
former period. Of twenty-nine eruptions which took 
place from the time of Titus to 1800, fourteen occurred 
in the lafl century : feveral have taken place fince the 
commencement of the prefent century, and the volcano 
is at this time in a Hate of aftivity. 
The eruptions of Vefuvius are always preceded by 
earthquakes more or lefs violent and extenfive, and by a 
fuccelfion of fubterranean explolions, growing louder be¬ 
fore the Hones or lava are ejefted. Sir William Hamilton, 
the Englilh ambalfador to the court of Naples from the 
year 1766 to the latter end of the century, has given fe¬ 
veral interefting deferiptions of the eruptions that took 
place under his own obfervation, which are publifhed in 
the Tranfadtions of the Royal Society. From 1769 to 
1779 there were nine eruptions, many of them confider- 
able. Mofl of the eruptions of Vefuvius take place from 
the crater at the fummit; but the eruption of 1794, which 
deHroyed Torre del Greco, a city containing 10,000 in¬ 
habitants, flowed from a large opening made near the 
bottom of the cone. 
The volcanic produdfs of Vefuvius differ confiderably 
from thofe of Etna, and Hill more from thofe of the vol¬ 
canoes in the Lipari Iflands, more immediately in its vi¬ 
cinity. White pumice and obfidian, a volcanic glafs, 
have not been found among the lavas of Vefuvius; but 
they contain imbedded cryllals of leucite, vefuvian, and 
fommite, which are almoH peculiar to this volcano. The 
lavas of Vefuvius, befides iron, contain alfo copper ; and 
fome of them are laid to contain a portion of gold, filver, 
and other metals. 
The firH great eruption taken notice of by fir William 
Hamilton was that of 1767, which, though very violent, 
was mild in companion with that of 1538. However, in 
the month of AuguH, 1779, an eruption took place, which, 
for its extraordinary and terrible appearance, may be rec¬ 
koned among the mofi remarkable of any recorded con¬ 
cerning this or any other volcano. During the whole 
month of July, the mountain continued in a Hate offer- 
mentation. Subterraneous explolions and rumbling noifes 
were heard ; quantities of fmoke were thrown up with 
great violence, fometimes with red-hot Hones, Icorise, and 
afhes ; and towards the end of the month, thefe fymptoms 
increafed tol'uch a degree, as to exhibit, in the night-time, 
the mofl beautiful fire works that can be imagined. 
On Thurfday the 5th of AuguH, the volcano appeared 
mofl violently agitated; a white and fulpluireous fmoke 
iflued continually and impetuoully from its crater, one 
pufl' leeming to impel another; fo that a mafs of them 
was foon accumulated, to appearance four times the 
height and fize of the volcano itfelf. Thefe clouds of 
fmoke were exceedingly white, fo that the whole refem- 
bled an immenfe accumulation of bales of the whiteft 
cotton. In the midfl of this very white fmoke, vaft quan¬ 
tities of Hones, Icorise, and allies, were thrown up to the 
height of 2000 feet; and a quantity of liquid lava, feem- 
ingly very heavy, was lifted up juft high enough to clear 
the rim of the crater, and take its way down the fides of 
the mountains. This lava, having run violently for fome 
2 hours. 
