240 
DR. DAVY’S ACCOUNT OF A NEW VOLCANO 
the other side, in which direction the smoke and vapour were driven. The 
sea, within two or three hundred yards of the volcano, was clear and trans¬ 
parent, and of the usual dark blue of the Mediterranean. Nowhere could I 
observe any ascent or bubbling of gas in the water; nor did we feel any 
shock or commotion when eruptions took place. The appearances of the 
eruptions were almost constantly varying, according to the nature and quan¬ 
tity of the matters thrown out. The most common appearance was that of 
dense white vapour, resembling snow or bleached wool, which, thrown up in 
continuous masses, rose to a great height, and assumed various extraordinary 
forms. This effect, in all probability, was chiefly owing to the vapour of 
water. At first, from its great density, I was disposed to believe that the 
vapour might contain muriatic acid or muriate of ammonia, or the hydrated 
boracic or fluo-boracic acid; but none of the products which I afterwards 
examined were favourable to this idea. When I watched carefully a cloud of 
this vapour, floating before the wind, it gradually dissolved, and at last en¬ 
tirely disappeared, with the exception of a very faint, just perceptible, gray 
vestige, which was probably very fine dust, and perhaps saline matter derived 
from salt water. When the eruptions were most violent, the white vapour 
was followed by columns of perfectly black matter, which sometimes rose to 
the height of, perhaps, three or four thousand feet, and spread out very widely, 
even to windward. Once or twice there was an appearance of lurid fire. 
When the eruptions were of moderate strength, the columns of black or brown 
matter, intermixing with the masses of white vapour, or ascending through 
them, produced appearances very novel and impressive. The sounds attend¬ 
ing the eruptions were not very loud ; they resembled more the rumbling of 
heavy carriages on a pavement, than the reports of explosions. The thunder, 
produced by the lightning, which was almost constantly darting in various 
directions in the atmosphere of the eruption, much exceeded the subterraneous 
sounds in intensity. I watched, when the lightning was most vivid and the 
eruption of the greatest degree of violence, to see if there was any inflamma¬ 
tion occasioned by this natural electric spark,—any indication of the presence 
of inflammable gas; but in vain. 
Having satisfied our curiosity on this side, we proceeded towards the other, 
skirting the margin of the dense clouds of vapour and ashes which descended 
