36 
and inhabited; but in the Itzerary, called 
improperly Axtonines, neither of thefe two 
€ities is to be found; from which we 
may conjeGture, with fome probability, 
that the entire ruin of Herculaneum and 
of Pompeii took place in that interval of 
time which feparates the completion of the 
chart of Peutinger from the compilation 
of the Itinerary. 
The eruption which took place in 471 
occafioned the mot frightful ravages. If 
we may believe Marcellinus, the cinders 
which Vefuvius then vomited covered all. 
the countries of Europe. They flew even 
to Confiantinople, where, according to 
this Chronicler, an anniverfary feftival 
was inftituted in memory of that ftrange 
phenomenon. . It is highly probable that 
the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii 
difappeared at that epoch, and that there 
remained no longer any veftige of them on 
the furface of the globe. A letter written 
by Caffiodorus, in the name of Theodo- 
rick, whofe reign dates from 493 to §26, 
comes in fupport of this conjecture. It 
warrants Citizen Du Tui to conclude, 
that after the fatal eruption of 471, thofe 
ef the inhabitants of Pompeii who had 
the happinefs to efcape the laft difafer, 
retired to Nola, in Campania, and thoie 
of Herculaneum, who had efcaped, like 
the fir, the fury of the Volcano, took 
refuge at Naples. They formed there a 
particular tribe. The quarter where they 
eftablifhed themfelves was, as it were, 
ifolated from the other portions of the 
City. 
This ferves to explain the denomination 
of Regio Herculanenjfium or Quarter of the 
Rerculanians, which has been remarked 
on feveral lapidary monuments difcovered 
at Naples; it likewife explains different 
infcriptions, which learned Neapoiitan.an- 
tiquarians have colic&ted and publifhed. 
Thefe inf{criptions reprefent the Hercula- 
neans forming a fort of republic, govern- 
ed, or, at leait, prefided, by its own magi- 
firates. We cannot doubt that they be- 
Ionged to the city of Naples. The ftyle 
in which they are conceived «gives every 
reafon to think, that they were traced 
nearly in the middle ages, or, at leait, 
‘much pofierios to the time when Hercula- 
neum was {wallowed up by Vefuvius. 
Citizen Du Ture has confulted, in 
the labcr-ous refearches where his zeal had 
drawn him, the moft celebrated among the 
Neapolitan hiftorians and . philofophers. 
‘Their writings, which he takes great care 
to quote, have furnifhed him with very 
ufeful documents. According to all 
thofc, which he has derived from a fource 
I 
' Proceedings of Learned Societies: 
[Aug. 1, 
fo pure; it appears certain, that towards 
the end of the fixteenth century fubterra- 
nean refearches were begun at the place 
where towards the midf of the laft centu- 
ry the valuableantiquities of the Mufeum 
of Portici were difcovered. But they 
were foon interrupted, and buried in ob- 
livion, although they had recompenfed the 
firft efforts of a zeal very inconftant, and 
which could not be re-excited till the end 
of 150 years. 
The obfervations prefented to the clafs 
by our colleague ferve to illuftrate feveral 
pafflages of ancient authors, and to fix, 
with a fort of precifion, the evoch to which 
we ought to refer the compilation of the 
Itinerary of Antoninus. 
a 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
CHEMISTRY. 
R.CHENEVIXx has given a very ela- 
borate account of a great variety of 
xperiments and obfervations, which have 
led him to conclude,that muriatic acid does 
exift in the form of oxygenized, and hy- 
per-oxygenized muriatic acid, and that in 
either ftate it is capable ef entering into 
faline combinations. . 
It appears from Mr. Hatchett’s analyfis 
of a mineral fubftance from North Ame- 
rica, containing a metal hitherto unknown, 
that the ore confits of iron combined with 
an unknown fubftance, and that the latter 
confifts of three-fourths of the whole.— 
This fubftance is proved to be ofa metal- 
lic nature, by the coloured precipitates 
which it forms with prufiate of potafh, 
and with the tincture of galls; by. the 
effects which zinc produces, when im- 
merfed in acid foluticns ; and by the co- 
lour which it communicates to phofphate 
of ammonia, when melted with it. From 
experiments made with the blow-pipe, it 
feems to be a metallic fubftance which re- 
tains the oxygen with great obftinacy. It 
is an acidifical metal; for tne oxide red- 
dens litmus paper, expels carbonic acid, 
and forms combinations with the fixed al- 
kalis. But it is very different from the 
ether acidifiable metals, viz. arfenic, 
tungften, molybdena, and chromium ; and 
fill more different from the uranium, 
titanium, and tellurium. The precipe 
tates obtained from this ore, Mr. Hatchett 
thinks, might be employed with advantage 
as pigments. After confulting feveral 
ingenious chymifis; he has been induced 
te give this new metal the name of Co- 
lumbium. 
* Concluded from page 488, vol. 13. * 
