as far as Naples, obscuring the daylight and entirely destroying the vege tation. Severe shocks of earthquake continued till the 30th, when the mountain became tranquil. - 1. At the beginning of 1871 the mountain again exhibited signs of activity, which continued throughout the year. and culminated in the eruption of 1872. On the 24th of April five streams of lava issued from the great cone, besides Summary. The principal facts estaothers from smaller cones, and flowed in blished by these eruptions are: — the direction of Torre del Greco and Re- When the crater is nearly filled up, or sina; they stopped flowing the next day, its surface a little depressed below the and only stone and ashes were thrown | rim, an eruption may be considered near out from the large and small cones. On at hand. The periods of rest occur when the night of the 25th a fresh current the crater has been cleared out by a of lava issued about midway down the violent explosion, or by a series of small side of the crater, and took the direc-eruptions. 2. When the mouth of the tion of the cone called Del Francese. crater is so small or so narrowed by A number of people had collected to accumulated matter as to be unequal view this, and some had advanced beyond the spot called La Crocella, when a torrent of lava suddenly burst out close to the crater of 1855, and pouring into the Atrio del Cavallo, enveloped and killed several of the sightseers. The lava continued its course to the Fosso della Vetrana, where it divided, the smaller stream taking the direction of Fosso Grande and Le Piane, where it stopped, and the larger mass continuing to the Fosso di Faraone, and there dividing again, one stream going in the direction of S. Giorgio a Cremano, and the other flowing on along the Fosso di Faraone; this last, on reaching the plain, spread itself out and passed between the towns of St. Sebastiano and Massa di Somma, doing a great deal of damage to both places; it finally stopped close to la Cercola. During this flow of lava the great cone and the new one formed in 1871 threw up stones to a height of 2000 feet, and the detonations were so tremendous that the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns fled in terror to Naples. A great fissure opened in the side of the cone, and extended half way down the mountain, which when it closed destroyed the cone of 1871 on the N. side, and changed the outline of the mountain, the summit sloping off to the N. with an odd rock sticking up on the side of the crater. The ground between the cone and Somma was much raised by the lava. On the 28th and 29th the great cone discharged tremendous showers of ashes, which fell over the surrounding country to the free discharge of the lava collected in its central reservoir, lateral openings are formed, which, being nearer the source of heat, discharge the lava in a state of greater liquidity than the great crater, and, meeting a less inclined surface, it is enabled to flow in a continuous current, which is almost impossible at the high angle of the surface of the cone. 3. The cohesion of a lava current causes it to move slowly in the form of a tall ridge or embankment, the surface of which gradually loses its state of fluidity as it becomes cooled by the air, and, aided probably by the escape of heated vapour from the interior of the mass, cracks into innumerable fragments or scoriæ, some of which form a deep layer on the surface, while others roll down the sides and make a regular channel for the advancing current. As these scoriæ are bad conductors of heat, they enable the central portion of the mass to retain its fluidity for a considerable time, and to preserve its heat for months and even years; at the same time they make it possible to cross the current as it flows. 4. The earthquakes which precede and accompany an eruption are probably caused by the effort of the elastic vapour to clear the internal channel when it is obstructed by masses of solid matter. 5. The so-called smoke from the crater consists of aqueous vapour, more or less dark as it happens to be charged with ashes. When this va pour condenses in the atmosphere it descends in the form of warm rain, which assumes the consistency of mud when Grande, a ravine in the flanks of Somma on the 1. of the road to the Hermitage, where they have been exposed by the action of torrents, and in the ravines descending towards the villages of Sant' Anastasia and Somma. The Atrio del Cavallo will be the best point for observing the numerous lava dikes of the Somma, the vapour is loaded with ashes in intersected by dikes of compact lava. excess, and when the ground on which The best place for examining this cuit falls is covered with fine frag-rious structure will be in the Fosso mentary matter. 6. The fire which is seen above the crater during an eruption is not flame, but the reflection of the molten lava within the crater upon the clouds of vapour and ashes held in suspension which accumulate above it. 7. The lightning which is seen playing and darting from the edges of these clouds is the effect of the electricity which is produced by the rapid condensation of vapour into water, and by the conversion of water into steam. 8. The diminution of the water in the springs and wells on the declivity and at the foot of the mountain is regarded as an indication of an approaching eruption, without any satisfactory explanation of the cause being yet given.zontal as they approach the precipitous The cone of Vesuvius has been ascertained at various times, when portions of its sides have been rent or broken down, to be composed of concentric beds of lava, scoriæ, and tufa, which dip outwards in all directions from the axis of the cone, at an angle varying from 30° to 40° at their upper part, but become hori escarpment of Somma. The lowest of these beds are intersected by vertical dikes of augitic lava from 400 to 500 ft. high, which, from their hard compact occur, are evidently more ancient than any eruption of which we have record. d. GEOLOGY OF THE MOUNTAIN. The structure of the lower beds of La Somma, like the lower strata of the plain around it, are of enormous thick-structure and the depth at which they ness, and consist of a compact tufa, formed of fragments of pumice and ashes, supposed to have been formed under the sea before the mountain was upheaved. This tufa contains shells of species still existing in the Mediterranean, and numerous erratic blocks of limestone, some of which have been rendered so crystalline by the action of heat that they may be called marble (this is the pretended lava of Vesuvius, from which cameos are made by the artists of Naples); and a coarser argillaceous limestone containing fossil shells of the tertiary period, not to be confounded with the modern ones in the pumaceous tufa; both of which have been evidently torn from their original site by the volcanic action. To some of these erratic masses serpulæ or seaworms of existing species and of great delicacy have been found adhering. Upon these beds of tufa, which constitute more than half the height of Somma, rest numerous currents or beds of leucitic lava, supposed to be derived from the ancient eruptions of the mountain. They incline outwards at an angle of about 25°, and alternate with beds of scoriæ, the whole being Minerals. The catalogue of Vesuvian Minerals which was formerly so voluminous, has been reduced to about forty species by the accurate observations of Professor Scacchi of Naples, who found that many of the new ones were identical with others long known. By far the greater part are found in the more ancient lavas of the Somma, or in the masses of limestone and other detached blocks imbedded in the volcanic conglomerate, and which were ejected by the ancient eruptions of that mountain. Vesuvius produces only augite (the most abundant of the whole) hornblende, mica, sodalite, breislakite, magnetic iron, and leucite in detached crystals. Somma produces, in addition to all these, sarcolite, giobertite (carbonate of magnesia), fluorine, apatite, quartz crystals, lazulite, periclase or crystals of pure magnesia, and mellilite; aragonite, monticellite, sommite or nepheline, davyite and cavolinite; anorthite, christianite, and biotine; comptonite, haüyne, zircon, atacamite (chloride of copper), mica crystals, olivine, felspar, sal-ammoniac, idocrase or vesu vian, pyramidal garnet, meionite, pyroxene, titaniferous iron, &c. &c. An interesting species, the cotunnite, a chloride of lead, has been found abundantly in the current of 1855, produced by sublimation in the fissures of the lava as it has cooled. The traveller will find most of these minerals for sale at Resina, where the several guides add to their ordinary avocations that of mineral collectors, at the season when not engaged in conducting strangers. the lava streams of 1631 at Granatello, between Portici and Resina, and the two lava streams at Scala and Calastro; also that of 1794, on which a great part of the town of Torre del Greco is built. Then follow the line of this stream, and further on that of 1861 to the Bocche. Those who wish to have a good view of the lava stream of 1872 should drive to S. Jorio, and thence walk to S. Sebastiano, where they will come upon the lava, which they can follow the course of to Massa, and thence to the Observatory. f. HERCULANEUM. The choice of roads is the same tion "Reali Scavi di Ercolano”- is at Resina, at the corner of the main street and the Vico di Mare, about 15 or 20 minutes' walk from the stat. at Portici. Entrance 2 frs. including guide; on Sundays free, without guide. The visit to all that is at present excavated will occupy about 1 hr. The lower slopes of Vesuvius are extremely fertile, and often produce three crops in the year, without other preparation than digging. From the vines grown on the volcanic soil is made the well-known wine called Lacrima Christi; the red kind is the most as to Vesuvius. The entrance to the common, but the white has more of excavations-indicated by an inscripthe peculiar delicacy of flavour which distinguishes this wine, and retains that flavour longer. The flora of Vesuvius contains many plants not found elsewhere in Italy. It is a remarkable fact, well worthy of notice, that the volcanic valleys and slopes of Vesuvius, notwithstanding the devastating effects of the eruptions, are able to maintain a population of some 80,000, while the same surface-ground of the chalky soil of the Apennines could not furnish supplies to a twentieth part of that number. Those who are desirous of obtaining full information as to the eruptions, geological formation, &c., of Vesuvius, should read Professor Phillip's book, 'Description of Vesuvius,' 1 vol., 1869. e. ASCENT FROM POMPEII AND OTHER POINTS. Guides and horses will be found at the station at Pompeii, but it is well An interesting road for geologists is to drive to Torre del Greco, examining Greek tradition ascribed the origin of Herculaneum to Hercules, hence Ovid called it Herculea urbs. It was successively occupied by the Oscans, the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians, and the Samnites. Livy states that the Consul Carvilius took it from the Samnites in B.C. 293; though some critics suppose that Livy's passage refers to another Herculaneum, situated somewhere in the interior of Samnium. It joined in the Social War, but was besieged and It obtained taken by Didius 80 B.C. the rights of a municipium, and the privilege of being governed with its own laws by the Demarchs and Archons, Several distinguished Romans had villas who are mentioned in inscriptions. in the city or its suburbs: Servilia, the sister of Cato of Utica and the mother of Brutus, resided here in a villa bestowed upon her by Julius Cæsar; Tiberius confined his niece Agrippina in another villa, which was destroyed by her son Caligula, in order to obliterate every trace of the cruelties she had suffered. carry. It has often been stated that from the 5th to the 18th cent. the existence of Herculaneum, as well as of Pompeii and Stabiæ, was entirely forgotten. Yet we find these cities mentioned in several works of the 15th, 16th, and 17th cent. ; though Herculaneum was supposed to be buried under where Torre del Greco now stands. The city is described by Strabo as situated on a projecting headland, and exposed to the S.W. wind, which made it unusually healthy; and the historian Sisenna, who flourished B.C. 91, in a fragment preserved by Nonius, describes it as built on elevated ground between two rivers, and surrounded by low walls. Its port was called Retina, a name preserved in the modern Resina. The name of Herculaneum lingered on the spot till the middle of the 5th cent., when the eruption of 472 destroyed the cluster of houses which the poorer citizens had erected on the site after the destruction of the city in A.D. 79. The ancient line of the Herculanean coast was ascertained, during the excavations of the last cent., to be he bought the right to search for between the S. extremity of the royal more. This well, which happened to palace and the Mortelle, and the head-strike upon an ancient well, is now to land mentioned by Strabo, about 95 ft. within the present line of coast. The discovery of its real site is due to a fortuitous circumstance. In 1709 the Prince d'Elbœuf, of the house of Lorraine, was building a casino at Portici, near the Granatello, which he wished to decorate with__marbles. Hearing that a person at Resina, in sinking a well, had discovered some fragments of statues and mosaics, be seen in the Cortile di S. Giacomo, in the main street of Resina, or underIn A.D. 63 it was seriously injured ground behind the scena of the theatre, by the earthquake. "One part of Her- and is about 90 ft. deep. Near its bottom culaneum," says Seneca, was de- was a passage, which led into foundastroyed, and what remains is not safe." tions of the proscenium of the theatre. In 79 it was overwhelmed by torrents For five years the Prince continued his of volcanic mud, which filled all the excavations without appearing to have buildings nearly to their roofs, and any precise knowledge of the history hardened as it dried into a coarse or the name of the site he was extufa, upon which, in subsequent erup-ploring, and brought to the surface tions, showers of ashes and streams of numerous statues and fragments of lava were deposited to a depth varying sculpture. At length, on the disfrom 70 to 112 feet. Sir William Hamilton calculated that these accumulations were the work of six distinct eruptions. They are divided by thin strata of vegetable soil, in which Lippi discovered land shells, which lived upon it during the intervals of the successive deposits. The destruction of the city was not attended by any considerable loss of life. The discovery of only two skeletons in the earlier excavations, one of which, from the cast made by his extended arm upon the tufa, would appear to have perished in the attempt to save a bag of gold, shows that the inhabitants had time to escape: while the very rare occurrence of money and other valuables is another proof that they had been able to remove all that they could covery of one of the female figures of the family of the Balbi, Count Daun, the Austrian viceroy, interfered, claimed, in the name of the State, the restitution of all that the Prince had discovered, and prohibited the removal of any other fragments. Some of the statues were sent to Vienna, and were afterwards purchased by Frederick Augustus of Saxony, and placed in the Japanese palace at Dresden, where they still are. Nothing after this was done till 1737, when Charles III., while building a palace at Portici, ordered the excavations to be resumed. Unfortunately the officer who had the direction of the works was so ignorant of antiquities, that, on finding an inscription in bronze letters, he had the letters The detached without copying it, in order to | culties of excavating on such a site were as considerable as the expense. buildings were filled with a material which there were no means of removing in any quantity to the surface; the tufa and the hard lava presented a perpetual obstacle to the progress of the workmen; and the two towns on the overlying strata made it dangerous to excavate without taking immediate measures to support the soil above by substructions. As soon as one portion was excavated it was filled up with the rubbish from the site which was next explored; while, for the security of the houses above, it was found necessary to build up the most interesting edifices as soon as they had been rifled of their treasures. Shafts were sunk in every direction to ascertain the limits of the city; yet no certain knowledge of its size was obtained, and the explorers do not appear to have reached the walls or any of the gates. It was ascertained, however, that the city was built on a stream of lava, and that the houses were generally of one story. send them to the king. He explored the great theatre, and found a quadriga lying broken on the ground; but in stead of carefully collecting the fragments, he had them carted off to Naples, and thrown, like rubbish, into the Castel Nuovo, where they remained until part of them was melted down into busts of the king and queen; and out of others the horse, now in the Gallery of Bronzes in the Museum, was restored. He removed the paintings from the walls without preserving any trace of the beautiful arabesque decorations with which many of them were surrounded. The colonel was at last removed, and succeeded by a Swiss, Carl Weber, who arranged all the objects, as they were found, in the palace of Portici, and Couart was employed under his direction to restore the sculptures. So little was at first known of the true name of the site, that Sir Hans Sloane, who saw the excavations in 1744, described the site as being considered by some to be a city called "Aretina in the time of the Romans, and by others Port Hercules, where the Romans usually embarked for Africa." In the same year Mr. Knapton descended into the well and found in the interior of the theatre " great quantities of timber, beams, and rafters, broken and entire, lying some one way, some another, and all converted into perfect charcoal, except where it had been moistened with water, where it was like rotten wood." The whole place was filled with fragments. In 1750 a long narrow passage sloping down into the theatre, at a point where it is about 65 ft. below the level of the street, was cut through the solid rock, and is still the only way by which the traveller can descend to examine the building. In 1755 Charles III. founded the Accademia Ercolanese, for the purpose of investigating the discoveries, and its members published a large and learned work called Pittore di Ercolaneo. The excavations were continued for nearly 50 years, but with few hands, and in a desultory manner. The diffi During the French occupation (18061815) the excavations were carried on more systematically, but they were suspended altogether under the Bourbons till 1828. Between 1828 and 1837 the part known as the Scavi Nuovi was discovered. Nothing more was done till 1869, when Victor Emanuel himself gave an impetus to the renewal of the works by presiding at their resumption, and contributing 12007. towards them from his private purse. The Theatre (candles are furnished by the guide), to which the visitor first descends by a long flight of steps, is now so encumbered with the buttresses built to sustain the rock above it, that it is little better than a labyrinth; and although some of its details are very interesting as illustrating the architecture of a Roman theatre, yet a better idea of the general arrangement of such a structure is obtained from those at Pompeii. The area consists of 19 rows of seats, about a foot high by 3 feet deep, divided into six compartments or cunei by seven lines of |