An Account of the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 1767; In a Letter from a English Gentleman Residing at Naples, to John Morgan, M. D. Prof. Med. Coll. Philad. Source: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 1 (Jan. 1, 1769 - Jan. 1, 1771), pp. 281-285 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1005037 . Accessed: 21/05/2014 05:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Philosophical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.248.128 on Wed, 21 May 2014 05:22:14 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Transcript
An Account of the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 1767; In a Letter from a EnglishGentleman Residing at Naples, to John Morgan, M. D. Prof. Med. Coll. Philad.Source: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 1 (Jan. 1, 1769 - Jan. 1,1771), pp. 281-285Published by: American Philosophical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1005037 .
Accessed: 21/05/2014 05:22
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
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An Account of the Eruption of VE SU VIUS, in 17674 communicated in a Letter from an Engli/h Gentleman rrfiding at Naples, to JOH N MORGAN, M. D. F. R. S. and I rofetfo of Medicine, in the College of Philadelphia.
Naples, November 3, 1 767
S I R,
W X T E have had a mort extraordinary eruption of Vefuvius lately. As I imagine an account of the difturbance it
has given us will not be difagreeable to you, I fhall therefore do nmyfelf the pleafure of communicating to you what I know., and have fcen myfelf, of this furprizing Phxnomcnon.
THE beginning of it is exa&fly defcribed in Pliny the younget's letter to Tacitus * The firft alarm was taken
from
As it may give the curious reader pleaftute to compzre the above defcription with the mnore ftriking paffages of Pliny the younger's letter, on the fame fubjedt, we have here fubjoincd them.
" Nube',
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L 282 ] from a column of black fnioke, thrown out with fuch violence as to appear like an immenfe pine, branching out on all fides after a great heighlt of trunk, when the dimunition of the force, that threw it ouE, allowed the air to operate by fpreading it. The whole mountain was foon wrapped round with utter
darknefs; and its place was only to be diflinguifhed by the many ftreatmis of fire that were darted in different dire6Lion.5, and made this darknefs vifible f.
IT appeared to me very unaccountable at firfi, but I after- wards found, by the affiftance of my glaffes, that thefe dif- ferent direaions were produced by the particular motion im- prefLred upon the fire, as it iffLed fromn the feveral mouths wlhich gave vent to Vefuvius. It was very extraordinary to obferve fome of there tircainc defcending perpendiCularly, whliit' others nmouLnted ulpwards in a ftrait line. The former appearance was owinCl tO innumerable ignited fones in their fall, after having been thrown from foine fuperior aperture, that Pcquired tuclc velocity from their weight, and fuclh a blendina of light from tl-heir proximity, as to fecim one inmpe- tuous torri-ent of fire ; thlougLh on the ufuial appearance of tliefe falling flones, they are ILtUtered, anid are plainly to be dif- tinguifhcd as feparate bodites
ALL tlhis, as a mere obje& of fight, would rathler have been amufing ; but a frequency of thie moft terrible explo- fions made it very alar;ning, efpecially to me, in a houfe that fliakes with the leaft motion. 'Fhe noife of thie largeft cannon fir-ed from the caftle, not three hiundred yardis tfomi nme, is a mnere whifper to thefe explofions. My little h.oufhold hiad retreated to the roomns backward, built againit tl-he hill,
and
" Nubes, incertum procul intuentibus ex quo monte, Vcftsvium fuiffc poftea cogn;- ttum eft, oriebatur: cujus finilitudincm & formain non alia magis arbor, quamn Pinus exprefferit. Nas longif1imo velut trunco efflata in altuni, quibufdam ramis diffunde- batur. Credo qiuia recenti fpiritu eveLia, dein fenefcente eo defltituta, aut etiam pon- derc fuo vidta, in latitudinem vanefcebat, candida interdum, interduns- fordida & niacu- lo,a, prout terram cineremnve f ftlulerat." Plintii EpiNl. xvi. fi. vi. ? " Intcrim e Vcftvio monte pluribus locis latiffime flamme atque incendia rcluccbalt,
quorum fulgor & claritas tenebras noatis excipiebat. " Jam dies alibi, illic nox omnibus noa'.tibus nigrior.dcnfiorque, quam tamen faces
[ 283 ] and I made moft ot my obfervations in the door-way of my neweft and thickeft wall. One or two, however, the moft fevere of thefe fhocks, that raifed my man, who 'till then had kept by me, from the ground, cauifed me to hefitate, and think of making a prudent retreat 11; but it occurred to me on a little refle6tion, that the ftreets might have been equally dangerous from mixing with a tumultuous concourfe of people, thronging after the piaures of Madona and of the faints carried in proceflion, wizh which the whole city was crouded all night: I tlhought it moft prudent, therefore, to keep out of their way. The {hocks afterwards abated, or I was more ufed to them, and a moft comfortable j lava made its fally, from a feeming opening ot the whole fide of the mountain at once, and rufhled forward with an impetuofity that, in two hours, brought it within two miles of Portici t-, which quieted me for that niglht. 'T"he King was then at his palace there, which Vefuvius feemed to be reclaiming trom his Majefty's encroachments. Tle place was by no means held tenable againit him ; and the King, the courtiers, and numbers of families, then in thefe environs at their Villegia- tura ?, were pUt to the rotut at midnight : Some of the court thought themfelves not fecure even when they rtached Naples, and, 1 am told, continued their flight to Caferta *.
THE next day all was quieted by a profufe lava that has filledi up the hollow way between the Hermit's I and Vefuvius, of at leaft an lhundred feet in depth.
THE
" In commune confliltant, intra te&ane fubfiffant, an in aperto vagentur; nam crebris vaftmfque tremoribtus tedta'nutabant, & qoafi emota fedibus fuis, nunc huc, nunc illuc abire auit referri videlbantur.'" Plifi. Fpi/?ol. xx. lie. ni
TIlhe meited fiery matter thrown out by Vef i;iets, which gro)ws hard as it cools, and appears to be a femi-vitrified fuliAtance. It is. hcre called comfortable, becaufe the moun- tain generailly becomes more quiet upon its beinig caft out.
f Por-tici; a fmall town on the bay of Naples, at alout fix miles diftance from that city, built on the ruinls of, or rather dilrel'iy over, the antient Herculaneum. His Sici- lian MIajefty lias a palace liere, furnifhed with many c\sriolities, found in Herculaneum, and frequently kecps hiis court at Portici.
? This is an ItVaii word, which fignii.es the bcing in the country, or the time of being in thle country to take one's pleafure.
* A town twvelve miles fromii Naples, on the contrary fide from Vefuvius, where the King fometimes holds his court.
? In the folitar-y place, about half way up Mounit Vefuvius, is an hermitage, where thofe whofe curiofity leads them to examilne this wonderful Plhanomenon gene- -ally call, and are provided with refrefhments by the hermait.
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[ 284 3 THE fecond night, however,, was as turbuilent at the moti.n tain, but not fo alarming at Naples as the.firft, becaufe the
mountain burit fooner, and on the oth.er fide of it, fronm wlhence a lava equially copious was. delivered, and after fewer throes.
THE third day the agitation of the earth and air was very inconfiderable; but an immenfe quantity of cinders and allies filled the whole atmofphlere 11, fo as to take otLir bright Sun from us, and to leave us no more of him than we have in Lon - don, when thloufands of lefs alarming volcanoes fronm good kitchens, render the air, in winter, often impervious to any hut his Utrongeft rays ; and he appeared all day of the fan- gu;neous colour in which Pliny defcribes him *.
THE fourthc day we had for three hours, or more, one con- tinual thunder, without the terrible explofions however of the firLt and fecond nights and I took great comnfort to myfelf on feeing the contlant courfe of cinders and afles thr-own up. For, I looked upon it as the effe.6t, if I may ufk the figure, of a bellows blown by all the winds, that would foon dettroy or feparate the combuftible enemy * Accordingly thefe afhes were the only inconvenience that remained.
BUT on Sunday, the feventh day, the quantity of afhes that filled the air was fo great, that having rode out to take a nearer view of the volcano, I was obliged to gallop hcme with mny eves flut, as I could no longer optn them from the pain thele afhcs put me to t
ALL is now qutiet, and the Lava on this fide is flopped, after laying wafte the largeft traet of cultivated ground that ic
has
il s Jam navil)us cinis inciderat: quo proprius accederet calidior & (lenfior: jam pumices etiam, nigrique & ambufti & fraati igne lapides : jam vadun fubitum, ruina- quc montis littora obftantia."
* " Tandem illa caligo tenuata quafi in fumum, nebulamve deceffilt: mox dies e- us,, fol etiam effulfit, luridus tamen, qualis effe, cum deficit, folet. Occurfabant tre- dantibus adhuc oculis -mutata emnia, altoque cinere, tanquam nive, obduaa." ,i i EpI?#ol. xx. /ih. vi. f Paulluin reluxit, quod non dies nobis, fed ventantis ignis indicium vidcbvstur, gnis qui-dem longius fubftitit: tenebrz rurfus, cinis rurfus multuts & gravis: hunc e itidem affurgentes excutiebamtus, operti alioqui, atque ctiain oblifi pordere Set-
cts." Plbitii Ekpst. xx. li.A. vi.
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: 285] has le4royed at once within this century. The greateft erup- tionis of it have beeni in the year i707, in the year 1737, and this of 1767. I leave youLr deep natUralifts to account f-or tlis periodical crifs ; anid it may not be thne firc mectr acci- dental obfervationi that lhas given birth to a profounud fytt i,
O o
?' Some of the moft remarkable eruptions of Vefuvius have happened as follow. Anno Dom. 76 Mount Vefu vius caft forth fuch quantities of iTnoke and flame as to.
6bfcure the day, and deflroyed the cities of Pompeiuni and Herculaneum. In the yeat 8o, on the i3d of Auguft, the elder Pliny, in order to be better acquaint-
ed with the caufe of the extraordinary eruption of Vefuvius, ventured fo near that this great naturalift periflhed in hiis enquirv.
Anno 47z, Vefuvius eje&ted flames, in fuch abiundance, that they were feen even at crnftantinople; they obfcured the funi at inoon day, and the fire ravaged and burnt all Campania.
Anno ioo7, Vefuvius vomited ouit fq great a quantity of fanaes, that all the neigh- bouring country fuffered greatly by them.
In the year 1631, Vefuviis threw out flames, in fuch abundance that upwvards of 4000 perfons loft their lives, and a large tra&ft of land was deftroyed.
In the year 1717, Dodor Perkley, afterwards biflop of CloVLie in Ireland, vifited Vefuvius, at leaflt with as much boldoi-fs and curiofity as Pliny the Elder. The account -given, by the bifhop, of that mountain, was communicated to the Royal Society by Dr. Arbuthnot, and is publislhed in the Philofophical Tranfaations. It is thus defcribed by the bifhop. "' The other mouth was lowver in the fide of the fame new formed hill: " I could difeern it to be filled with red hot liquid matter, like that in the furnace of
a glafs houfe, which raged and wrouighlt as the waves of the fea, caufin& a lhort ab- rupt noife, like what may be imagined to proceed from a fea of quick-lilver dafhing among uneven rocks. This fluff would fometimes fpew over, and runi down the convex fide of the conical hill, anld appeared at firft red hot ; it changed colour and hardened as it cooled, fl(ewing the firft rudiments'of an eruption, or, if I may fo fay, an eruption in miniature." The conflagration in 1731 was fo dcfirudlive, that it occafioned the following curious
infcription, which is placed abouit three miles diftaiit from Naples, in the road to Vefuvius.
Pofteri, pofleri, veftra res agitur. Dies facem prafert dici ; nudius perendino.
