VESUVIUS, a well-known volcano, is situated near the e. shore of the bay of Naples, about 10 m. from the city of that name. It is a solitary mountain, rising majestically from the plain of Campania, having at the base a circumference of about 30 m., and / dividing, at a certain height, into two summits, Somme and Vesuvius proper. The height of the mountain and form of its apex are subject to frequent changes by erup It is estimated to be at present nearly 4,000 ft. high. In the single eruption of 1822 it lost 800 ft., nearly all of which has been restored by subsequent eruptions. Be fore that event, the summit was a rough and rocky plain, covered with blocks of lava and scorite, and rent by numerous fissures, from which clouds of smoke were given out. But it was then altered to a vast elliptical chasm, 3 m. in circumference, three quarters f a mile at the greatest diameter, and about 2,000 ft. deep.
The ti t recorded eruption took place in the year 79 A.D. Warnings had been given sixteen y ars before by a great earthquake, which shattered the cities of Herculaneum and Pompe •, nd the earth was frequently shaken by slight shocks until August of the year 79, when ey became more numerous and violent. Previous to this, Vesuvius was not suspecte to be a volcano. Its sides were covered with famous vines, and its ancient crater, partly filled with water, formed the stronghold of the rebel chief, Spar tacus. The morning of Aug. 24 brought comparative repose; but in the course of the day, a huge black cloud rose from the mountain, from which stones, ashes, and pumice were poured down on all the region around. The elder Pliny, who commanded the Roman fleet at Misenum, sailed to the help of the distracted inhabitants: he landed i near the base of the mountain, was enveloped in sulphurous vapor, and was suffocated. The younger Pliny gives a graphic account of the eruption in two letters to Tacitus, which are well known. No lava was ejected on this occasion, nor indeed in any erup tion in historic times up to the year 1066. Pompeii was buried under a thickness of 20 ft. of loose ashes, and remained unknown until about a century ago. A torrent of mud spread over Herculaneum, which, by additions from subsequent repeated eruptions, now forms a thickness of 80 or 100 feet. Since this first famous eruption, Vesuvius has been
an active volcano, and has been frequently but irregularly in eruption, about 60 great and numerous smaller ones having taken place. In 472 the eruption was so great that the ashes fell even at Constantinople, and caused great alarm there. The summit known as Monte Nuovo was, in 1538, forced up in two days to the height of 413 ft., and with a circumference of 8,000 feet. In 1631 the villages at the foot of the mountain were covered with lava, and torrents of boiling water were sent forth. Since that described by Pliny, one of the most famous is the eruption of 1779, of which sir William Hamilton, then British minister at Naples, gives an interesting account. In the spring of that year it. began to pour forth lava; this was succeeded by rumbling noises and puffs of smoke; then jets of red-hot stones and ashes made their appearance, and increased in number and intensity, until the eruption arrived at its climax between Aug. 5 and 10. Then enormous volumes of white clouds rose from the crater to a height four times that of the mountain, and lava poured from the crater in torrents down the sides of the cone. This was • followed by columns of fire, which rose on some occasions to three times the height of Vesuvius, or more than two miles. In the midst of all this, showers of stones, scoriae, and ashes were thrown out to a great height. One mass of rock ejected was 108 ft. in circumference, and 17 ft. high. A more terrible eruption took place 15 years later, by which the greater part of the town of Torre del Greco was destroyed. The violent eruption of 1822 has already been alluded to. A remarkable eruption occurred in May, 1855. In 1865 began a series of eruptions, which have been repeated at intervals since. For a full account of the fearful outbreak of April, 1872, we are indebted to Palmieri, director of the meteorological observatory on mount Con taroni, a part of Vesuvius, who with great courage remained in the observatory while it seemed threatened with destruction. An eruption equal in brilliancy to that of 1872, but much less destructive, took place in 1878.