The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-05 00:00:00

ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS.
(From The Times.)

A few days ago it was announced that Vesuvius was
showing signs of renewed activity. Lava was spouted
to a height of 3001 t. above the rim of the new crater,
and those acquainted with the ways of the volcano ex-
pressed their belief that this was but the beginning of
an important eruption. The news which has since
reached us shows that this view is likely to be justified
by the event. Immense fissures have appeared at the
base of the cone, from which flames and lava issue
intermittently. The crater is almost full, and the
volcanic activity shows signs of increasing. It will
be remembered that twice since April, 1872, when
the last great outbreak occurred, the mountain
has threatened eruption. In March, 1876, Pompeii
seemed in danger of a second burial. In June
last year showers of sand and ashes were
carried as far as Rome. In March, 1876, Professor
Palmieri stated that smoke was issuing from the
mountain with great force. In the crater-mouth which
opened on December 18, 1865, the fire of the interior
was no longer visible, immense masses of matter hav-
ing fallen into it, in consequence of the downfall of a
portion of the crater of 1872. It was thought that an
unusual effort would be required to clear a way for
the volcanic fires through the enormous accumulation
of sand and sconce, or else to open some new vent,
either at the summit or on the sides of the mountain.
But although the cone, the appearance of which
usually precedes a great eruption, began to be formed
on that occasion, the eruptive force was not sufficient
to overcome the resistance of the great mass of gathered
matter. The new fires gradually died out, and no erun-
tion followed. In like manner the disturbance of last
June, which threatened to be serious, gradually died out.
The eruption which seems now to have fairly begun
will not be the less active because of these abortive
efforts of the volcano to find an outlet for its fires.
So long as Vervvius obtains relief at frequent
intervals there is no great danger in the eruptions
of the mountain; but whenever there is a long-contiruci obstruction the mountain becomes most
dPngerou3 to all who inhabit the surrounding regions.
It was after the longest interval of rest which the
mountain has known since first Southern Italy was
colouiped by the Greeks that the tremendous erup-
tion of the year 79 took place, when HerCulaneum

and Pompeii were buried under showers of ashes.
For it is noteworthy that in that great eruption no
lava flowed from the crater; what the volcano flung
forth was the matter which had so long blocked up its
outlets—lapilli, sand, cinders, and fragments of old
lava. _

The present condition of the mountain resembles
that which existed before the eruption of 1822. After
the eruption of 1793, the great crater had gradually
filled up, and instead of a regular crater-shaped open-
ing, there was a rough and uneven surface scored by
great fissures whence issued enormous masses of
vapour. The volcano struggled for a long time in
vain with the great mass which had gathered within
the crater. But at length, in October, 1822, not only
was this mass flung forth, but so tremendous was the
explosive energy of the eruption that the entire
aspect of the mountain's summit was changed. An
immense abyss was formed 1,200 yards across, and
extending nearly half a mile into the heart of Vesu-
vius. "Had the lips of the crater remained un-
changed," we are told, "the depth of this great gulf
would have been even greater • but so terrific was the
force of the explosion that the whole of the upper
part • of the cone was carried clean away, and the
mountain reduced in height by nearly one-fifth."
It will be noticed that the interval between 1822 and
the preceding eruption of 1793 was considerably greater
than that which has now elapsed since the last great
eruption of Vesuvius. But it must not be therefore
inferred that the time is not yet near at hand for an
outburst. The mountain has been much more active
of late years than last century, much more active
during the last two centuries than in former times.
Before the eruption of 1631, for instance, not only
Vesuvius, but the whole Neapolitan volcanic region
remained at rest for nearly a century:. There had not
been any violent eruption of Vesuvius for nearly five
centuries; and many believed that Vesuvius was be-
coming an extinct volcano. The crater was five miles
round, and more than half a mile deep; its sides were
covered with brushwood, and cattle grazed on the plain
at the bottom. In December, 1631, the mountain blew
away the covering of rock and cinders. Seven mighty
lava - streams flowed forth, Resina was entirely
destroyed, and a fearful loss of life ensued. Thirty-
five years then passed before a great eruption occurred;
but since the eruption of 1666, the mountain has seldom
been at rest more than ten years together. It would
seem as though the increased activity of Vesuvius
were occasioned by the closing up of outlets by which
the mountain's fires had formerly found vent.
Brieslau tells us that during the centuries when
Vesuvius had been comparatively inactive, there had
been disturbance in various parts of the Bay of Naples,
once, at least, in every 200 years. Solfatara had been in
eruption in the 12th century, Ischia in the 14th, Monte
Nuovo in the 16th. It is not certain, indeed, that the
region of which Vesuvius is one of the vents may not
be far wider than the Neapolitan vulcanian region, and
include Etna, the Lipari Islands, and even the Grecian
volcanoes. Certain it is that on more than one occasion
Etna has shown a singular sympathy with the lesser,
though scarce less energetic volcano. The double
eruption of Mount Etna in November and December,
1868, seemed manifestly connected with the eruption
of Vesuvius in progress when Etna broke forth. Very
soon after the first outburst of Etna (on November 26),
Vesuvius began to grow quieter, as though the action
of the Sicilian vent had had a relieving effect. But
after that first eruption of Etna had ceased, Vesuvius
became more active; and it was not till the second
and more terrible eruption of Etna, on the night of
December 8-9, that Vesuvius sank into repose.
We understand somewhat better now than of yore the
cause and the significance of volcanic disturbances. The
researches of Dana, Mallet, and others have shown•
that nearly all the vulcanian energies of the earth are
due, not to the gradual contraction of the crust upon
the nucleus as men once supposed, but to the gradual
contraction of the nucleus and its consequent with-
drawal from the crust. This shrinking of the nucleus
leaves the crust unsupported, and under the action of
gravity it is drawn down to the nucleus, crushing up
as it thus closes in. It may seem to the uninitiated
that this process, which is of necessity exceedingly
slow, can hardly be sufficient to prodube the intense
activity which characterizes vulcanian disturbances, or
the fiery heat by which the very substance of the crust
is molten. But this is no longer a matter for doubt or
question. Mallet has shown that less than one-fourth
of the contraction actually taking place would suffice
to account for the entire vulcanian energy of the
earth.

It is noteworthy that in the eruptions of our
volcanoes we find the last remaining surface trace of
fires which must once have covered the whole surface
of our globe. The processes of contraction now
taking place very slowly must once have progressed
far more actively. We recognize, indeed, in such
processes of contraction the cause, in other orbs than
ours, of an intense degree of surface heat. It is to such
processes that we are to look for the only valid expla-
nation of the sun's heat. The sun is shrinking, and will
continue to shrink until he has afar greater density, not
only than he has at present, but than our earth has.
When he shrinks more slowly than at present he will be
no longer so hot as now; when he ceases to shrink he will
be cold. In Jupiter and Saturn, the giant planets of the
solar system, we recognize the same process of shrinking
going on; much less actively, indeed, than on the sun,
but far more actively than on our earth. In the moon, on
the other hand, we see an orb which has either ceased
to shrink or has so nearly ceased that she must be re-
garded as to all intents and purposes dead. It is in
the activity of volcanic regions like those of which
Vesuvius and Etna are the outlets that we find
evidence of our earth's present vitality. We
almost seem to recognise here the means of measuring
our earth's probable duration as a planet fit to be the
abode of life. So long as the nucleus of the earth
has so much heat to part with that a sufficient annual
shrinking of the crust takes place so long will the
earth's vulcanian forces model and remodel her sur-
face in such sort as to counteract the forces otherwise
tending to level the face of the earth, and thus to
render her uninhabitable. As Sir John litrschel
has justly remarked, if it had not been for the re-
modelling action of volcanoes, or rather of the forces for
which they serve as the occasional outlet, "time
enough has elapsed, and force enough directed to that
end has been in activity, to have long ago destroyed
every vestige of land.' The volcano and the earth-
quake, fearfully destructive though they seem when
roused to full activity, are yet virtually among the
preservative phenomena of our earth. They consti-
tute, as Sir Charles Lyell has well said, "an essential
part of the mechanism by which the integrity of the
earth's habitable surface is preserved." Through the
earth's vulcanian energies shore lines change their
position, slowly but continuously; the sea advances in
one place and retires in another. The earth's surface,
which as a garment ever groweth old, is ever changed
as is a garment. The plastic hand of Nature is con-
stantly at work, modelling and re-modelling the earth;
and though the process seems destructive when con-
sidered in detail, when viewed in its general aspect it
is seen to be preservative. But for it the earth would
long ere this have .;ceased to be a fit abode for the
terrestrial creatures now subsisting on it.

The Correspondent of The Times, writing from Naples
under date September 26, says :

"In anticipation of an Eruption of Vesuvius, tele-
grams have been received from Rome and elsewhere
asking for immediate information when the event
comes off. The same anxiety exists even in Naples,
and every night people are out in the streets watch-
ing the reflection of the as yet internal fires. Indeed,
it cannot be long before the cup runs over; but, as far
as past experience enables us to judge, it will not be
more than that, though that will suffice to form a
brilliant spectacle."