The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-30 00:00:00

feet deep, speedily rose to aboi
in • the bomb-shaped solid st,
t and at the same .at the
0:4,0 s an. doors, caused a rarification and cop-
se sation of air, that made the whole concern soder
with a terrific report. 'A very serious accident nearly
occurred at the time, from the incautious curiosity of
a "free-born" citizen of the states. When no traces
of the farm or offices was any longer risible, being
covered by a smooth surface of liquid fire, the
poor agriculturist, the proprietor, together with
his sposa, their children, and some half-a-dozen
louts, set up a yell, and beat their breasts, and
tore their hair in the true Neapolitan faskion. In-
stead of saying as much as they could fro di destruc-
tion beyond their mere bedding, they did not at-
tempt to remove a single thing • thus all the doors
and fittings, mangers, troughs, also about an acre of
cabbages, carrots, and celery, together with various
gates and farming utensils, were allowed to be de-
stroyed. There was ample time to move those
things, but they preferred howling and calling on San
Gennaro either to do it for them or stop the torrent
of lava.

A still more interesting and affecting spectacle was
presented about an hour after by the destruction of a
small church embosomed in this hapless wood. • The
lava here, as at the farm, had a rather tough jeb
from the extreme solidity of the edifice ; and with a
sort of instinct and conscious pride in its own irre-
sistible power. it dashed forward to the attack,
despite the moans and chants of a parcel of Fran-
ciscan friars connected with the church, and of
the mute sorrow of the poor cure. The ornaments
of the altar, together with the pictures, statues,
and finery of the Virgin and the patron saints,
and the parish records, had all been removed ;
but the incessant entreaties of the cure failed
to induce his parishioners to put their shoul-
ders to two fine doors, and lift them off their
hinges to a place of security, which they could
easily have done. The bells also might have been
saved with little exertion. No; the Virgin or the
patron saint would either appear corporeally, that is
risibly, and atop the sacrilegious destroyer, or the
edifice would resist and go scatheless. Troth time to
time the bells were tolled mournfully, and cure,
monks, and parishioners chanted the funeral dirge of
the sacred edifice where most had been baptized, and
which was associated with all the prominent parts of
their little secluded lives. Thelaya here insinuated itself
into the crypt of the building, thereby undermining
it so that it was literally a " temple rent in twain,"
the two nearly equal portions of which rocked and
tottered to their base, and then fell—belfry, bells,
and all—into the burning gulf. Several passages of
the " Inferno " of Dante were called to recollec-
tion this night, and the divine poet ably describes
what here palpably and tangibly represented hell,
though upon earth. For half an hour an intense
dark green name played over where once stood
the doomed edifice, caused perhaps by the fusion
of the bell-metal below. In other parts blue
flames of various degrees of intensity and depth
of colour, played and flickered about. All night
parties arrived from Naples, who had missed the
train ; and the wood was glittering with torches ap-
proaching and receding in the distance. The arrival
of a large body of priests, mounted on all the avail-
able jackasses and mules in the neighbourhood for
miles round, caused an immense sensation among the
rustics, as there was little doubt these worthy men
would soon settle the business of the ruthless enemy,
and put things to rights ; so to it they went—clergy
and laity; and on our departure from this scene of
desolation aad woe, the welkin resounded with the
exertions of some hundreds of pairs of lungs.
Much of the beauty of the effect faded on the ap-
proach of daylight, and when we left, which was
at exactly half-past six in the morning, the
lurid glare and vivid brilliancy of the lava was
succeeded by a black carbonaceous dullness, with
only here and there a deep red glow; the volume
of lava had also diminished, and the crater was
hushed. Nature seemed to have a alight inter-
mission of her pangs, to be resumed the following
evening. On our return to Naples, we learned that
a tragedy of another and a more sanguinarY,kifid
had been enacting elsewhere during the
Hundreds visited the crater itself, and the mountain
was literally dotted with little bright star-like points,
ascending and flitting like will-o'-the wisps. The
effect was picturesque in the extreme. A party of
American officers of the squadron here, with charac•
teriatic and national rashness and curiosity, approached
too near, and one of the officers, a fine handsome
young fellow, received a mass of hot calcareous mat-
ter on the right shoulder, which stripped the flesh to
the bone es far as the elbow. There was no actual
fracture, but the hcemorrhege was so violent, and so
long a time elapsed before he received proper medical
aid, that he lies with little hope of recovery. All
the Galenic skill of the place is tending him, he is
only two-and-twenty, and remarkably amiable and
handsome, and quite the pet of the squadron and
of the ladies. Ile holds the position of Commo-
dore's naval aide-de-camp, and is a lieutenant in rank.
Only a few nights since we had seen him
at a ball, the gayest of the gay, his fine
manly f een and features, making him almost
" the observed of all observers.: But
another accident, within ten yards of the same spot,
and almost at the same time, terminated fatally. The
victim of his rashness was a Polish officer, who re-
ceived a mass of stone of some tons weight on the
left thigh, which caused a compound fracture; and
there he lay and bled to death, his blood running
down into the very crater itself, where it boiled, and
hissed, and steamed. 1 Neapolitan gentleman, who
related the particulars to us, nearly lost his life in his
exertions to bring the body down the side of the
mountain, for at the time the lava and stones fell in
all directions thick and fast. Another individual, a
native, had the dexter side of his lower jaw com-
pletely removed by a stone, which was shot obliquely
out of the crater while he was stretching over peer-
ing into its fiery depths. The catalogue of contu-
glom., abrasions, and lesions on that eventful night
would nearly fill one of your columns. The ladies
were everywhere in the van of danger and fatigue,
and some have not come off scot free. The sex have
a great deal more courage than we men are willing
to give them credit for. This is proved here daily by
the intrepidity small and delicate women show in their
ascents ; true, it is to gratify curiosity— a strong in-
stinct on cid in their nature.—Chronicle.

IMPORTANT APPLICATION OF
HYDRAULIC PRESSURE.
On Wednesday last a party of gentlemen connected
with coal-mining in this district, assembled at Mur-
ton Colliery, belonging to the South Hetton Coal
Company, for the purpose of witnessing the perform-
ance of a water pressure engine, recently erected in
that colliery by Messrs. W. W. Armstrong and Co.,
and used for drawing waggons up an incline plane,
situated at a considerable distance from the
foot of the shaft. The object of this novel
application of water pressure is to supersede
the use of horses for underground traction, by
a method which obviates the dangers and
difficulties which are inseparable from the em-
ployment of steam-engines in the interior of coal
mines, and the success of the experiment has been
complete in every respect.
The thanks of the Coal Trade are eminently due
to the enterprising owners of the colliery where this
new system has been put in practice, for the spirit
they have displayed in adopting it, and we are in-
formed that the skilful and judicious arrangements
which have been made by Mr. Edward Potter, the
well-known viewer of the colliery, in connexion with
the working of this engine, reflect the greatest credit
upon that gentleman.
As the principle promises to be of great import-
ance to coal raining, we gladly present the following
particulars to our readers :—The engine has four small
cylinders, the diameter of each being three inches,
and the length of the stroke twelve inches. The
water which supplies the power consists of the drain-
ings of the shaft, collected in a standage at a height
606 feet above the level of the engine, to which it is
conveyed by means of pipes 4i inches in diameter.
The bank up which the trains are drawn is 880 yards
in length, and the gradient averages a rise of 1 in 30,
but at certain parts it reaches lin IE. The numberof tubs drawn lea each train varies from 18 to 21, and
the time occupied on the journey is from 4i to 6
minutes. The average speed of the engine is about
100 revolutions of the crank shaft per minute, but
a velocity of 130 strokes per minute is sometimes
atttained, without producing the smallest shock upon
the engine. The perfect smoothness of the action
is the result of the peculiar arrangement of
valves patented by the maker!, and which
cannot be intelligibly explained without illustrations.
The quantity of water expended during each journey
is about 1,500 gallons, and the power of the engine is
approximately estimated at 30-horse. The atandage
cduolle,catnsdaass itnhuechwawteartehrasa,s
underw•ill adrawny 20citrs applicationuc trainslasta i
ep eetir,
to descend to the bottom of the mine, its
to the engine does not increase the quantity to be
pumped. The supply cf water may be increased to
tiny extent, but any extra quantity that may be
required will involve additional pumping. The-en-
lone will ultimately draw 50 trains per day, but,
even when used to this great extent, the additon
to the work of the pumping engine will only amount
to about 30 gallons per minute, throughout the 24
hours.

The party assembled expressed their unqualified
approval of the action of the engine, and particu-
larly noticed its adaptation for underground use, in
respect of its small dimensions, and the absence of any
fire in connexion with it. —Newt-male Chronicle.

PRECOCIT2 OF THE SEABON,-.The earliness of the
season has been evidenced on the animal creation, as welt as
th,! vegetable. Last week leverets ware running about the
fields, and lamb-dropping on sheltered situations has cas
' meuced with the cross-breed&—rerriishireCovrisr,

>ut thirt7• ; and attack
tone,4oof of the main
thWe running in at the