The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-07-02
WASHINGTON CITY, FSDAY-5HIY 1s5s

day that the Satyr danced upon this mount it
place loved by Venus and more dear to that goddess
thaq lacedsmon itself and Hercules also rendered IL
nsrious by hs name. But the flames have destroyed
everything. All buried beneatha heap of ashes
Yet destruction did not como without premonitory
symptoms only past experience could interpret the
terrible utterances of the Iaboring mountain Modern
investigation has shown that there is intimate
nexion between volcanic action and earthquakes. The
whole southern portion of italy and many of the neigh
boring islands volcanic There are no less than five
yanos in and around the Bay of Naples each one of
pcrioas been in active operation within the historic
boli ION ttna Ia 100 miles south OF Naples and Strom
miles north jpari kands) permanent volcano, is 20
ss ss ss s.4ssss ss's prssss s
the Christian era the iou siKow, In the SD year of
which Strabo SAYS threw pptoEy earthquake occurred
and Herculaneum. The ncxv great portion OF Pompei
ing the part Of an actor, secoA nero was play,
Naples and destroyed the very thcatrrthquakc injured
aspirant after histronc honors had pe the imperial
These nvusons of nature continued 6r6erforrnng
sixteen years. and whoever has gazed upon the ess for
cities at the base Of vcsuyius will remember the cred
cracks and assures In walls pavcnents, and coiunnk
which the result OF these earthquakes. hzsa
AT length in the year TO- occurred that eruption whose
very desructyeness has preserved to us two provincial
cities of Romes plnies days. and has permitted to
learn of the domestic life and architecture of the
ancients than all the writings of historians and poets
from all the speculations of ingenious psychologists and
antquarans upon the vast ruins of the eternal city
Piny the elder perished at the time of this eruption and
the description of the awful catastrophe which resulted in
his death has been most vvdly given by his nephew
Pliny the younger For freshness and naturaness of
narrative we know nothing which has down from
Pagan antiquity which will compare with these letters Of
Pliny,ts A7s ghn 4saa sr SO AaArt
This eruption with which so familiar did not
cover Hercuaneum many suppose, at first, with lava
and for Ponpei the lava reached it at all No
Mosaicsr marble satues--no paintings and bronze
our day If rcd-hot molten lava had poured them
We would have had IN their places lime, ashes, and
glomerate of metal and stone Ashes blew out
from the volcano-fine dust. (Which even in modern
times has filed the land and vapors were discharged
The vapor condensed and with the ashes and dust formed
rdn that penetrated the most intricate recesses and
completely overaid the two Cities Afterwards the lava
rolled upon the ashes and scora which already shielded
Hercuancum and in the of centuries of eruption
the superintendent reached in places 100 feet
in thickness
yesuvius was dormant for 124 years, when, in the
reign of Septimus Severus, the second eruption took
place. From that time until 1906, yssuyius nine
times in active operation. After the ninth eruption
succeeding throes of Nature violent and contn
ued that than 10000 people perishcd beneath the
ruins of their houses The destrncveness of this crup
ton has parallel in the history of Mount yesurus
and the only approach to it is the calamity in the
Kingdom OF Naples by the earthquake which preceded
the eruption of June 1858 II is estimated in the very
interesting account published in Hapers Weekly June
the Of the dcvastatons, that less than
20 600 inhabitants of the provinces of Salerno and BASIL
licata were slain by this casualty. <s.
The greatest destruction of human life by lapa took
place in 1851 from the volcano after reposc of 131
years, In which time the side of the crater
grown with brush wood and trees while the bottom
plain where cattle fed and wild boars hunted.
One stream of lava from this eruption destroyed two
thirds of Tore del Greco another completely annihia
ted Rena, which had been built over buried Hcrcula
and another lava ruin after destroying portion
of Portc and the whole of Granarello flowed into the
and formed the bed upon which the Royal Palace and
La Favorita subsequently, built. Eighteen thou
sand persons said to have peishcd in this oatsro
pho The ashes carried by the wind to the shores
of the Adratic the Greek Islands, and to Constant
nople.
celebrated Bishop Berkeley at Naples md communi-
Gated to the Royal Society his observation the state
the mountain The most distinguished performance of
Mount Vesuyius occurred in 1898 and a. when the lava
WINS discharged with such abundance and fudity to
roll like vast river into the Mediterranean After
rious phases In the month of June, 94 crater s-
opened in the mountain side at about half its height
and from this the lava poured down in such volume
form torrent whose collective force may be stated at
I204 feet in width and varying from IL to 40 feet in
thickness This mass plunged into the and pushed
itself $50 feet into the deep waters before it received any
apparent check Lava usually rolls as slowly thick
honey down gently inclined plain but in 1894, it was
unusually fluid that only six hours elapsed from the
time that it left the ssure until 1t entered the sea-a
distance of four miles. t4
From 70 to 1858 there have been no less than IS
crupons and sixteen of these have occurred in the pre-
sent century though one of our cotempoares he Bos
ton Journal without any authority states the number of
eruptons since 1900 being at the farthcst six The
journal says that when Hercuaneum and Pompeii
destroyed, than 200, 900 human beings were
buried under the burning lava and cinders This is
sheer nonsense for eruption of Mount Vesuvus has
been described with greater minuteness than Pny the
younger has described that of 10 The lava prcce
ded by tho shower Of ashes The darkness such that
for three days the suns rays not During all
this time the inhabitants escaping from the vicinity
of the mountain. Pompeii did not contain than
25 900 inhabitants, and Hcrculanenm not double its
size In the parts of Hercuaneum thoroughly
vated, only two skeletons have been found. From Pom
pe not being threatened with immediate danger, the
people did not flee with the apty and of the few
skeletons found there evidence that they those of
individuals who prisoners sentnels less than
of women and persons impoed by avarce to stay to the
last moment when doubtless the mephitic gases
put end to their lives.
There cities situated the crater Hercua
neum and Pompeii were, but we hope it may never be
recorded Of them, g they were but are not
ST. JOHN'SDAY AT 0SWEG0, ~. Ks98tqi
The Masonic fraternity Of Northern New York, and