Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-04-07
The ErnptlOns Of Yesurius.

THE recent eruptions of the volcano Of
Vesuvius call attention TO the labors Of
Professor Palmieri, who has resolutely
set himself for years past TO observe the
condition and phenomena of the noun
tain during its periodical convulsions, and
who has published mass of interesting
matter on the subject.
The eruptions Of Vesuvius arc spoken of
in general way by few ancient writers; !;
but the earliest recorded outbreak was a
catastrophe indeed. II occurred on the
oath of August, A. ID. 10, and involved
the destruction of the cities OF Pompeii
and Herculaneum, on which occasion
more than 100000 persons perished, and
among them Pliny, the naturalist. About
| thirty minor eruptions are recorded be-
| tween this and the next destructive one,
when on the 18th of December, 1881, the
town of Tore del Greco was overwhelmed
and its, 1000 inhabitants killed. Another
dreadful eruption occurred very suddenly
| November "a, 1859, and still another
violent outbreak occurred in 1867. A
most destructive eruption occurred in
| 1894, on which occasion the lava flowed
over 8, 900 acres of vineyard and cultivated
land, and Terre del Greco was a second
time burned. On this memorable occa-
sion the whole of the top of the mountain
fell in, and the crater is now nearly two
miles in circumference. Eruptions mere
or less destructive occurred in May, 1855
May and June, 1858; June, 1859; several
times in 1860, and December, 1861, when
Tore del Greco was again destroyed. A
magnificent eruption began Nov. ~, 1867,
and continued increasing in grandeur and
danger until March, 1868 The phenomena
| IwnrnH Nl.1 hxv I1rnE al nd
| Miller, Sir John Lubbock. aud other
scientific men. In the following October
another eruption began, and continued
very destructively until the end OF Novem-
Der. The last great eruption prior to the
present one began April % and ended
early in May, 1872, when more than sixty
! lives were lost.
A recent writer afler describing the
perils and the tolls of the ascent of Vesu.
vius, in speaking of the final scene, says
the party he was with peeped up at Che
dense smoke whirled from the crater as
they slowly approached, and at length
they stood close to the little crater, which
reared itself on the side of Tore d'Ammu-
ziala, and fell in during the last eruption.
| An old man who had followed them all
the way with a basket of wine ON his
head, stayed behind to toast some eggs on
the lava. Then they made the last effort
to reach the cone. Suddenly their eyes
rose above the brink of the crater, and
they saw a terrible gulf, dark as Erebus,
vomiting huge coils of black smoke, and
heard portentous rumblings, the myste-
| rious echoes of some subterranean throes.
| They knew if the wind should suddenly
veer and envelOp them in that dense
shroud of smoke that they were lost, but
their motto was, "There is no danger"
and so on the very verge they sat down
on the smooth ashes, the writer to sketch
and the men to draw corks. San Gennaro,
the patron saint who wards off the lava
from Naples, was toasted, and they
lunched on their eggs and set to work.
Just at their feet were long steps of ashes,
| like receding waves, thrown up from the
| depths below; TO the right the lip rose to
peak, and midway the gray ashes became
| yellow and orange, and there was a cleft
in the midst, from which curled wreath
of smoke. At the foot of the peak there
were other clefts and more smoke. Huge
assures ran along the inside of the cup,
whose edges were tinted with orange and
| yellow incrustations. To the left the
brink was rounded and the ashes lay
smooth upon it, like sand which the sea
had just left, fretted over with tender
modelings, as if by wavelets, and untrod-
den by mortal feet. Then suddenly the
level sand was pierced by rock whose
jagged edge descended by zigzags right
down into the abyss. 1t stood white
against the shadow of the smoke thrown
on more distant cliff. Beyond this
everything was hidden by the frowning,
leaping smoke. Some times there was a
lull, and the smoke cleared away, and
they could detect the shadowy outline of
the bank beyond.-N. Y. Graphic.