The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-11-29
The Destruction of Pompeii.

The following very interesting article
summing up the results of the excavations
and discoveries of Pompeii, throwing
light on the manner of its destruction, is
from the Pail Nall Gazette:
The work of exploration which has been
steadily going on in Pompeii for over a
century, from the day when excavations
first began on the site of what was then
vaguely called La Civita," in 1749, has
led to other than purely archaeological
results. 1t has enabled fairly accurate
notion to be formed of the nature and ex-
tent of the catastrophe. We know, for
reach Pompeii, and that the city was
not destroyed by fire. We know also
that the eruption was accompanied by
one or more shocks of earthquake, which
threw down houses here and there, and
buried men and women under their ruins.
From the fact that skeletons have been
found at the entrance to the public bath,
which was quilted hastily by the few
grand ladies who were not present at the
gladiatorial performance in the amphi-
theatre, the time of the catastrophe can
be fixed with approximate accuracy at or
about noon. Above all, the discoveries
of skeletons, every one of which has been
carefully recorded for at least century
enable some conclusion to be drawn as to
the total number of victims of the catas-
trophe. 1t would be mistake to suppose
that the majority or even very large
portion, of the inhabitants of Pompeii
persisted. The effects Of the ashen shower
were not instantaneous, and every one
who could get away from the city on the
first alarm probably saved his life. The
bulk of the people were in the amphi-
theatre, which was situated near one of
the city gates on the side remote from
Vesuvius, and there was nothing to
hinder every one in the great audience
from getting away in time. Those who
persisted were those who deliberately put
off their flight to save wife and child, or,
still more often, valuables.
Of such victims $50 have been already
found. From the year when the excava-
lions began, in l748, to the year 1926, the
total number of human remains discov-
cred was 100; from 1927 to 1915 it was
60 from 1916 to 1860 it was 60; from
1861 to 1872 it was 81 and from 1878
to 1881 about 100 But it is to be remem-
bered that only two-ffths of the buried
surface has been brought to light. On
the whole, there appears good reason for
putting the total number of human be-
lngs who persisted in the eruption at
least as high as l, 100. To these should
be added the skeletons of three dogs.
seven horses, eleven hens, two tortoises,
fifteen pigs, ten oxen, and the bones of
fifteen other animals. The remains of
one Of these dogs were found in the porch
OF the " House of Orpheus," and the cast
which Signor Fiorelli has taken brings
before us with painful vividness one Of
the minor tragedies of that awful dav.
The poor beast was chained at his post,
and in the general panic and confusion
no one remembered to let him loose. The
chain lay by the remains when they were
found, and it was evident that the crea-
ture had strained his tether to the ut
most in the effort to keep himself above
the masses Of ash and pumice-stone that
rapidly accumulated around and over
him. The cast is to be seen in the little
museum at Pompeii. The dog lies half
on his side, half on his back his slender
head and open muzzle gasping for litE
tie air, buried between the hind legs,
which have been convulsiyely brought
forward in the last agony of death. But
the process which has been so successful !
In reproducing the very form and like
ness OF this creature as he lived and died
has produced results no less extraordinary
In the case Of the human victims of the |
catastrophe The idea of pouring plas-
ter-of-Paris in liquid state into the
moulds left by the bodies in the soft ash
did not occur to any one till it suddenly !
flashed across Fiorelli about twenty years
ago Of the remains of the $50 human
beings discovered in Pompeii in the first
hundred years of the excavations there is
consequently only written record.
1t is only from the Journal of Ercnyo- |
tion8 for the year 1881 that we know of !
the touching and famous sight which
greeted the eyes of the first discoveries
of the House of the Faun." On the
floor Of the banqueting hall lay the body |
of woman, probably the mistress of the
house, with her jewels scattered where
she had thrown them in despair of rescue
or escape. The roof had been crushed |
in by the weight of falling ash and !
pumice-stone, and the hands Of the dying
woman were upstretched in vain effort |
to keep off the impending weight. Parts
Of the body and clothing could still be
made ont and dro,r,;,,S, oo,,1l l. - |