The Portland daily press., 1882-11-22
The Victims of Pompeii.
Realistic Developments Attending the Ex
cavations.
[Pall Mall Gazette. ]

The work of exploration which has been
steadily going on in PonPoii for ovor a ceisfrry
from the day when excavations first began on
the site of what was then vaguely called "La
Civita, in 1748 has led to other than purely
archaeological results. 1t has enabled fairly
accurate notion to be formed of the nature and
extent of the catastrophe. We know, for in
stance, that the lava-stream did not reach
Pompeii ana that the city was not destroyed
by fire. We know also that the eruption was
accompanied by one or more shocks of EARTH
quake, 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 we're not present at the gladiatorial per-
formapce in the amphitheatre, the time of the
catastrophe can be fixed with approximate &C.
curacy at or about noon. Above all, the dis
coveries of skeletons, every one CT which has
been carefully recorded for at least century
enable some conclusion to bo drawn as to the
total number of victims of the catastrophe. 1t
would be mis- axe to suppose that majority,
or even a very large portion of the inhabitants
of Pompeii pershed. The effects of the ashen
shower were not instantaneous, and everyone
who could get away from the city on the first
alarm probably saved his life. The bulk of
the people were in. the amphitheatre, 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 audi
ence from getting away in time. Those who
perished were those who deliberately put off
| their fight to save wife and child, or, still
| more often, vauabes.
| OF such victims 450 have been already found.
| From the year when the excavations began, in
| 174S TO the year 1926, the total number of hu-
| man remains discovered was 160; from 1927 to
1916 it was SO; from 1876 to 1860 it was 80; from
1861 to 1872 il was ST, and from 1873 to 1881
about 100. But IT is to be remembered that
| only two-ffhs of the buried surface has been
brought to light. On the whole there appears
| good reason for putting the total number of
human beings who perished in the eruption at
| 1100 To these should be dded the skeletons
| of three dogs, seven horses, eleven hens, two
toi toises, 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 Sig
nor Florelli has taken brings before us with q
painful vividness one of the minor tragedies of
that awful day. The poor beast was chained at
his post, and in the general panic and confu-
sion no one remember 3d to let him loose. The
chain lay by the remains when they were
found, and it was evident that the creature
had strained his tether to the utmost in the eff
fort TO keep himself above the masses of ashes
and pnmice stone that rapidly accumulated
around and over him. The cast is to be seen in
the little museum at P,mpeii. The dog lies
half on his side, half on his back, his slender
head and open muzzle, gaspiDg for little air,
buried between the hind legs, which have been
cor vulsively brought forward in the last agony
of death. But the process which has BEEN SO
successful in reproducing the very form and
likeness of the creature as he lived and died
has produced results no less striking In the
cases of the human victims of the catastrophe.
TIE idea of pouring plaster of Paris in a LIQUID
state into the moulds left by the bodies in the
soft ash did not occur to anyone till 1t suddenly
flashed across Fiorelli about twenty years ago.
OF the remains of the $50 human bodies discov-
cred in Pompeii in the first hundred years of
the excavations there is consequently only q
written record. 1t is only from the journal of
Excavations for the year 1881 that we know of
the touching and famous sight which greeted
the ewes of the first discoverers 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
whers she had thrown them In despair OF res
cue 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 up
stretched in vain effort to keep off the i'm
pending weight. Part of the body and oth-
ing could still be made out, and a drawing
could be made of one charming foot.
But such records are lifeless and tame in
deed beside the extraordinary portrait statues
which are now TO be seen in the little museum
at Pompeii. There are nine Of these, or were
very short time since, and to see them is
like seeing the men and women themselves of
eighteen centuries ago. Fioreli's method .sas
simple as possible. A small opening is made,
the plaster is delicatey poured in, and when Ii
has had time TO harden, the surfa 70 crust of
ash is peeled off, and the man or woman comes
back to life again. The details of clothing and
feature have all left their mark on the soft b
and are all faithfully reserved in the plaster
cast. The results achieved by Florelli are
striking and complete. Take the cast of the
elderly slave, for instance, probably man of
some sixty years old, who appears to have been
taking his siesta when the eruption began, and
to have been painlessly asphyxiated in his
sleep. He lies ou his right side, the knees Q
little beut, the left leg drawn up, and the
cheek resting ON the right hand. The coarse,
strongly marked features, and the peaceful ex-
preston of the sleeper, have all been perfectly