Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-02-19

50 smooth as that FIRST mentioned And
the student OF Ponipei accounted for
both. The met WAS the result Of the
constant impress repeated for hundreds
OF years By drinkers who were right
handed men. and leant upon their right
hands when putting forward their faces
20 drink. and the second was the Inn
press made ~ the left-handed men en-
gagged In the same action
This method OF reading the evidences OF
the very stones Of the streets appeared
not only plausible. but convincing. ana
then arose The great question, when
only biologists, who deal In periods
rather than years should be called upon 10
calculate. How long was this fountain IN
use. and what number OF hands were re-
cuircd 20 wear down the rough stone 70
this condition. and what proportion OF
lefi-handed men. 10 che population. exist
ed in Pompeli? Here. IN such cases as
this. IL Is that you feel that though Pom
peN be still, II Is by no means SILENT
A CHILD's LANDMARK.
In The museum at Naples, so largely
composed Of the findings in Pon0eii, q
slab Of sun-drled terra Gotta, sort 81
tile. has impressed upon one surface the
mark OF a Child's open hand.
Some wild school-boy. passing along
the Pompeiian streets long ages ago, saw
This soft-clav slab or tile. and with tnat
splrit OF mischief-or genius, or whatever
else II may be-placed his open left hahd
uuon ". leaving there permanent sign
Of even the smallest lines IN the pam
and fingers. o 49,
mostly persisted or fallen into awful rum.
while ,he delicate mark Of the hand OF
tho nameless boy has come down 10
r.oeteritv. No one who preserves the me-
rnorv OF a school-boy's feelings, but VIII
s,,,opathize wuh the act OF that nameicss
voi,ng scapegrace who has sent the marx
Of his hand down through the ages.
Rut the jewellers of ancient PomDeH
appeal TO us o. to-day I'm language clear
and universal. They. IN IN -lr motioniess
attitudes and unchanging poses, tell Us
much Of the catastrophe that oFer"HeiIh-
ed their city.
In Pompeii itself there Is small mu-
seum. hut its contents are more eloquent
than librarios 3. Here In the centre OF lhi9
building a glass-covered case contains the
forms Of dead Pompeians as they hVeu
and as they died. =,
Commentators Florelll, who became ui-
rector of excavations here In 1861 was
the first who thought OF bringing TO lisht
these dead Plmpeiians. Ihey "eIe
passed over and neglected previous 70
his time their bones alone revealing
where they lay FiorelHs process was
simple. "a most important discoveries
are. -..
TESTIMONY OF THE DEAD.
II must be remembered that Pompeii
was not destroyed by lava, or volcanic
mud: there IS no such clement Ia the
whole city Ashes fine as emery-dust
and tiny fragments Of pumice-stone are
the materials that filed the city. The
persons overwhelmed by fear or by the
euTocating vapors which abounded. who
fol were covered and surrounded by this
fine ash-dust as one is by snow, though
rerhaps. more completely. in the course
Of wears. when the body decayec, ana
only the bones were left, the shell, or
mould, remained as IL was at first form
cd. and retained the figure with a
marvellous eXactnCss.
II was into such an mould az this, when
one was discovered, that Fiorelli poured
plaster Of Paris When this was dry
the surrounding eehes and pUmlce-stone
were removed, and the figure OF the dead
Pompciian was brought 70 light exactly
as De was when he lost sensation and
died.
Sculpture has nothing more true and
realistic than such figures as these.
Some OF them are not of style that an
esthetic artist would embOdy IN marble
as Apollo Belvedore or as the Venus de
Mcdici. Nevertheless they are startling
In their reality As Macmonier said OF
them: They are not statues. but hui
man bodies moulded by Nesuvus; the
skeletons are still there In these cover
ings o. plaster. which reproduce that
which has been destroyed. that which
the humid ashes have preserved, tho YES
ture and the flesh, l would almost say
the life. The bones project here and
there in cer ain places, where the plaster
has not penetrated"
MOULDED BY VESUVIUs.
There IS nothing like these figures to
be found elsewhere. Even the Egyptian
rnummieg are not so like TO life as these
are.
Perhaps the most touching OF all is a
group % a woman and young girl, sup
posed to be a mother and daughter, who
have fallen together From the large size
OF her elrs the mother has been consider
ed Of humble birth. She wears an iron
ring on one Of her fingers. The pose of
the limbs indicates suffering Of an intense
chara cter before death. The young girl
beside her almost child. has a pose
that is incxpressively touching. She lies
upon her face, her hands resting on her
arm, that covers her eyes, as II she
would shut out the horrors that surround
cd herr
The very nature Of the cloth that con-
even the thin sleeves which covered her
arms to the wrist. one of her hands is
half open, as If she held something. 1t
has been concluded from the compare
lively quiet pose OF the limbs that she
suffered but little. and that death came TO
her soon
Another woman's body is here. Ninety
one pieces OF money. two silver vases.
several keys, and jewels were found close
q I..
sures when she fell on the street, became
lnsensible. and was covered with the
ashes and pumice stones. forming a mould
around her, which should be utilized cen
turtles after TO show to our Gay what
manner OF woman she was and how she
met her death. IL is worth noting. be-
sides. that she had two silver rings upon
her fingers. That her hand is Of great
dellcacy OF form: that she struggled long
in evident suffering; her attitude is that
of agony, not that of calm death.
THAT HATEFUL DAY.
These are q few Of the witnesses Of that
fateful day, who tell us to-day their feel
ings and sunerings. their customs and
costumes
They tell much more than their person
al sufferings The testimony to the causes
of their deaths is not confined TO these
moulded figures. The skeletons found at
various places. and in considerable num-
bers. furnish mute testimony to the de-
structive elements let loose on that 23d
OF August OF the year A. ID. 70.
Three causes. Il is concluded, were |
specially fatal 70 them-the earthquake.
which accompanied the eruption; their
voluntary or forced reclusion within their
houses. and the perniclous gases or Yapers,
heavier than the air. which spread over
the soil and sufocated them.
AS IN the year A. d.. &c. so in 70, Pompei