The evening times., 1898-10-19
ACTIVE vEsUVIUs.

4 ne idsl important eruption Oh NeSuNluS
was sixteen years ago. Then, as now.
great crowds of spectators gathered from
all parts of the world and ,swarmed up the
mountain sides. No less than 900 of them
are said to have rerished, and there are
fears of the same experience now. a cor
respondent who has recently visited Ma
pies writes:
There Is panic at Tore del Greco,
town of 5000 inhabitants on the coast be-
tween the old Pompeii and Hercuaneum,
and prayers are offered daily in all the
churches to avert the threatened calamity
The observatory, which was established
for the purpose of giving notice of just
such eruptiOns as the present one, and
from which repeated warnings were is
sued, has been abandoned, and some time
ago all the Instruments were removed 10
place of safety. Upon all the hills past
which the lava must flow watchmen are
posted to give the alarm. and with the
modern aids of the telephone and tee-
graph there need be no great loss of life,
at least from the burning lava. If the
people viii only leave in time. This, it
is to be feared, they will not do. Fa-
miliarity has bred contempt. In spite of
the thouSands of human lives which have
Deen SdcrlIlCeu TO the great IRE giant,
many of them within the present genera
ton. the-exceDtional fertility of the noun
tain slopes attracts the peasants. and they
cannot be driven away from their homes.
'One df the dangers of Vesuvius in its
present state, and by no means the least,
Is the great clouds of poisonous vaDors
which are belched forth from the crater
and settle down upon the surrounding
country. 1t was these vapors that suffo-
! Gated the elder Pliny. when. at the de-
struction of Pompeii in A. ID. 70 he hasten
ed TO the scene with his fleet to rescue the
| inhabitants. That similar poisonous ex-
halations may be emitted during the pres
ent eruption is altogether probable, and if
the wind should be In the right direction
II Is not impossible that the whole popula-
tion of Naples. about half million souls
might be destroyed in a night"
Under ordinary conditions Naples is
safe. for it is protected from any Lava
flow by deep Intervening valley, which
would divert the stream, although the
city is only nine miles from Vesuvius. and
Pompeii was six, and the prevailing winds
do not blow from VesuViuS to Naples,
but so late as 1872 the streets Were COW
cred with ashes to a depth of more than
foot. and the direction of the wind is
at best but a slender safeguard for the
preservation of half a million lives. Dur
Ing the present eruption dSHeS nave DttH
carried as far Ceprano, about seventy
miles away. and still longer distances are
on record.
According to the last advices received,
there are now eight craters in active ope-
ration Three are giving forth molten Ia
va, two are beiching sulphurous smoke
and steam and three are throwing out
ashes and small stones. The number may
increase at any moment or the character
I Of ~. al AZ lA1P cd rua he on
tirely changed.
1t is. indeed. impossible to predict in the
present state of knowledge what will
happen or when II will happen. although
the first eruption of a volcano Is always
preceded by wel-marked symptoms, often
extending over a considerable period OF
time Concerning what is going on in the
interior of the earth we know nothing,
and. therefore, nothing can be predicted
after the eruption begins. II is seldom,
however that two eruptionS are alike,
even when they come from the same vol
cano.
The present eruption began with loud
rumblngs and violent internal explosions,
accompanied by earthquakes throughout
the surrounding country. Soon afterward
an immense cloud of black, solid-looking
smoke was formed and hung over the
principal crater like a huge pail Tongues
of flame could be seen darting here and
there through the smoke, the wells in the
reighborhood dried up, violent electrical
discharges took place about the summit,
ashes and small stones in enormous
quantities were hurled into the air, ana,
finally, the molten lava welled up TO the
ron and flowed down the sides of the vol
cano.
Near the summit the torrent of lava is
half A mile wide but little further down
IL divides into three principal streams.
each about $50, feet wide, and moving very
SLOWLY at a rate not much in excess OF
100 feet an hour.
0ue of the streams of lava is said TO be
fully fifty feet high, and 1t moves onward
with an appalling regularity, giving OUT
an awful roar as ii proceeds Its surface
Is n dull purple color by ray. due to the
cooling of the surface. but streaked and
blotched with red as the underlying mass
/ is seen through the cracks and assures OF
the thin surface. At night the underlying
red-hot lava shows through. giving the
whole the appearance of a great river OF
blood and lighting up the country Tor
twenty miles around. The three streams
are headed respectively, for the towns
NJ yetrana Crocelle and Resina. The
| authorities believe that the first named
are in danger. and are taking steps 10
prevent great loss of life there.
Resina. which is perhaps the most Sc
riousIy threatened, is a place of 13,0oo in
| habitants, about five miles southeast Of
Naples. on the coast. 1t is almost ex-
actly on the site of the ancient Hercula-
| neum. and was almost completely de-
stroyed by the eruption in 1881 1t is
built upon the lava which covers up the
ancient Herculaneum, and is favorfte
! stopping place for tourists who visit the
remains of that ancient city.
Some of the eruptions have lasted for
| months. others only few hours. That of
| 1861 lasted seven hours. during which ash
| es were deposited in places TO depth of
| thirteen feet while the lava covered two
| square miles of territory fifteen feet in
| thickness.
| The greatest meteorologist. Prof. Luigi
| Palmieri who devoted his life TO the
| study of the mountains, and established
| the observatory there for that purpose,
| laid it down as rule that when "after
a period of considerable repose the central
| crater presents a series of smaller and
| frequent eruptions. a grand outburst may
| be expected" VeSuvius has been in prac-
| tical repose since 1876. and is now pre-
| senting a series of small and frequent
| eruptions.