Milford chronicle., 1901-02-22
VESUVIUS
SCIENTISTS SAY THE
Soon BE IN ERUR
A Description of Thu
Destructive Mountain
Its Disastrous OutbuI
canO Observatory.


been some time since there !
dangerous outbreak of the voi
no prophecies are made as -
able force of the one that is
dicted. The observatory at the
the mountain enables the scieni
perts to tell what the condition of
terror of the crater may be. and Il
mOnitOry signs of an explosion al
failingly indicated by means Of the
cate instruments invented to mark
phases of the volcano. The observa
has now existed FOR 81 years. and the
dlctions Of past explosions have alwi
been verified. Nowadays the explOsio
Of Mount Nesuvius are not accompanit
with the disastrous consequences the
were usually supposed to bring. and thi
is in large measure the result OF the
preliminary knowledge that the volcano
is about to burst forth. There have been
losses Of life in the later explosions. but
they We're generally due to sudden acct
dents, such as the flow of lava. which
killed ten persons at the outbreak IN the
early seventies. At that time, from the
report of the professors in the ubserva-
nearby cities knew that the eruptiOn was
coming and that it would he possible for
Them to 90 up TO the top of the mountain
and view the outbreak Ten persons who
had taken advantage of this opportunity
were engulfed in an unexpected outpOur
Of lava and died horrible death.
Mount Nesuvius is the eastern extremi-
ty Of a chain Of volcanoes that reaches to
the island of Ischia. 1t is eight miles
from Naples, on the eastern shore of the
bay. which is thought 70 have been at
one time the great crater of a volcano,
and before the Christian era its volcanic
activities were cOnfntd chiefly to the
island Of Ischia. The base Of Mount
Nesuvius is more than 30 miles in cir.
conference, and to the buse of the cone
the ascent is about 1900 feet. The
height of the summit varies in accordance
with the condition of the volcano. Its
maximum, taken after an eruption, was
| 1928 feet. The valley, Atrio del Caval.
10, separates the two cones by distance
| Of 700 feet
The mountain has two peaks, called
Somma and Vesuvius. at the present
time. although there is ground for the
belief that in ancient times It had hui
cone. with an uninterrupted outline. The
| present cone is thought to have beer
formed by the eruption of 20 A. d. Al
though eruptions took place 10 2O3. 4T2
51S, $50 and 993, it was i;5i- until lO3,
that low Of lava is reported Thc1
it flowed down to the sea. Formerly
only ashes and seoriie had been elected
and in the eruption Of 4I2 the ashes wer,
carried as far as COnstantinople aud t,
TripOli. The mountain has Significant!
increased in size during the past centur!
and half, chiefly by means Of the Law,
which is so frequently elected. Some 0
these lavas are so liquid in characte
that they flow readily down the sides 0
the mountain into the sea, while other
only move an inch or two forward durin,
several years When the lava flow
u slowly down. as 1t did in 1853, il become
wrinkled and folded or twisted Xix
ropes on the chilled surface from tn
effects Of the warm lava underneath
When it rolls down quickly. as in 1872
after that noted explosion. il is broker
into great edges of the appearance an
character Of cinders. The greatest fO1
; of lava ever noticed in any Of the eruT
lions came in 1894. when the stream tina
flowed down the mountain was estimate
to contain more than 46.000.0O0 cubi
feet of lava and reached to the sea in
mass II feet high aud 1904 feet wide
II can readily be seen how destructiv
such a phenomenon would be.
Eruptions in the present century hay
been those of 1904. 1905. 1909. 1871.
j 1913. 1917. 1920, 1922. 1928. 1881. 1888
D 1888. 1871. 1915. 1917. 1S49. 1850. 1855
1853, 1861. 1865. 1868 and 1872. The e,
4 plosiOn in 1922 broke up the top Of Il
. mountain.
For nearly 1.5OO years after the hi
; tOric eruption Of 20. which destroys
. Hcrculaneum. Pompeii and Stabia
+ Mount Vesuvius was comparatively il
J. active. The historians occasionally mel
toned explosions. but few particulars al
4 given. and by the end Of the seventeent
!. century the mountain had come to loo
: as il was in the times OF Pliny before Il
eruption of 20. The walls of the crate
FIVE miles in circumference. were owe
/ grown with trees and vines, and at Il
k base were broad plains, on which Gait
e grazed. The central tract was a low
plain covered with loose ashes and do
|. ted with pools of hot, salty wafer. tt
eruption of 1851 was the more une,
y pected as it was thought that no dang
: was to be anticipated from a mounta
u thus covered with foliage and affordiI
pasurage to the flOcks Of the shepher,
Z who lived on its slopes. Ii began on De
10 and had been preceded by earthquak
It recurring internationally during the pr
p ceding six months The violent vOlcan
N outburst came on unexpectedly, as the i
"a struments now kept in the Observable
! to tell the condition Of the volcano we
of course not at that time in existenC
y The eruption continued until Februar
u 1852. During this violent and cOntinu
'e Outhurst the cone lost so much of
height that il was 800 feet lower thi
ID SOmma. Great clouds of dust and stO
D. were belched from the crater and soI
Of these were carried. so strong was 4
force of the eruption. as far as COnsta
tinople and fell into the Adriatic. +
clouds of steam that constantly flowed
from the crater condensed and fOrmF
~ with the dust. hot aud muddy strean
he that flowed down the sides Of the mOu
as tain. The flow Of lava that came fro
as the open assures in the mountain ran il
r. the sea at 10 different points. This cru
re ton nearly destroyed the towns OF Tor
70 del Annunziata, Tore del Greco. Resi-
H. and POrtici, and in spite Of the warnin
= of the earthquakes $4,000 persons L
80 their lives through it.
W The mountain has never been entir'
quiet since that outbreak. II has FRI
Oy time to ume broken into eruptiOns, en-
Ial ting steam, dust and scoriR and less (
N Quently lava. The eruption of 1T79 v
ed one Of the grandest in the history Of [
mountain. Great clouds of white val
fOated abov, the crater. and into :
:. were thrown pieces of stone, fiery
nd masses Of molten rock.
Do Greco, at the foot Of the
had been rebuilt aft
10 1881, was again destI
- flow OF lava from
~ time. The new O.
ID plosiOn Of 1890
M out almos'
al is three
he 1s 100