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76 ANNUAL REGISTER
it.  The ashes were carried as far as Calabria by the force of the winds, burning up in their passage the grass and high trees, many of which were borne down by the weight of them.  An infinity of birds also, and numberless animals of various kinds, covered with this sulphureous mud, gave themselves up a prey to man.  Now this eruption lasted two nights and two days without intermission, though, it is true, not always with the same force, but with less: when it was at its greatest height, even at Naples you heard a noise and thundering like heavy artillery when two armies are engaged.  The third day the eruption ceased, so that the mountain made its appearance uncovered, to the no small astonishment of every one who saw it.  On this day, when I went up with many people to the top of this mountain; I saw down into its mouth, which was a round concavity of about a quarter of a mile in circumference, in the middle of which stones that had fallen were boiling up, just as in a great cauldron of water that boils on the fire. The fourth day it began to throw up again, and seventh much more, but fills with less violence than the first night; it was at this time that many people who were unfortunately on the mountain, were either suddenly covered with ashes, smothered with smoke, or knocked down by stones, burnt by flame, and left dead on the spot. The smoke continues to this day, and you often see in the nighttime fire in the midst of it. Finally, to complete the history of this new and unforeseen event, in many parts of the new-made mountain, sulphur begins to be generated." Giacomo di Toledo, towards the end of his dissertation upon the phænomena attending this eruption, says, that the lake of Avernus had a communication with the fea, before the time of the eruption; and that he apprehended that air of Puzzole might come to be affected in summer-time, by the vapours from the stagnated waters of the lake, which is actually the cafe.
You have, Sir, from these accounts, an instance of a mountain, of a considerable height and dimensions, formed in a plain, by mere explosion, in the space of forty-eight hours. The earthquakes having been sensibly felt at a great distance from the spot where the opening was made, proves clearly, that the subterraneous fire was at a great depth below the surface of the plain; it is as clear that those earthquakes, and the explosion, proceeded from the fame cause upon the appearance of the latter. Does not this circumstance evidently contradict the system of M. Buffon, and of all the natural historians, who have the seat of fire of volcanos towards the center, or near the summit of the mountains, which they suppose to furnish the matter emitted? Did the matter which proceeds from a volcano in an eruption come from so inconsiderable a depth as they imagine, that part of the mountain situated above their supposed seat of the fire must necessarily be destroyed, or dissipated in a very short time: on the contrary, an eruption usually adds
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For the YEAR 1772 77

to the height and bulk of a volcano; and who, that has had an opportunity of making observations on volcanoes, does not know, that the matter they have emitted for many ages, in lavas, ashes, smoke, &c. could it be collected together, would than suffice to form three such mountains as the simple cone or mountain of the existing volcano? With respect to Vesuvius, this could be plainly proved; and I refer to my letter upon the subject of Etna, to shew the quantity of matter thrown up in one single eruption, by that terrible volcano. Another proof that the real feat of the fire of volcanos lies even greatly below the general level of the country whence the mountain springs, is, that was it only at an inconsiderable depth below the basis of the mountain, the quantity of matter thrown up would foon leave fo great a void immediately under it, that the mountain itself must undoubtedly sink and disappear after a few eruptions.
In the above accounts of the formation of the new mountain, we are told that the matter first thrown up, was mud composed of water and ashes, mixed with pumice stones and other burnt matter: on the road leading from Puzzole to Cuma, part of the cone of this mountain has been cut away to widen the road. I have there seen that its composition is a tufa intermixed with pumice, some of which are really of the size of an ox, as mentioned in Toledo's account, and exactly of the same nature as the tufa of which every other high ground in its neighbourhood is composed; similar also to that which covers Herculaneum. According to the above accounts, after the muddy shower ceased, it rained dry ashes; this circumstance will account for the strata of loose pumice and ashes, that are generally upon the surface of all the tufas in this country, and which were most probably thrown up in the same manner. At the first opening of the earth, in the plain near Puzzole, both accounts say, and springs of water burst forth; this water, mixing with the ashes, certainly occasioned the muddy shower; when the springs were exhausted, there must naturally have ensued a shower of dry ashes and pumice, of which we have been likewise assured. I own, I was greatly pleased at being in this manner enabled to account so well for the formation of these tufa stones and veins of dry and loose burnt matter above them, of which the soil of almost the whole country I am describing is composed; and I do not know that anyone has ever attended to this circumsance, though I find that many authors, who have described this country, have suspected that parts of it were formed by explosion. Wherever then this fort of tufa is found, there is certainly good authority to suspect its having been formed in the same manner as the tufa of this new mountain; for, as I said before, nature is generally uniform in all her operations. 
 It is commonly imagined that the new mountain rose out of the Lucrine lake which was destroyed by it; but in the above account, no mention is made of the Lucrine lake; it may be supposed then, that the famous dam, which Strabo and many other ancient authours mention to have separated that lake from 

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Translate it as it appears, not as it is pronounced or what the author was originally trying to say ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-13 14:59:40 Ensure all letters that appear similar to "f" are written as "s" where logical. If you look closely you can tell whether or not it is a true f if the line in the middle does not completely strike through.