Chapters XX & XXI: The VOLCANO & GREAT ERUPTIONS OF VESUVIUS

CHAPTER XX.

THE VOLCANO.

Erroneous views—Myths—Active principle in volcanoes—Atmospheric pressure—Rain at eruptions—Lava, pumice, ashes and tufa—Different phases of action—Stromboli, the “lighthouse”—Lava bubbles—Thrilling adventure—Lost!—Theory of a molten earth—Objections to it—The earth cools slowly—Subsidence and chemical action—Distribution of volcanoes—Their work and forms

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CHAPTER XXI.

GREAT ERUPTIONS OF VESUVIUS.

Pompeii long buried—Excavations begun—A hermetically sealed city—Scenes in the town—Pliny’s story—Hundreds stifled—Finding the bodies—Subsequent eruptions—Notable convulsion of 1538—The eruption of 1531, 1737 and 1793—Recent observations