Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/237

 Resina, Torre del Greco, Torre del Annunziata, and Bosche Tre Case, a remarkable phenomenon was witnessed. Throughout the whole of that part of the country the air was so filled with ashes as to cause in the middle of the day profound darkness, lasting for several hours: lanterns were carried in the streets, as has so often been done at Quito during the eruptions of Pichincha. The flight of the inhabitants had never been more general: lava currents are regarded by those who dwell near Vesuvius with less dread than an eruption of ashes, a phenomenon which had never been known to such a degree in modern times; and the obscure tradition of the manner in which the destruction of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiæ took place, filled the imaginations of men with appalling images.

The hot aqueous vapours which rose from the crater during the eruption and spread themselves in the atmosphere, formed, in cooling, a dense cloud, surrounding the column of fire and ashes, which rose to a height of between nine and ten thousand feet. So sudden a condensation of vapour, and even, as Gay-Lussac has shewn, the formation of the cloud itself, augmented the electric tension. Flashes of forked lightning, issuing from the column of ashes, darted in every direction; and the rolling thunders were distinctly heard, and distinguished from the sounds which proceeded from the interior of the volcano. In no other eruption had the play of the electric forces formed so striking a feature.

On the morning of the 26th of October, a surprising rumour prevailed, to the effect that a torrent of boiling water was gushing from the crater, and pouring down the