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that, although the town of Torre del Greco was instantly surrounded with red-hot lava, the inhabitants saved themselves by coming out of the tops of their houses on the follow- ing day. It is evident, observes Mr Kirwan, that if this lava had been hot enough to melt even the most fusible stones, these persons must have been suffocated. This eruption happened on the 15th of                   June, at ten o'clock at night, and was an- nounced by a shoek of an earthquake, which was distinctly felt at Naples At the same moment a fountain of bright fire, attended with a very black smoke and a loud report, was seen to issue, and rise to a considerable height, from about the middle of the cone of                   Vesuvius. It was hastily succeeded by other fountains, fifteen of which were counted, all in a direct line, tending, for the space of a-                   bout a mile and a half downward, towards the towns of Resina and Torre del Greco.-- This fiery scene—-this great operation of na- ture--was accompanied by the loudest thun- der, the incessant reports of which, like those of a numerous heavy artillery, were attended by a continued hollow murmur, similar to                   that of the roaring of the ocean during a vi- olent storm. Another blowing noise resem- bled that of the ascent of a large flight of                   rockets. The houses at Naples were for several hours in a constant tremor, the doors