Copy 1, Volume 1

The gallery of nature and art; or, a tour through creation and science. Comprising new and entertaining descriptions of the most surprising volcanoes, caverns, cataracts, whirlpools, waterfalls, earthquakes, and other wonderful and stupendous phenomena of nature. Forming a rich and comprehensive view of all that is interesting and curious in every part of the habitable world. By the Rev. E. Polehampton, and John M. Good, F.R.S. Illustrated by one hundred engravings / [Edward Thomas William Polehampton].

Polehampton, Edward (Edward Thomas William), 1777?-1830.

Date:: 1821

Credit: The gallery of nature and art; or, a tour through creation and science. Comprising new and entertaining descriptions of the most surprising volcanoes, caverns, cataracts, whirlpools, waterfalls, earthquakes, and other wonderful and stupendous phenomena of nature. Forming a rich and comprehensive view of all that is interesting and curious in every part of the habitable world. By the Rev. E. Polehampton, and John M. Good, F.R.S. Illustrated by one hundred engravings / [Edward Thomas William Polehampton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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ON VOLCANIC MATERIALS. | 607 _ the other side was immediate, and as steep as the one we had as- cended ; but by throwing our legs across it, as would be done on the ridge of a house, and moving ourselves forward by our hands, we at length reached that part of it where it gradually widened itself and formed the summit of the cliff, which we found to have a perfectly flat surface, of the dimensions before stated. Judging this to be the most conspicuous situation, we here planted the Union, and left a bottle sealed up containing a small account of the origin of the island, and of our having landed upon it, and nam- ing it Sabrina Island. Within the crater I found the complete skeleton of a guard fish, the bones of which being perfectly burnt, fell to pieces upon at- tempting to take them up; and by the account of the inhabitants on the coast of St. Michael’s, great numbers of fish had been de- stroyed during the early part of the eruption, as large quantities, probably suffocated or poisoned, were occasionally found drifted into the small inlets or bays. The island, like other volcanic productions, is composed princi- pally of porous substances, and generally burnt to complete cinders, with occasional masses of a stone, which I should suppose to be a mixture of iron and lime-stone. [Lowenorn. Payne’s Geog. Extr. Phil. Trans, 1728, 1812.] CHAP. XVII. MINERALOGICAL REMARKS ON THE NATURE OF VOL- CANIC MATERIALS. — eee Tuas is a subject which still requires the attention of oryctologists. Weare scarcely acquainted, says Dr. Thomson in his History of the Royal Society, with the nature of the rocks of which Etna or Vesuvius is composed : indeed, the task is extremely difficult ; for these moun- tains are so surrounded with lava on‘all sides, that the rock itself, of which the mountain consisted before the volcano commenced, may perhaps be entirely concealed from view. The prodigious extent of

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