Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other volcanos: in a series of letters, addressed to the Royal Society / from the Honourable Sir W. Hamilton ... To which are added, explanatory notes by the author, hitherto unpublished.

  • William Hamilton
Date:
1772
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other volcanos: in a series of letters, addressed to the Royal Society / from the Honourable Sir W. Hamilton ... To which are added, explanatory notes by the author, hitherto unpublished. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    MOUNT Wisuvrs, be, cea , ma, which 1 1s now confidered as a diftinct mountain from it, was compofed . in the fame manner. ‘This may plainly be per- ceived, by examining its interior and ex- terior form,. and the {trata of. lava and burnt matter of which it is compofed. The: ancients, in defcribing Vefuvius, never mention two mountains. Strabo, Dio, Vitruvius, all agree, that V efuvius, in their time, fhewed figns of having - formerly erupted [4], and the firlt compares the - [k} Strabo, in -his fifth book of Geography, fays, “ Supra hee loca fitus eft Vefuvius mons agris cine- “‘ tus optimis: -dempto ¥ertice, qui magna. ie parte “+ planus, totus fterilis eit, adfpectu cinzreus, cavernaf- «que oftendens fiftularum Sa ages! lapidum colore «.fuliginofo, utpote ab igni exeforum, ut conjecturam “¢ facere poffit ifta loca quondam arfifle, et crateras - “‘ignis habuiffe, deinde materia deficiente reftin¢ta et fuille... Diodorus Siculus, in his fourth book, defcribing the voyage of Hercules into Italy, fays, ‘ Phlegreus ** quoque campus is locus appellatur a colle nimirum, “ gui Altne inflar Sicule magnam vim igniseructabat; “nunc Vefuvius nominatur, multa inflammationis “ prifting veftigia refervans.” And: Vitruvius, in the crater
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