tated to receive this as true; bnt when
I read in your Cofmography, that
Braccini had obrcrved in 1631, a
column o f fmoak from Vefuvius to
extend over feveral miles of the country,
from which deadly lightning
proceeded; and that the fame happened
in 1767, when the iron rods
erecled in Naples became eleclric
whenever Veiuvius emitted fire ; I
am the more inclined to believe that
there is fomething electrical in this
kind o f fire, as the fame phenomena
appear in thunder and lightning»
L E T T E R
J ;?■ ’i
T o Profeflbr B e r g m a n .
O f the Volcanos in Iceland.
Stockholm, Sept. 7, 1773«
IT fcarcely ever happens that the
mountains begin to throw out fire
unexpectedly; for befides a loud rumbling
noife that is heard at a confiderable
diftance, and for feveral days
preceding any eruption ; and a roaring
and cracking in the part from
whence the fire is going to burfl forth;
many fiery meteors are obferved, but
unattended in general with any violent
concuflion o f the earth ; though
fometimes earthquakes, o f which the
hiftory o f the country affords feveral
inftances, have accompanied thefe
dreadful conflagrations.
Among the traces left by theie
eruptions, are particularly the clefts
frequently to be met with, the largefl
of which is Almennegiaa, near the
\vater o f Tingalla ; it is very long,
P 4 and
I "ft" Iti-
“M r ri
I'll"'*
ri'. B. B;'"