The Museum of Science and Art Volume 11 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 Excerpt: ...situated on the island of Sicily, and composed entirely of erupted mineral substances, rises to a height above the level of the Mediterranean of nearly eleven thousand feet. The circumference of its base is more than a hundred and eighty miles, and on a clear day it may be distinctly seen from any elevated point of the island of Malta, a distance of a hundred and fifty miles. Compared with this volcano, Vesuvius is insignificant. While the streams of lava from the latter never exceed seven miles in length, those of Etna very often are from fifteen to thirty miles, being five miles in breadth, and from fifty to a hundred feet in thickness. The surface of Etna presents three distinct regions. Around the base for an extent of twelve miles, the country is richly cultivated, and abounds in vineyards and pastures, and is the site of many towns, monasteries, and villages. The middle or temperate zone above is covered with forests of oak and chestnut, and a luxuriant vegetation reaches to within a mile of the summit. Above this all is sterility and desolation, and the highest point of the mountain is covered with eternal snow. The crater is about a quarter of a mile in height, and three-quarters of a mile in circumference, and is situated in the centre of a gently inclined plain, three miles in diameter. From the crater a column of vapour constantly issues, emanating from the mass of incandescent mineral matter which fills up the interior, and may be seen, in a state of ebullition, in the fumarolles in some of the lateral crevices, of which there are generally several accessible. 144. Etna is recorded as having been in a state of activity before the Trojan war; and ever since, at varying intervals, violent eruptions have occurred. In an eruption of 1669, the torren...