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threaten Naples with immediate deſtruction, ⟨having⟩ at one time been bent over the city, and ⟨appearing⟩ to be much too maſive and ponderous to ⟨remain⟩ long ſuſpended in the air; it was, beſides, ⟨replete⟩ with the ferilli, or volcanic lightning, which ⟨was⟩ ſtronger than common lightning.
Veſuvius was at this time completely covered, ⟨it⟩ were all the old black lavas, with a thick coat ⟨of⟩ thoſe fine light grey aſhes already fallen, which ⟨gave⟩ it a cold and horrid appearance; and in compariſon of the abovementioned enormous maſs of clouds which certainly, however it may contradict our ⟨idea⟩ of the extenſion of our atmoſphere, roſe many miles above the mountain, it appeared like a molehill although the perpendicular height of Veſuvius from the level of the ſea, is more than three thouſand ſix hundered feet. The abbe Braccini, as appears in his printed account of the eruption ⟨of⟩ Mount Veſuvius in 1631, meaſured with a quadrant the elevation of a maſs of clouds of the ſame nature which was formed over Veſuvius during that great eruption, and found it to exceed thirty miles ⟨in⟩ height. Dr. Scotti, in his printed account of this eruption, ſays, that the height of this threatning cloud of ſmoke and aſhes, meaſured from Naples, was found to be of an elevation of thirty degrees.
The forms of thunder and lightning, attended at tin's with heavy falls of rain and aſhes, cauſing the most deſtructive torrents of water and glutinous mud, mixed with huge ſtones, and trees torn up by the roots, continued more or leſs to afflict the inhabitants on both ſides of the volcano until the 7th of July, when the laſt torrent deſtroyed many hundred acres of cultivated land, between the towns of Torre del Greco and Torre dell' Annunziata. Some of theſe torrents, both on the ſea ſide and the
