————————————— whe POMPEI'S FALL © 70LD BY PLINY Excavaiion Work by Italy Recalls Narrative by Eyewitness. Tow York.—As the work of exca- vating Herculaneum officially began under the auspices of Italy's king the other day, old Vesuvius stirred and started into life, hurling blazing rocks and smoke clouds high into the air as if in protest at the unearthing of a city it had’ buried 1,848 years ago. But, according to scientists, there is little danger of Mount Vesuvius re- peating the terrific outbursts of 79 A, D., and so the celebrating throngs made merry, even into the night, when brilliant fireworks lighted up the Bay of Naples, vying with the bursts of dame high up in the volcano’s crater. It is a different picture that Pliny the Younger draws—a picture of ter- ror-ridden days and nights, presaged by violent earth tremors that leveled many houses before the awful spec- tacle of fire was dimly seen through a rain of blazing stone and ash by a doomed humanity. Yet concerning the disaster he writes with a philo- sophical detachment that makes one wonder at his powers of observation and presence of mind in such r panicky time. Eighteen at Time of Disaster. Pliny the Younger was only eighteen at the time of Mount Vesuvius’ erup- tion, yet remarkably precocious and devoted to study. Born to riches in an honorable family, the early death of his father led to his adoption as a son by the elder Pliny, his uncle. Caius Plinius Caecilious Secundus was the youth's name, his mother being Plinia, the elder Pliny’s sister, and his father, Caius Caecilius, of a plebeian family ‘that nevertheless numbered consuls land other men of pote in its ranks. The father’s health, however, prob- ably was responsible for the fame his son achieved, for the elder Pliny, re- nowned naturalist and man of letters, ‘saw to it that his adopted son was given the best of education and schooled in the literary and philosoph- jeal learning that meant sO much to him. Vespasian, first emperor of the Fla- yian dynasty, came to the end of his ‘worthy rule over Rome in the year tragedy stalked in the Bay of Naples. The dissolute times of Nero had been followed with the bloodshed of civil wars under the Emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius before Vespasian was placed at the empire's head to restore good times. He passed on to his son, Titus, the rule of Rome, and the de- struction of Pompeil and Heculaneum, in the first summer of Titus’ short reign, was one of three tragedies that marred his otherwise excellent dispo- sition of Roman government. A fire jn Rome nearly as bad as that of Nero's day and a time of plague which followed it were the other two. No Indication of Eruption. To the Romans clustered along the penutiful shores of the Bay of Naples in villas and close-built cities in T9 A. D., there was no indication that Mount Vesuvius might erupt. Earth- quakes were not uncommon in the region; in fact, one in 63 A. D. had been of a devastating nature. The Roman towns grouped along the cres- cent-shaped bay shore, starting at the northern promontory, were: Misenum, Baiae, Puteoli, Neapolis, Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. At Misenum existed a naval station, Raiae was a popular bathing resort, Neapolis was one of the largest Ro- man metropoli, Pompeii was a more or less commercial center, and Her- culaneum the summer resort of the wealthy. For this reason the task of digging it from beneath 100 feet of lava and volcanic mud is expected to reveal finer literary and art treasures than those uncovered at Pompeii in the past. Pliny the Younger, in 79 A. D,, was spending the summer with his uncle and mother near Misenum, the elder Pliny being in command of the Roman fleet stationed there. To the south and east rose the vine and tree-clad mountain slopes, completely covering Vesuvius in such manner that there was no suspicion of volcanic forces slumbering there. > Saw Death cf Uncle. Here Pliny, who began practice at an advocate a year later, witnessed the eruption and saw his uncle go to his death in an effort to rescue people caught on the bay shore closer to the voleano’s mouth. Pliny’s description of the disaster the world owes to the historian Tacitus, who some years la- tor wrote asking for the details sur- rounding the elder Pliny’s death and for an account of the dangers which the youth himself escaped. «On the 24th of August,” Pliny first wrote, “about ome in the afternoon, my mother desired him (the elder Pliny) to observe a cloud which ap- peared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just taken a turn in the sun, and, after bathing himself in cold water, and making a light lunch- eon, gone back to his books; he imme- diately arose and went out upon a rising ground from whence he might get a better sight of this very uncom- mon appearance. “A cloud, from which mountain was ancertain at this distance, was ascend- ing, the appearance of which TI can- not give you a more exact description of than by likening it to a pine tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a PTI RU AO Som SA 2 —— sort of branches, occasioned, I imag- ine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which de- creased as it advanced upward, or the cloud itself, being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in the manner I have mentioned; it appeared gometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. Youth Stays to Study. “his phenomenon seemed to a man of such learning and research as my uncle extraordinary and worth further looking into, He ordered a light ves- sel to be got ready, and gave me leave, if I liked, to accompany him. I said I had rather go on with my work ; and it so happened he had him- gelf given me something to write out. As he was coming out of the house, he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; for, her villa lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way of escape but by sea. She earnestly entreated him therefore to come to her assistance. He according- ly changed his first intention, and what he had begun from a philosophi- cal he now carried out in a noble an” generous spirit. “He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board with an intention of assisting not only Rec- tina, but the several other towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast. Hastening then to the place from whence others fled with the utmost calmness and presence of mind as to be able to make and dic- tate his observations upon the motion and all the phenomena of that dread- ful scene. Burning Rocks Fall on Ships. “IIe was now so close to the moun- cain that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he ap- proached, fell into the ships, together with pumice stones and black pieces of burning rock; they were in danger, too, not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, hut also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain and obstruct- ed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should turn back again; to which the pilot advising him, ‘Fortune, said he ‘favors the brave; steer to where Pomponianus is.” The brave elder Pliny, his nephew told Tacitus, won his way to the shore where he greeted his friend Pomponi- anus, maintaining a cool front in the face of nature’ cataclysm for the bene- fit of the latter by ordering a bath and lying down to sleep as night came on and the turbulent waves prevented them from sailing away. Pliny con- tinues: Nearly Hemmed In. “The court which led to his (the sleeping Pliny’s) apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes. if | he had continued there any time longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way out. ‘80 he was awakened and got up, and went to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were feeling too anxious to think of going to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now rocked from side to side with frequent and violent concussicns as though shaken from their very foundations; or to fly to the open fields, where calcined stones and cin- ders, though light indeed, yet fell in iarge showers and threatened destruc- tion.” The trapped Romans finally decidea cor the fields and went out “having pillows tied upon their heads” for pro- tection, and after going to the shore of the bay the elder Pliny suddenly fell and died. The opinion of his nephew was that death came from suf- | location from the fumes in the air, but it is probable that a sudden at- tack of illness was responsible, since Stabiae, whither he had gone, was about ten miles from the volcano’s mouth. Pliny’s account of his uncle's death was followed by another letter i to Tacitus in which he described his and his mother’s escape. Earthquake Felt First. “There had been noticed for many days before,” he wrote, “a trembling of the earth, which did not alarm much, as this is quite an ordinary ¢.- currence in Campania; but it was so particularly violent that night that it not only shook but actually over- turned, as it would seem, everything about us.” Pliny and his mother were both awakened from uneasy sleep after the elder Pliny had gone and fled the house to sit in an open courtyard. There the youth began nonchalantly to read “Livy,” as he says, either in “courage or folly,” and he continued, although a friend of his uncle’s re- proved him. The tottering buildings finally persuaded them to leave the town. ASTIEEIRBeE TN “hw Escapes With Mother. After this a black cloud of ashes came upon them, and Pliny led his mother by the hand to a place away from the main road, so that they would not be trampled by the panic- stricken mobs in flight. He vividly de- scribes the cries made by parents and children separated and lost in the blackness of artificial night and the oft-expressed fear that the end of the world had come. When light at last returned Pliny (nd his mother went back to Misenum to await the sad news of his uncle, and he closes his letter to Tacitus with the modest declaration that his narrative is “not in the least worthy” for Inclusion in history; a fact which literature today vehemently disputes, inasmuch as Pliny’s story remains the world’s most thorough and enlighten- ing description of a disaster nearly nineteen centuries ago, and the only written account by an eyewitness. Honeymoons by Air 2 Popular in England London.—Many more women use the airplane service be- tween England and the conti- nent than men. There has been a large increase in the number of young honeymooners whe travel by air rather than put up with the discomforts of cross-channel steamer travel. Close observers say that the women seem much more at home several thousand feet in the air than the male passen- ger. Increased facilities for flying now make it possible for the wealthy woman to leave Croydon in the morning, fly to Paris for shopping, and be back in England in time for dinner. Several well-known society woien have made several such trips this season. GET POWER FROM CURRENTS OF STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR Spanish Economist Sees Vast Possi- bilities in Harnessing Power- ful Stream. Madrid.—The currents passing from the Atlantic ocean into the Mediter- ranean sea, and vice versa, produce an enormous power that could be used and transformed into electricity, according to Don Emilio Zurano Munzo, prominent Spanish economist, who has completed a preliminary study of the question, and submitted it to King Alphonso XIII Zurano calculated that one currem going through the Strait of Gibraltar, coming from the Atlantic ocean and carrying a yearly volume of 26,000 cu- bic kilometers of water, at an aver- age speed of ten kilometers per hour, and the other current crossing under- neath from the Mediterranean into the ocean, with a yearly volume of 3,000 cubic kilometers saturated with salt, can be turned into a formid- able continual electric power of over 30 milliards of horse power. In the document addressed to the king, Zurano said the maximum pOw- er lies in the bay west of Algericas, but that power is also available in oth- er points on both sides of the strait. Explaining the course of energy | there, Zurano pointed out that to get | an appropriate idea of che water flow- ing every year into the Mediterranean sea, one must imagine a huge cube of water three times and one-third high- er than Mount Everest running at 800,000 cubic meters of water per sec- ond. Adding the subcurrent which \ furnishes 95,000 cubic meters of wa- | ter per second, the constant electrical power obtainable reaches 36,690,000, | 000 horse power. Kiss in the Dark Gets Freedom for Prisoner Paris.—A kiss in the dark got Frenchman out of prison the other day. The prisoner, Fritz Gabril, had been behind the bars for two years and had several more to serve. His wife came to see him. At the leavetaking in the dark corridor Gabril and his wife em- ' praced with especial warmth, the parting kiss being so movie-like in . léngth that the guards noticed it and . were moved. ' @abril had a slip of paper in his | cheek. It passed his wife’s lips dur- ing the embrace. On the paper was | written: “Tomorrow, during the recreation hour, I will jump over the wall. Have a vehicle waiting for me on the other | side of the moat.” Mrs. Gabril had the vehicle. Hel | husband got away and hasn't been heard of since. Odd Styles Feature Weddings in Africa Boma, Belgian Congo.—Natives ot the yemote Kasai region of Africa have ¢aken a liking to the fashions of civilieation. “The first converted native couples I married,” said Father Achille de Munster, a missionary in the district for the last 20 years, “wore nothing but a loin cloth. But you should see them now. Recently I married 15 cou- ples. They all sported white suits and the brides wore shoes and hats and their black faces were literally powdered white, ss So.. «Some had on one white shoe ana one black. They seemed to think that was the height of chic.” One bridegroom, Father Munstex said, fainted from the heat and his costume of two pairs of trousers, two shirts, two vests, two coats and a tight collar. Cattle Become Wild Pacific ocean from Kodiak. More than 40 years ago the Alaska cattle for experimental purposes. continues to thrive. cattle can be grown in the region. on Alaskan Island Kodiak, Alaska.—Three hundred and fifty shorthorn cattle browse over the mountainous surface of tiny Chilikof island, 200 miles out in the northern Commercial company, a development concern long since extinct, stocked the island with a few head of tame On the little isle with a surface of only 20 square miles, the cattle have de- generated from inbreeding and have become thoroughly wild, but the herd Alaskans say the experiment at least has proved that ee —— LATEST VESSEL TO SKiM OCEAN Half Ship, Half Plane, It Will Use Gas Derived From Sea. Paris—A French naval engineer named Jean-Paul Michel has invented an ocean liner that is half ship and half airplane. The new ocean vehicle, which 1s called The Greyhound of the Sea, iS guaranteed to have a speed of 50 miles an hour and te cross the Atlap- tic in 60 hours. It is unlike any other boat or aire plane that has ever been built, al- though an Italian company at Genoa ts now constructing a “mystery boat” along somewhat the same lines. Driven by Two Air Propellers, The Greyhound of the Sea will be driven by two big air propellers at the bow, just like an airplane or seaplane, and instead of riding through the water like a ship it will glide over the top of the waves. There will be an air rudder and also a water rudder, but there are no under-water propellers. The ship has large skids underneath to help it slide across the waves. “I know exactly how it will per form when it is finished,” Michel, who is a graduate of the leading French technical school, explained the other day. “I have been testing out different models for almost fifteen years, and I finally found one that fulfilled all my expectations. “The first big experimental ship, which is about 150 feet long and has accommodations for thirty persons, is now being built in my shipyard near Toulon. It is more than half finished, and the first thing I am going to do when it is all ready is to take a trip to New York. I am going to make it in two days and three nights. “I think my invention will upset all existing ideas about navigation, and particularly the propulsion of war- ships.” But the strangest thing about The Greyhound of the Sea is that it will carry practically no fuel aside from a little oil for an emergency motor. Michel also has invented a procest of exacting sodium from the sea, transforming it on beard ship into a gas and using this gas to run a spe- cial motor he has adapted to it, but the details of the invention are care- fully guarded. The most important room on boara ais new ship will be a big laboratory near the stern, where a chemist will be constantly on duty te supervise this chemical process. He claims there is such an abun- dance of this fuel in the ocean that he could travel on it as long as his ship held together, bu& just as a pre- caution he is going to install a little Diesel motor and take on a little fuel oil, this precaution being omitted after the new system has been fully tried out. In appearance The Greyhound oi che Sea will look something like a sub- marine, with horizontal fins at the sides, riding the surface of the water. Top Will Be Entirely Enclosed. The top wil be entirely enclosed ex-