DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0039
THE RUINS OF POMPEII.
15
place, and appeared to have been gnawed at the joints, while the skeleton of
the dog was perfect. Only one inference can be drawn from this state of
things. The man had evidently died first of hunger, while the dog had
sustained life a little longer by feeding on his body.
The fatal effects of the showers of mud are strikingly illustrated by the
well-known story connected with Diomed’s suburban villa. Eighteen per-
sons, mostly women, had taken shelter in the spacious quadrangular cellar
which surrounds the garden, and were there overwhelmed by the entry of
this liquid matter. Being of a slimy and tenacious nature, and hardening
into a solid concrete, like plaster of Paris, the mud formed perfect moulds
of the unfortunate persons whom it enveloped. The journals give so parti-
cular a description of this discovery that we shall here subjoin a translation.
(Dec. 12th, 1772).
“ It is plain that these eighteen persons, and perhaps others who may be
discovered in the progress of the excavation, were surprised in this part of
the house, where they had taken refuge, as best calculated to save them from
destruction. But it availed not to protect them from a shower of ashes
which fell after the lapillo, and was evidently accompanied with water,
which served to introduce it into places where the first shower could not
penetrate. This deluge of fluid matter, which after a time became a very
tenacious earth, surrounded and enclosed all the substances which it met,
and has preserved the impress and mould of them; as, for instance, of a
wooden chest, and of a pile of small logs of wood. The same thing
happened to the unfortunate human beings who have been discovered; of
their flesh nothing has remained but the impress and mould of it in the
earth, and within are the bones in their regular order. Even the hair on
the skulls is partly preserved, and in some cases is seen to have been curled.
Of the dresses nothing but the mere ashes have been found; but these ashes
preserved traces of the quality of the materials, so that it could be easily
seen whether the texture was coarse or fine. By way of proof of what is
here said to have been observed, I caused as many as sixteen of these moulds
of bodies to be cut open, in one of which is seen the bust of a female covered
with a vest; while in all of these are remains of garments, and sometimes of
two or three, one over the other. I also caused a head with hair on it to be
carefully removed, and sent all these objects to the museum. From the
little that I could distinguish of the vestments, it appeared that several of
the persons had upon their heads cloths which descended to the shoulders;
15
place, and appeared to have been gnawed at the joints, while the skeleton of
the dog was perfect. Only one inference can be drawn from this state of
things. The man had evidently died first of hunger, while the dog had
sustained life a little longer by feeding on his body.
The fatal effects of the showers of mud are strikingly illustrated by the
well-known story connected with Diomed’s suburban villa. Eighteen per-
sons, mostly women, had taken shelter in the spacious quadrangular cellar
which surrounds the garden, and were there overwhelmed by the entry of
this liquid matter. Being of a slimy and tenacious nature, and hardening
into a solid concrete, like plaster of Paris, the mud formed perfect moulds
of the unfortunate persons whom it enveloped. The journals give so parti-
cular a description of this discovery that we shall here subjoin a translation.
(Dec. 12th, 1772).
“ It is plain that these eighteen persons, and perhaps others who may be
discovered in the progress of the excavation, were surprised in this part of
the house, where they had taken refuge, as best calculated to save them from
destruction. But it availed not to protect them from a shower of ashes
which fell after the lapillo, and was evidently accompanied with water,
which served to introduce it into places where the first shower could not
penetrate. This deluge of fluid matter, which after a time became a very
tenacious earth, surrounded and enclosed all the substances which it met,
and has preserved the impress and mould of them; as, for instance, of a
wooden chest, and of a pile of small logs of wood. The same thing
happened to the unfortunate human beings who have been discovered; of
their flesh nothing has remained but the impress and mould of it in the
earth, and within are the bones in their regular order. Even the hair on
the skulls is partly preserved, and in some cases is seen to have been curled.
Of the dresses nothing but the mere ashes have been found; but these ashes
preserved traces of the quality of the materials, so that it could be easily
seen whether the texture was coarse or fine. By way of proof of what is
here said to have been observed, I caused as many as sixteen of these moulds
of bodies to be cut open, in one of which is seen the bust of a female covered
with a vest; while in all of these are remains of garments, and sometimes of
two or three, one over the other. I also caused a head with hair on it to be
carefully removed, and sent all these objects to the museum. From the
little that I could distinguish of the vestments, it appeared that several of
the persons had upon their heads cloths which descended to the shoulders;