"If the idea of Lemery were correct, that the action of sulphur on iron may be a cause of volcanic fires, sulphate of iron ought to be the great product of the volcano; which is known not to be the case; and the heat produced by the action of sulphur on the common metals is quite inadequate to account for the appearances. When it is considered that volcanic fires occur and intermit with all the phenomena that indicate intense chemical action, it seems not unreasonable to refer them to chemical causes. But for phenomena upon such a scale, an immense mass of matter must be in activity, and the products of the volcano ought to give an idea of the nature of the substances primarily active. Now, what are these products? Mixtures of the earths in an oxidated and fused state, and intensely ignited; water and saline substances, such as might be furnished by the sea and air, altered in such a manner as might be expected from the formation of fixed oxidated matter. But it may be said, if the oxidation of the metals of the earths be the causes of the phenomena, some of these substances ought occasionally to be found in the lava, or the combustion ought to be increased at the moment the materials passed into the atmosphere. But the reply to this objection is, that it is evident that the changes which occasion volcanic fires take place in immense subterranean cavities; and that the access of air to the acting substances occurs long before they reach the exterior surface.
"There is no question but that the ground under the solfaterra is hollow; and there is scarcely any reason to doubt of a subterraneous communication between this crater and that of Vesuvius: whenever Vesuvius is in an active state, the solfaterra is comparatively tranquil. I examined the bocca of the solfaterra on the 21st of February 1820, two days before the activity of Vesuvius was at its height: the columns of steam which usually arise in large quantities when Vesuvius is tranquil, were now scarcely visible, and a piece of paper thrown into the aperture did not rise again; so that there was every reason to suppose the existence of a descending current of air. The subterraneous thunder heard at such great distances under Vesuvius is almost a demonstration of the existence of great cavities below filled with aëriform matter: and the same excavations which, in the active state of the volcano, throw out, during so great a length of time, immense volumes of steam, must, there is every reason to believe, in its quiet state, become filled with atmospheric air.[115]