HARNESSING VULCAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19773, 22 February 1927, Page 11

HARNESSING VULCAN

’NEAPOLITAN NOTIONS POWEP FROM A VOLCANO. One Hay it may be possible to travel on an electric tram in Naples the power of which is supplied by a volcano. This is the remarkable vision opened up by the re-awakening of the crater of the Solfatara at Pazzouli, which for the past 800 years has been considered extinct. A few years ago two volcanic cauldrons opened in the crater base, and scientists believe that if the forces, heat and electricity, at this point were harnessed, there would be sufficient electricity available to supply Naples and the surrounding towns. But it has been found impossible to get piping that will withstand the corroding actions of the hydrosulphides and sulphuric dioxide of the soil near the volcano mouth. Both iron and white metal pipes have soon been destroyed. In the Roman days the baths of the Solfatara were famous for curative properties, and since the war some of the vapours coming from the different apertures have brought health to exsoldiers suffering from lung trouble. Kaolin, for the manufacture of statuettes, has also been taken from the crater basin, and to study the crater a small observatory was erected some years ago.