Etna

or #tna, Mount, the gredtest voleano in Europe, a mountain in the province of Catania, Sicily; height, 10,874 feet. It rises imme diately from the sea, has a circumference of more than 100 miles, and dominates the whole N. E. of Sicily, having a number of towns and villages on its lower slopes., The top is covered with perpetual snow; midway down is the woody or forest region; at the foot is a region of orchards, vineyards, olive groves, ete. Etna thus presents the variety of climates common to high mountains in lower latitudes, oranges and lemons and other fruits growing at the foot, the vine rather higher up, then oaks, chestnuts, beeches, and pines, while on the loftiest or desert region vegetation is of quite a stunted character. A more or Je distinct margin of cliff separates the mountain proper from the surrounding plain; and the whole ma seems formed of a series of supe rim mountains, the terminal volcano eing surrounded by a number of cones, all of volcanic origin, and nearly 100 of which are of considerable size. The eruptions of Etna have been numerous, and many of them destructive. That of 1169 overwhelmed Catania and buried 15,000 persons in the ruins. In 1669 the lava spread over the country for 40 days, and 10,000: persons are estimated to have perished. In 1693 there was an earthquake during the eruption, when over 60,000 lives were lost. One eruption was in 1755, the year of the Lisbon earthquake. Among more recent eruptions are those of 1852, 1865, 1874, 1879, 1886, 1892. An eruption is ordinarily preceded by premonitory symptoms of longer or shorter duration. The population of the district of Etna is about 300,000. | Etruria (Greek Tyrrhenia), the mame anciently given to that part of Italy which corresponded nearly with the modern Tuscany, and was bounded W. by the Mediterranean, E. by the A pennines, N. by the river Magra, and S. by the Tiber.