. Just by
the house with the double vestibule the main street divides into two,
inclined to each other at a very acute angle, which form, together
with a third cross street of more importance, called the Strada delle
Terme, or Street of the Baths, another small triangular island.

The house of the apex was an apothecary's shop. A great many drugs,
glasses, and vials of the most singular forms, were found here; in
some of the latter fluids were yet remaining. In particular one large
glass vase is to be mentioned, capable of holding two gallons, in
which was a gallon and a half of a reddish liquid, said to be balsam.
On being opened, the contents began to evaporate very fast, and it
was, therefore, closed hermetically. About an inch in depth of the
contents has been thus lost, leaving on the sides of the vessel a
sediment, reaching up to the level to which it was formerly filled.
The right-hand street leads to buildings entirely in ruins, the
left-hand one, which is a continuation of the Via Consularis, or
Domitiana, conducts us towards the Forum.

Immediately to the eastward of the district just described is the
House of Pansa, which occupies a whole block. The block between it and
the city walls, on the north, offers nothing remarkable. Beyond, still
to the east, is a block separated from it by a narrow street, called
the Via della Fullonica, and bounded on the other side by the Street
of Mercury, which runs in a straight line from the walls nearly to the
Forum. This block contains, besides several private houses of great
beauty, the Fullonica, or establishment for the fulling and dyeing of
woolen cloths. This, together with the bake-house above mentioned,
will be described further on.

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HOUSE OF HOLCONIUS.

Passing on the insula or block, bounded on the north by the Street of
Holconius, on the south by the Street of Isis, on the west by the
Street of the Theatres, and on the east by that of Stabiae, we find two
remarkable houses excavated within the last few years. That at the
northern corner of the street of the Theatres, numbered 4 on the
entrance, is sometimes called the House of Holconius. The two stores
which precede it, numbered 2 and 3, seem to have been the property of
the master of the house, and communicate with each other. A third
shop, numbered 1, at the angle of the street, appears to have been
occupied by a dyer, and is called Taberna Offectoris. On t