GEOLOGY. 365 



the British Association, was, that more earthquakes occurred in our "winter 

 months " than iii the other months of the year. My facts accord with his in 

 this particular. 



Yon Tschudi ascertained, by his inquiries in Peru, that an excess of 

 earthquakes occurred in that country in November, December and January 

 of each year. 



By the most careful and extensive search into the observations of natives 

 and foreign residents, during- a fortnight spent at Acapulco, in Mexico, in 

 1853, I discovered that the same preponderance of earthquakes, both as to 

 number and violence, prevailed there from October to February every 

 year. 



Since that time I have found the same notable fact to exist at Hawaii, 

 although perhaps less marked as a regular annual result, in consequence of 

 the plutonic outlet of Kilauea being constantly open, and more or less active. 

 Nevertheless, of eighty-nine earthquakes observed at Hilo in twenty-two and 

 a half years, seventeen more occurred during the six pcrihelic months, than 

 during the aphelic months. This is deduced from the record of Mrs. Ly- 

 man, the missionary at Hilo, furnished to me by Rev. Titus Coan, of the 

 same place. 



An intelligent observer, John TV. Widdificld, of New York City, who re- 

 sided at Petropaulaski, Kamtschatka, for one and a half years, informed me 

 that it was a fact well known to the Russian residents, and that he had ob- 

 served the same, that earthquakes, which arc frequent there, occur in greater 

 numbers in the winter than summer, and that a volcano in sight of his resi- 

 dence was more active in the winter than summer. 



Mons. Victor Prevost resided for two years at the Isle of Bourbon, nearly 

 the antipode of the last-named locality, about the same time that Mr. AVid- 

 difield resided in Kamtschatka, and he became familiar with the phenomena 

 of the famous volcano on that island. He stated to me, as the common ob- 

 servation of the inhabitants, and of his own knowledge, that the crater is 

 quiet for six months, and active for six months ; and that every year the 

 lava flows from it in December and January. 



It is also given as a well-observed fact that earthquakes are more frequent 

 in Chili from October to March, than at the other period of the year. 



Dolamieu, Hamilton and Scrope long ago stated, on the authority of the 

 inhabitants of the Lipari Isles, that the eruptions of Stromboli were far 

 more violent during " the icinter seasons than in summer." 



Here is a great array of authentic and suggestive facts which cannot be 

 controverted, but which must increase every year, all tending to one point, 

 and that is, that plutonic agitations of the globe hold a permanent inverse ratio to 

 the length of the radius vector ; that is, the distance of the centre of the planet from 

 the centre of the sun. 



All evidence tends to this conclusion, that the sun is the PRIME genetic 

 agent of earthquakes and of every other pluto-dynamic impulse which acts 

 against the crust of the planet, and breaks or elevates any yf its parts. 



The question now arises as to the nature and operation of the SOLAR 

 GEXETIC AGENCY, by which results so stupendous and regular, are produced 



31* 



