732 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to embolden the votaries of science to look Ibi", work for, further dis- 

 closures whicli may threaten some favorite view it may be one of 

 moi-e importance than that which we have considered. But others, 

 supporting themselves on the basis that truth can never be dangerous 

 to the right, see no cause for alarm in such advances. They hail them 

 with jjleasure, and encourage the spirit which hastens their arrival. 

 In regard to the special question treated in this paper, arguments are 

 hardly necessary to show that the results of investigation, as we have 

 stated them, could not materially modify any time-honored, funda- 

 mental views. Is life less of a mystery ? Has the question concern- 

 ing the nature of life been even appi'oached in these researches? We 

 think not. That chemical substances of peculiar structure are found 

 in the living organism is true. That these substances are formed by 

 the action of the force called chemical affinity is just as surely a truth. 

 Do these two truths mutually detract from the importance of each 

 other ? When the active agent in the formation of the so-called organic 

 bodies became known, a thousand questions could be proposed to one 

 that could be proposed previously. The conditions for its working 

 became subjects of inquiry, and an almost endless series of possibili- 

 ties presented itself. From what substances have the new ones been 

 formed ? What chemical processes have brought about the final 

 formation ? Years ages must elapse before our knowledge on these 

 points can begin to be exhaustive. And then what ? Is the mystery 

 solved ? No. 



We are ascending a mountain of great light. Our views are be- 

 coming more and more extended as we reach higher and higher po- 

 sitions. Should we ever be enabled to reach the summit, there would 

 be found a pleasant harmony in the broad panorama, and our eyes 

 would rest in delight upon it ; but the most extensive view has its 

 horizon, the barrier between the visible and the invisible. 







EARTHQUAKES AND THEIR CAUSES. 



By JOHN J. LAKE. 



THE origin of earthquakes has been assigned to many causes, as 

 the falling in of caverns, steam, the combustion of gases, volcanic 

 and electric action. Their most prominent and peculiar features are 

 the following : 



1. Great subterranean noises and reports resembling thunder. 

 These occur more or less during all earthquakes. Father Kircher 

 describes them as " a horrid sound resembling that of an infinite 

 number ot chariots driven fiercely forward, the wheels rattling, and 

 the thongs of the whips cracking ; " Sir Hans Sloane, in Jamaica, as 



