M. E. Biot on Eartfiquakes, 141 



long and uninterrupted ridge of the earth's crust, serves as a 

 central axis to this volcanic zone, without sensibly departing 

 from the coast line ; and, as M. de Buch has already remarked, 

 is really the natural limit of Asia ; it may, in truth, be con- 

 sidered as separating w^hat is now the most continental part of 

 the globe from the portion which is the most maritime. 



In the second part of his memoir, M. Biot has engaged in 

 the collection of facts, and in proving, by human testimony, 

 that many real modifications and changes, the dates of which 

 are known with precision, have occurred on the surface of the 

 globe. This is an important result, since it is thereby esta- 

 blished, both that phenomena of a similar kind have operated 

 in epochs which were before all tradition, and also that those 

 catastrophes which these movements of the earth occasion, 

 may yet again be produced. The long catalogue of events 

 which he supplies, is made up of earthquakes, of mud erup-' 

 tions, the appearance of deep gaps or clefts, of elevations oc- 

 curring in the midst of plains, and of the downfall and sinking 

 of many elevated mountains. 



The catalogue of earthquakes is to be found in the 301st 

 book of the great collection Wen Hiom^ Thong Khao^ made by 

 Ma Touan Lin, a celebrated author in the 13th century of 

 our era, whose plan was to compile together all the most 

 esteemed works, and to classify the facts they contained, ac- 

 cording to the Chinese notations of time. M. Ed. Biot re- 

 duces these periods to the corresponding years of our era. 

 The catalogue of Ma Touan Lin had been brought down to 

 the 17th century by Les Lettres, and M. Biot has continued it 

 to the present time ; he has likewise been so happy as through- 

 out to add various accounts which had escaped the attention 

 of former chronologists. 



In perusing the observations of M. Biot, we are struck witii 

 the resemblance of the phenomena, and the analogy in the 

 appearances which preceded and accompanied them ; and the 

 events of the same kind which so often occur in the Cordilleras 

 of the New World. In Asia, as in America, after a long re- 

 pose, there is seldom a solitary earthquake ; there is almost 

 invariably a succession of shocks, which follow each other at 

 very short intervals. The first shock is only the presage of 



