EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



261 



is obscured by tlie passing of a cloud or an 

 eclipse. 



Here, then, we liave an index to the con- 

 nection between the sea and the volcano, be- 

 tween the occurrence of active volcanic centres 

 and areas of earthquake in the open ocean, or 

 on a general sea-board. The inland volcanoes 

 become extinct simultaneously with the re- 

 tirement of the sea from their flanks, but the 

 maritime craters are constantly subject to the 

 action of water, which rushes in huge volumes 

 through the fissures below, or creates fissures 

 for itself, and thence giving rise to those ex- 

 plosions, of which mud, water, and steam are 

 the chief products, and to extensive shocks of 

 earthquake in their immediate vicinity. 



In aU their leading features, earthquakes 

 are identical with volcanic eruptions. The 

 chief distinctions are, that in the latter the 

 action is confined to one fixed spot, while the 

 other travels over vast areas ; and while the 

 second are accompanied with the ejection of 

 scoriae, lava, steam, water, and mud, the 



first seldom ejects anything but steam, me- 

 phitic vapours, and mud, and is rather a vio- 

 lent displacement of certain portions of the 

 earth's surface, than a fiery eruption of fused 

 materials. Still, if we conceive earthquakes 

 to arise from the falling in of portions of the 

 earth's crust in places where cracks and 

 fissures occur, or the splitting of portions 

 into fissures, while volcanoes are direct open- 

 ings from the atmosphere to the internal fires, 

 we shall at once perceive how such phenomena 

 might be expected to occur in the same locali- 

 ties, and how, while produced by the same 

 general cause, would differ in detail in ac- 

 coMance with the difference of circumstances. 

 The moment that we admit earthquakes to be 

 owing to expansions, contractions, crackings, 

 and upheavals of the crust, consequent on 

 the action of air and water above, ' and fire 

 below, we have an explanation which removes 

 the difficulty, and places the phenomenon 

 within the pale of inductive reasoning. 



Shieley Hibbeed. 



AUDUBOIS", THE OENITHOLOGIST. 



-ijt- 



Above the mantel- shelf of a friend I find a 

 rare feather, straight like that of an eagle's 

 wing, and so fall of beautiful cloudings and 

 of glorious mixtures of colour, that no eye 

 can dwell upon it without pleasure. The 

 general tone is of a deep Vandyke brown, 

 but in the midst of this beautifully even 

 colour are little round circles of light blue, 

 scattered over as thickly as are the spots on 

 the wftigs of a Guinea-fowl. These spots are 

 surrounded with small rings of a dusky white, 

 laid on that delicate pencilling which the 

 finger of God alone can lay upon flower or 

 feather ; the brown running towards the quill 

 melts into a deeper and more richly red 

 colour, which again gently fades and assimi- 

 lates into an indigo blue. Examine this 

 feather in any way, the wonderfully light, 



beautiful material, the elasticity of the fibre, 



the strength of the quill, the painting of the 



small plumes, the rich combination of colours, 



the sweet harmony which it presents to the 



eye, and no one but could be struck with its 



beauty. If you take a microscope, you simply 



reveal new wonders at every step you go. 



Should you subject it to any test, you would 



find that a prescient Mind had been before 



you, had weighed each chance, provided for 



every accident, and had, with an almighty 



wisdom, thought out the purpose of the 



feather, and exactly fitted it to its end. 



Waive but this feather, and the dreams of the 



Atheist disappear — the possibility that the 



" Fantastic dance 

 Of atoms mixed together in a chance," 



should make such wiU appear a small one 



