314 



SEE-THE CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES. 



[October ig, 



If instead of putting P = i : (decillion)- we had used P = 

 i: (lOO billion), the final result would have been P. P'. P" . P'". 

 pi\ P\ = I : (loo billion) ^ 



Even this divisor is so infinitely large that the fraction totally 

 disappears, and it becomes an absolute certainty that the lay of the 

 mountains depends on the action of the sea as a physical cause ; and 

 that action can be nothing else than the injection of the coast with 

 lava. By this process the mountains were upheaved. The lay of the 



Fig. 9. 



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EUROPE 



/ •/. \«BrS-'c 



mountains parallel to the sea is, therefore, no " coincidence that is 

 only in part causal," but the direct outcome of a general law of 

 nature. How universal this law is may be inferred from the unerr- 

 ing precision with which it is exemplified in a region such as that 

 about the Bay of San Francisco. Here the mountains line the shores 

 on all sides, and change their course in such a way as to enclose the 

 bay with walls so close by and well fitting as to leave no doubt 

 about the origin of the surrounding mountains. 



A deceptive way of viewing such an argument as the foregoing 



