THE NEW THEORY OF EARTHQUAKES AND MOUN- 

 TAIN FORMATION, AS ILLUSTRATED BY 

 PROCESSES NOW AT WORK IN 

 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. 



(With Maps I.-III.) 



By T. J. J. SEE, A.M., Lt.M., Sc.M. (Missou.), A.M., Ph.D. (Berol.), 



Professor of Mathematics, U. S. Navy, in Charge of the Naval 



Observatory, Mare Island, California. 



{Read November 15, 1907.) 



I. On Earthquake Processes Observed in the Depths of 



THE Sea. 



§ I. General Considerations. — In two previous papers dealing 

 respectively with the " Cause of Earthquakes " and the " Tempera- 

 ture of the Earth," a new theory has been developed which unites 

 and harmonizes the most varied phenomena connected with the 

 physics of the earth. These papers present the theory in a way 

 which will no doubt seem convincing to the careful reader who has 

 adequate experience in the physical sciences. But even the lay 

 reader is entitled to all the light which may be shed on this difficult 

 subject, and as the departure from previous theories is somewhat 

 radical, it has seemed advisable to record some additional considera- 

 tions which may be of interest also to the professional student of 

 science. 



This course seems the more appropriate in view of the estab- 

 lished habits of thought of contemporary investigators, some of 

 whom will naturally welcome any step which will simplify our under- 

 standing of physical phenomena. As the subject is extensive and 

 complex and presented under various aspects in the different sciences, 

 a connected view of the laws operating in the development of the 

 earth's crust is by no means easy; for, if it were, the underlying 

 cause no doubt would have been discovered long ago, and great im- 

 provements already would have been made in many of the physical 

 sciences which deal with the terrestrial globe. 



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