408 SEE— THE NEW THEORY OF EARTHQUAKES [November 15 



and thus explains the mountains on land, as well as those in the 

 depths of the sea, by a common cause, operating not only through- 

 out past geological ages, but also at the present time, will naturally 

 have a strong claim to acceptance. 



3. We have therefore labored to establish some undeniable 

 cases of mountain formation now going on in the depths of the 

 sea, and have shown by the theory of probability, based merely on 

 contiguity of positions and similarity of volume between the deep 

 trench off the Aleutian Islands and the ridge which runs parallel 

 to it, with peaks here and there projecting above the water as 

 islands, that the chances are at least a decillion decillions to one 

 that the ridge and adjacent depression are physically connected 

 and have had a common origin. As an island of the ridge is fre- 

 quently uplifted by an earthquake, while the bottom of the trench 

 sinks, as shown by the withdrawal of the water before the inrush 

 of the accompanying seismic sea wave; and as this corresponds to 

 an expulsion of lava from beneath the trench towards the land, or 

 away from the body of the Pacific ocean, and the volume of the 

 ridge corresponds to that of the trench, the probability that one 

 developed from the other is converted into an absolute certainty. 



4. The expulsion of lava from the ocean towards the land and 

 the breaking out of numerous islands into volcanoes, emitting 

 chiefly vapor of steam, shows that the subterranean movement can 

 depend on nothing whatever but the secular leakage of the ocean 

 bottom, which is most rapid where the sea is deepest, in accord- 

 ance with the observed recurrence of earthquake phenomena. 



5. Undeniable cases of mountain formation now going on in 

 the depths of the sea may thus be located in various parts of the 

 world. We have cited such cases in the Aleutian, Kurile, and 

 Japanese islands; in the East Indies, between New Zealand and 

 Samoa, and along the coasts of various continents. Many more 

 may be found by the further study of the sea bottom and of the 

 earthquakes now disturbing it. 



6. It thus seems undeniable that earthquakes in the sea and 

 along the sea coasts have the highest geological significance. In 

 fact no other forces are at work crumpling the earth's crust, as 

 seen in mountain ranges, islands, and plateaus ; and the absence 



