38 
might have seen just where Keswick now stands a scene which 
can be described best in the language of Professor Judd, as he 
speaks of Vesuvius: ‘‘ During the eruption the bottom of the 
crater was entirely broken up, and the sides of the mountain rent 
by fissures in all directions. So numerous were these fissures 
and cracks, that liquid matter appeared to be oozing from every 
part of its surface. The mountain appeared to be sweating fire. 
From the crater enormous volumes of steam rushed out with a 
prodigious roaring sound, yet those on the mountain could per- 
ceive that it was produced by a succession of explosions. Each 
of these explosions was followed by the formation of a great globe 
of vapour, which, rising into the atmosphere, swelled the bulk of 
the vast cloud overhanging the mountain. Each of these explo- 
sive upward rushes of steam carried along with it a considerable 
quantity of solid fragments, some of which rose to the height of 
four miles, while at these points lava or molten rock issued in 
such quantities as to form great fiery floods, which rushed down 
the sides of the mountain and flowed to a considerable distance 
beyond its base.’’ During the earlier part of this period the 
conditions of sea and land were, as described before, shallowish 
sea and land northward, deeper sea in Devonshire, and southward. 
But it was an age of change. Now up, now down, and we find 
that it rose to the surface, and during I know not what length of 
time, was exposed to the denuding agents, sea water, rivers, rain, 
and perhaps snow and frost. After this the beds in South 
Wales and South Scotland again went down, leaving land in 
North Scotland and Devonshire. This central portion again rose 
gently and slowly, and judging by fossils, &c., it is stated to have 
formed first an estuary of a large river, then fresh water, and 
lastly land plants appear. Here ends what is termed by geologists 
the long sea-period. As might be expected during an age of 
intense volcanic activity, there were continual changes of level 
in the land. The land in Devonshire gradually sank until corals 
and other sea animals and plants were able to live, while north- 
wards there is every indication of a shore deposit, probably in 
large fresh water lakes. The Devonian or old red sandstone 
really belongs partly to the Silurian and partly to the Carboni- 
ferous, and each is conformable with the one to whieh it belongs. 
The volcanoes were more active than before in Scotland ; strata 
of lava and ashes occur from the bottom to the top of the series. 
They stretch along the hills for sixty miles, and form a great 
portion of the Sidlaw, Ochiel, and southern flank of the Grampian 
Hills. In the Pentland Hill they form a thickness of 5,000 feet. 
They also occur in Ireland, and their presence in Cornwall is 
shown by bands of ash and vesicular greenstone. There was 
land in Scotland, in Wales, through the centre of England, and 
across under London. The upper beds contain traces of tree 
