Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes, by E. Wrruenren, F.G.S. 
F.C.S., F.R.M.S. 
The subject of this paper is no new one. A study of the 
crust of the earth shows that volcanoes were active at an early 
period of the history of the globe; and doubtless there were 
earthquakes too. Old chronicles and traditions tell of violent 
seismic disturbances which filled with terror the inhabitants of 
those parts where they are recorded, and awakened innumerable 
superstitions. The earliest accounts of volcanoes, of which we 
have record, refer to the Lipari Islands, situated between Naples 
and Sicily. They are 17 in number, and all volcanic, and were 
regarded by the ancients as indicating supernatural influences. 
Vulcano, one of the group, was believed to be the abode of the 
God Vulcan, who dwelt in the caverns of the Island, and hence 
the origin of the term volcano. Another of the group is 
Lipari, from which most of the pumice stone supplied to Europe 
is derived. Beyond hot springs and the emission of vapours 
this Island is not now ina state of volcanic activity, but the 
ancients speak of it as emitting a fiercer fire than Stromboli, 
the only now active volcano of the group. Daubeny tells* us 
that Lipari probably ceased to be an active voleano “about the 
sixth century, for it is recorded that St. Calogero, the patron 
of the Island, put to flight the devils, which, like the Typhon 
of old, inhabited the recesses of the island, and that the latter 
first took refuge under the mountain from whence the warm 
springs issue, but being driven from thence repaired to Vulcan- 
ello, and finally were chased into crater of Vulcano.” 
But though our subject is no new one, indeed, most ancient, 
our knowledge of the primary causes of volcanic eruptions and 
earthquakes is imperfect. This being so I propose to bring 
* Daubeny on Volcanoes. Second edition, 1848, p. 257, foot note. 
