86 Mr Toplis on Hydrostatical Pressure 



engulfed, and of fountains rising sufficiently large to form con- 

 siderable rivers, are a proof that very great quantities of wa- 

 ter sometimes exist below the surface of the ground. 



Except in the cases of very slight eai'thquakes, or when 

 they are connected with volcanic action, an eruption of water 

 generally takes place through the fissures which are made at 

 the time. It was the case with the earthquake at Jamaica, in 

 the year 1692, as appears from the Philosophical Transactions*, 

 where it is stated, that at several places very large quantities 

 of water were forced up from the openings of the earth to a 

 considerable height. At Varga, a few miles from Lisbon, dur- 

 ing the time of the earthquake there in November 1755, 

 many springs burst forth, and water was spouted to the alti- 

 tude of nineteen feet. According to Humboldt, when an 

 earthquake destroyed the city of Cumana on October 21. 1766, 

 the earth opened at several places in the province and vomited 

 sulphureous water. Also, during the violent earthquake which 

 in one minute overthrew the city of Caraccas on March 26. 

 1813, so much water was thrown up through the cracks that 

 a new stream was formed. When the earthquake occurred 

 at Riobamba in 1797, the earth was fissured in innumerable 

 places, and immense gulfs were likewise formed ; quantities of 

 water rose, filling up valleys 1000 feet in breadth and 600 feet 

 in depth. Wide rents were also opened during violent earth- 

 quakes on the north coasts of South America, in order to give 

 exit to streams of water which then gushed out. It was often 

 observed that, during these convulsions, water with sand, mud, 

 &c. was thrown up from wells, sometimes to a height of thirty 

 feet. Von Humboldt also relates, that this phenomenon is 

 generally observed during the shocks at Cumana. From the 

 statements of the earthquakes in Calabria, which took place 

 in the years 1783-1786, large columns of water frequently 

 spouted to a great height above the surface of the earth. 



During the convulsions of the valley of the Mississippi in 

 the year 1811, the earth rose in great waves, and when they 

 reached a certain elevation, the surface burst, and volumes of 

 water, sand, and coals, the materials of the soil, were dis- 

 charged to the altitude of 100 feet or more. When an earth- 

 quake took place at Amarapoo in the Birmah territory on 



