ee ee es i ae 
ee ee 
= 
no other evidences of their existence, no other 
Earthquakes in Sicily. 299 
these products may not _ extremely deep, and pi Lon 
they may reach the surface? pe: knows but i 
places, those grand laboratotea of na or, from chins whic 
will always elude our investigation, om sy ts sod ene ed, 
that their productions never arrive at the snarled 1 th 7 
ts of 
their action are perceptible, but the shaking of the earth, 
and the rumblings which the aériform elastic vapours make 
in the cavities of the earth.* 
Three principal furnaces have their outlets on the three 
sides of Sicily, and each with a force proportioned to the 
circumstances which supply it with combustible matter. 
#Etna on the eastern side, by the immensity of its power, 
rules the whole island. When in full action the island 
tated are those in its wclbcaheal and those be- 
vii 
2 ab bn it and Cape Passora, a space of about a hundred 
"The mountain of Sciacca, on the southern shore towards 
ec 
unable i Setlist the. fermentation, the water becomes 
invested with fire, is converted into vapour, and thus exhaled 
into our atmosphere. The extrication of the steam causes 
in the internal caverns, a deep roaring, and often fearful con- 
vulsions, felt at a great distance. At such times, Sciacca, at 
the foot of the mountain, experiences the most violent com- 
motions. In 1578 it was reduced to ruins. In 1652, for fif- 
* sock aaheiet of volcanoes in any Bact, ae not to be made a 
argume t the existence 
of i tation under that 
reat reservo 
of that which in remote ages has burst out in ivecct 
pain, t , of aha Italy, t the Islands of Great Britain, Germany, 
Bohemia, about the Bosphorus, on the coasts of Asia, and in many other 
place 
