304 DOMAIN XII. VOLCANIC. 



dated, at length the mass appears above 

 the waters ; and the crater which rises 

 above the waves, Communicating with the 

 source of the fire, which cannot be inun- 

 dated^ may thus continue its explosions. 

 In this manner were formed, even in our 

 times, many isles in the Grecian archipe- 

 lago ; and in this manner must have been 

 formed the Eolian isles, and other volcanic 

 rocks around Sicily. Finally, when the ef- 

 flagration ceased, the lava which formed 

 the great mass upon the bottom of the sea, 

 while it was surrounded on all sides with a 

 thick arrect of the same matter (now cold 

 and a very bad conductor of the internal 

 fire, which ought to assume the tempe- 

 rature of the water), now enclosed, both 

 beneath and above, with the same lava, re- 

 mains in the internal gulf, in the most 

 perfect fluidity that it can receive from fire, 

 to which it has been so long exposed, and 

 in a condition to suffer all the activity of 

 the subterranean furnace. It is very pro- 

 bable that the lava in this recipient, having 

 the necessary time, space, and tranquillity, 



