THE EARTH. 89 



smoke to be seen, nor noise to be heard ; till, in 

 the ensuing year, the flames again appeared with 

 recruited violence, forcing their passage through 

 several other parts of the mountain, so that in 

 clear nights, the flames being reflected by the 

 transparent ice, formed an awfully magnificent 

 illumination." 



Such is the appearance and the effect of those 

 fires which proceed from the more inward re- 

 cesses of the earth ; for, that they generally come 

 from deeper regions than man has hitherto ex- 

 plored, I cannot avoid thinking, contrary to the 

 opinion of M. Buffon, who supposes them rooted 

 but a very little way below the bed of the moun- 

 tain. " We can never suppose," says this great 

 naturalist, " that these substances are ejected from 

 any great distance below, if we only consider the 

 great force already required to fling them up to 

 such vast heights above the mouth of the moun- 

 tain ; if we consider the substances thrown up, 

 which we shall find, upon inspection, to be the 

 same with those of the mountain below ; if we 

 take into our consideration, that air is always ne- 

 cessary to keep up the flame ; but, most of all, 

 if we attend to one circumstance, which is, that 

 if these substances were exploded from a vast 

 depth below, the same force required to shoot 

 them up so high, would act against the sides 

 of the volcano, and tear the whole mountain in 

 pieces." To all this specious reasoning, particu- 

 lar answers might be easily given ; as, that the 

 length of the funnel increases the force of the 

 explosion ; that the sides of the funnel are ac- 



