1S40— i8Si] EARTH-MOVEMENTS I 15 



in my Journal of Researches during the Voyage of the . Lettrr 479 



where I have stated this circumstance. 1 On the hypothesis 

 of the crust of the earth resting on fluid matter, would the 

 influence of the moon (as indexed by the tides) affect the 

 periods of the shocks, when the force which causes them is 

 just balanced by the resistance of the solid crust ? The fact 

 you mention of the coincidence between the earthquakes of 

 Calabria and Scotland appears most curious. Your paper will 

 possess a high degree of interest to all geologists. I fancied 

 that such uniformity of action, as sen ms here indicated, was 

 probably confined to large continents, such as the Americas. 

 How interesting a record of volcanic phenomena in Iceland 

 would be, now that you are collecting accounts of ever)' slight 

 trembling in Scotland. I am astonished at their frequency in 

 that quiet country, as any one would have called it. I wish 

 it had been in my power to have contributed in any way to 

 your researches on this most interesting subject. 



To L. Horner.- Le» er 4S° 



Down, Aug. 29th [1S44]. 



I am greatly obliged for your kind note, and much pleased 

 with its contents. If one-third of what you say be really true, 

 and not the verdict of a partial judge (as from pleasant ex- 

 perience I much suspect), then should I be thoroughly well 



1 Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the 

 Countries visited during the Voyage of I {.M.S. Beagle round the World. 

 London, 1870, p. 351. 



* Leonard Horner, F.R.S. (1785-18' i born in Edinburgh; at 



the age of twenty-one he settled in London, and devoted himself more 

 particularly to Geology ami Mineralogy, returning a lew years liter to 

 Edinburgh, where he took a prominent part in founding the School of 

 Ait and other educational institutions. In 1827 Mr. Horner was invited 

 to occupy the post of Warden in the London University, a position which 

 he resigned in 1X31 ; he also held for some years an Inspectorship of 

 Factories. As a Fellow of the Royal Society. Mr. Horner "took an 

 active part in bringing about certain changes in the management of the 

 Society, which resulted in limiting to fifteen the number of new members 

 to be annually elected. . . ." In 1S46 Horner was elected President of 

 the Geological Society ; and in i860 he again presided over the Society, 

 to the interests of which he had long devoted himself. His contributions 

 to the Society include papers on Stratigraphical Geology, Mineral 

 and other subjects. — Memoirs of Leonard Horner, edited by his daughter, 

 (Catherine M. Lyell (privately printed, 1890). 



