Realistic Description of the Disturbance. 95 



North Sea to the Mediterranean have been violently- 

 shaken, and at the same instant of time a large tract 

 of the eastern coast of England would have been 

 permanently elevated, together with some outlying 

 islands ; a train of volcanoes on the coast of Holland 

 would have burst forth in action, and an eruption 

 taken place at the bottom of the sea, near the north- 

 ern extremity of Ireland ; and, lastly, the ancient 

 vents of Auvergne, Cantal, and Mont d'Or would 

 each have sent up to the sky a dark column of 

 smoke, and have long remained in fierce action. 

 Two years and three-quarters afterwards, France, 

 from its centre to the English Channel, would have 

 been again desolated by an earthquake, and an 

 island permanently upraised in the Mediterranean." 



The naturalist^s last experience with the earth- 

 quake was in Copiap6, a town of eight thousand in- 

 habitants. He was invited, with Captain Fitz-Roy, 

 to dine with a Mr. Edwards, an English resident, 

 and the dinner was partly over when a shock came, 

 quick, sharp, and decisive. Darwin heard the rumble 

 in advance, and remained quiet, watching the effect. 

 He naively says : " But from the screams of the 

 ladies, the running of the servants, and the rush of 

 several gentlemen to the doorway, I could not dis- 

 tinguish the motion." 



This was characteristic of Darwin, and his im- 

 perturbability must have amazed some of the others. 



The earthquake was a severe one. Some of the 

 ladies cried with terror, while the gentlemen were 

 badly demoralised. The father of one of the guests 

 had recently experienced the earthquake at Talca- 



