OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 91 



ceived notion we encounter every day. A sudden 

 violent shock of the ground dispels in an in- 

 stant all former delusions. It is a sudden 

 awakening, and a disagreeable one. We become 

 convinced that the apparent quiet of nature has 

 deceived us ; henceforth the least noise arouses 

 our attention, and, for the first time, we begin 

 to suspect the safety of the ground upon which 

 we have walked so long with unshaken confi- 

 dence. A repetition of these shocks, at short 

 intervals during several days, will again dispel 

 the uncertainty ; man gathers new courage and 

 confidence, and becomes, by degrees, as well 

 acquainted with the vacillating condition of the 

 ground as the experienced mariner regards the 

 violence of the waves which toss his ship to and 

 fro." 



Only a few years ago, when Humboldt, after 

 the lapse of fifty years, recalled these events, he 

 said : "An earthquake has something omni- 

 present in itself, whose influence we cannot 

 escape. Even the lizards, which quietly live 

 at the bottom of the rivers, run on that occa- 

 sion, with a peculiar noise, indicating extreme 

 fear, towards the forest. Everywhere, in the 

 presence of this phenomenon, man stands on 

 dangerous ground." 



A third violent shock, on the same evening, 



