OS COJSJCEPCION. 



of these jjhenomena, if (as in the case of the gla- 

 ciers) we suppose them to have taken place at 

 corresponding distances in Europe : then would 

 the land from the North Sea to the Mediterranean 

 have been violently shaken, and at the same instant 

 of time a large tract of the eastern coast of Eng- 

 land would have been permanently elevated, to- 

 gether with some outlying islands ; a train of volca- 

 noes on the coast of Holland would have burst 

 forth in action, and an eruption taken place at the 

 bottom of the sea, near the northern 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 afterwax'ds, France, from its centre to the 

 English Channel, would have been again desolated 

 by an earthquake, and an island permanently up- 

 raised in the Mediterranean. 



The space from under which volcanic matter on 

 the 90th was actually erupted, is 720 miles in one 

 line, and 400 miles in another line at right angles 

 to the first : hence, in all probability, a subten-a- 

 nean lake of lava is here stretched out, of nearly 

 double the area of the Black Sea. From the inti- 

 mate and complicated manner in which the eleva- 

 tory and eruptive forces were shown to be con- 

 nected during this train of phenomena, we may 

 confidently come to the conclusion that the forces 

 which slowly and by little starts uplift continents, 

 and those which at successive periods pour forth 

 volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical. 

 From many reasons, I believe that the frequent 

 quakings of the earth on this line of coast are 

 caused by the rending of the strata necessarily 

 consequent on the tension of the land when u])- 

 raised and their injection by fluidified rock. This 



