EARTHQUAKES. f)7 



of a burning crater, one feels the motion of the ground cHAP. v. 

 several seconds before each partial eruption. The phe- . — 

 nomcna of earthquakes seem strongly to indicate the the giouud. 

 action of elastic fluids endeavouring to force their way 

 into the atmosphere. On the shores of the South Sea 

 the concussion is almost instantaneously communicated 

 from Chili to the Gulf of Guayaquil, over a space of 

 2070 miles. The shocks also appear to be so much the 

 stronger the more distant the country is from active 

 volcanoes ; and a province is more agitated, the smaller 

 the number of funnels by which the subterranean cavi- 

 ties communicate with the open air. 



