234 



conducted. When we know more about electricity^ we may- 

 see with greater clearness, perhaps, that it plays some indis- 

 pensable part in the economy of the inorganic world. 



Earthquakes and Volcanoes. — Earthquakes and volcanic 

 eruptions are confessedly the most awful and destructive of 

 the forces of nature that we know. We have all read of the 

 shock to man's oldest associations when he feels the solid 

 earth reel under his feet, of the danger from the very buildings 

 which he had reared for convenience or protection, of the 

 hopelessness of escape from almost instantaneous and far- 

 reaching ruin. Of the immediate causes of these phenomena 

 we are profoundly ignorant. Still, we have advanced a little 

 on the road to understanding them since 1755, the date of the 

 earthquake at Lisbon, which destroyed at least 60,000 lives. 

 Voltaire, in most respects an Optimist, took that disaster as a 

 text for a tirade against the doctrine of Leibnitz, in Gandide, 

 ou Sur VO'ptimisme (published in 1757). I am afraid that 

 the attack had then the best of it. Much, however, has hap- 

 pened since. The science of Geology has thrown a new light 

 upon the earth's crust. Amidst doubtful theories, it has ac- 

 cumulated a vast array of solid facts as a basis for future 

 speculation. It would teach us that earthquakes and volcanoes 

 are connected together, and that both represent forces, or a 

 force, that once acted with greater energy. The favourite 

 hypothesis about the formation of the crust of the earth at 

 the present day is that of Elie de Beaumont, which supposes 

 our globe to be a cooling, and consequently a contracting 

 body. By this process can be plausibly explained the ridging 

 up of mountain-chains, and the consequent depressions, or 

 ocean-beds, between the main lines of elevation. For some 

 time, geologically speaking, the earth appears to have entered 

 upon a period of comparative tranquillity. It may thus be said 

 that earthquakes and volcanoes are gentle symptoms, or, for all 

 we know, inevitable accompaniments of the same tremendous 

 elevating forces which, by their past energetic action, rendered 

 the woi'ld habitable at all. I assume that no one will dispute 

 the assertion, that without the upheaval of mountain-chains 

 and continental ridges the surface of the globe might have 

 been reduced to a plain, level with the sea. Elevating forces, 

 whether identical with the contraction of the outer skin of 

 the globe, or not, have played a great part in preparing its 

 surface for man's habitation. It must be admitted, then, that 

 more may be said now than in Voltaire's day to reconcile even 

 earthquakes with our partial comprehension of nature as a 

 scheme of Perfect Wisdom and Perfect Love. 



Nor should it be forgotten that, as far as man is concerned. 



