Natural History of Volcanos and Earthquakes. 275 



The latter phenomena are so much the more important the 

 more frequently they occur. We can, therefore, have no diffi- 

 culty in admitting most earthquakes to have been the causes of 

 such elevations. Many coasts, as is well known, bear evident 

 marks of having been raised in former times. Thus Vetch* ob- 

 served on the coast of the island of Jura, in Scotland, six to 

 seven terraces one above another, the lowest at the level of the 

 sea, the highest about forty feet above it, all covered on their 

 horizontal surfaces with pebbles like those which the sea still 

 throws up. Mr. Smith of Jordanhill has also pointed out, that 

 in a former time an elevation of the west coast of Scotland has 

 taken place.f Peron noticed a similar phenomenon on the coasts 

 of some islands in the neighborhood of Van Diernen's Land. 

 Many other instances of this kind occur, which present traces 

 of elevations, some of them perfectly incontestable,;]: others very 

 probable. <§) In conformity with this, are also the assertions of the 

 inhabitants of Otaheite,\\ and those of the Moluccas,*^ that their 

 islands still continue to rise. 



The latest earthquakes, which, in the month of February, 

 1835, destroyed a great part of Chili, {Conception, and many 

 other towns,) offer also evident proofs of elevations occasioned 

 through their agency. Some days after this devastation the sea 

 did not rise to its ordinary level, the difference amounting to four 

 or five feet in height. This difference decreased gradually ; in 

 the middle of April it was still two feet. The fact that the isl- 

 and of Santa Maria has risen nine feet, proves the actual eleva- 

 tion of the country. Near Tubul, southeast of Santa Maria, 

 the country has risen six feet, and the island of Mocha seems to 

 have risen about two feet.** 



The gradual elevation of Scanditiavia and Finland is pecu- 

 liarly interesting. More than a century ago, Celsius called at- 

 tention to this phenomenon, and endeavored to account for it by 



* Geological Trans. Sec. Series, v. i. part ii. p. 416. 



t Phil. Mag. V. X. p. 136; Jameson's Phil. Journal, vol. xxv. p. 378; and Mem. 

 ^Wernerian Soc. vol. viii. part i. in the press. 



t Dolotnieu Oryktol. Bemerk. Uber Calabrien. Frankf. u. Mainz 1789, p. 157. 

 § Broohi in Biblioteca Italiana 1821. Sept. Breislak Reisen in Campanien, t. 

 ii. p. 115. 



II Correspondence Astronomique, v. x. p. 266. 

 H PoggendorfF's Ann. t. ii. p. 444, according to Prof. Reinwardt. 

 ** Nautical Magazine, INo. 49 and 51. March and June, 1836. 



