Ch. X.] MARINE NKWER PLIOCENE STRATA. 129 



coast, will be devoured by the ocean, while part of the interior, 

 immediately adjacent, will remain at rest and entirely undis- 

 turbed. The analogy holds true in regions where the volcanic 

 fires are at work, for part of the Philosopher's Tower on Etna 

 has stood for the last 2000 years, at the height of more than 

 9000 feet above the sea, between the foot of the highest 

 cone and the edge of the precipice which overhangs the Val del 

 Bove, whilst large tracts of the surrounding district have been 

 the scenes of tremendous convulsions. The great cone above 

 has more than once been blown into the air, and again re- 

 newed ; the earth has sunk down in the neighbouring Cis- 

 terna* ; the cones of 1811 and 1819 have started up, on the 

 ledge of rock below, pouring out of their craters two mighty 

 streams of lava ; the watery deluge of 1755 has rushed down 

 from the steep desert region, into the Val del Bove, rolling 

 along vast heaps of rocky fragments towards the sea ; fissures, 

 several miles in length, have opened on the flanks of Etna ; 

 cities and villages have been shattered by partial earthquakes, 

 or buried under lava and ashes ; yet the tower has stood as if 

 placed on the most perilous point in Europe, to commemorate 

 the stability of one part of the earth's surface, while others in 

 immediate proximity have been subject to most wonderful and 

 terrific vicissitudes. 



Marine Newer Pliocene strata only visible in countries of 

 earthquakes. In concluding what we have to say of the marine 

 and volcanic formations of the newer Pliocene period, we may 

 notice the highly interesting fact, that the marine strata of 

 this era have hitherto been found at great elevations in those 

 countries only where violent earthquakes have occurred during 

 the historical ages. We do not deny that some partial depo- 

 sits containing recent marine shells have been discovered at a 

 considerable height in several maritime countries in Europe and 

 elsewhere, far from the existing theatres of volcanic action ; but 

 stratified deposits of great extent and thickness, and replete with 

 recent species, have only been observed to enter largely into the 



* Sec above, p. 96. 

 VOL. III. K 



