BY THE REV. E. F. WHEELER, M.A. 207 



the 27tli the Island of Hawaii, in the Sandwich group, was vio- 

 lently convulsed, and much damage was done. The eruption of 

 Mauna Loa was perhaps the grandest on record. In August a 

 shock was felt at Gribraltar, the first for many years. But the 

 most tremendous visitation of the year was in Peru and Ecuador 

 on August the 13th. The movement was felt from 8° S. to 42° S., 

 and at Juan Fernandez. The strip of land at the western foot 

 of the Pyrenees, twelve hundred miles in length, was ruined, 

 while twenty thousand persons lost their lives, and property to 

 the value of sixty millions was destroyed. The sea was fearfully 

 disturbed, and huge waves travelled over the whole of the Pacific. 

 About the same time the vibrations, which for three-quarters of 

 the year had affected the Island of St. Thomas in the West In- 

 dies, came to an end. On October the 21st an earthquake of 

 considerable violence visited California, damaging the city of San 

 Francisco, and causing some loss of life. Later on in the year 

 an earthquake was reported from Taranaki in New Zealand, 

 which did great damage. 



As to the proximate cause of these earthquakes there can be 

 but little doubt. At least, grant that the interior of the earth is 

 a sea of liquid fire, and the key to the solution of the phenomena 

 will not be far to seek. The land is perpetually, though of course 

 gradually, wearing away. The sea and rivers, with their con- 

 stant and ceaseless action, are thinning away the surface of the 

 land. The pressure on the mass of central fire is consequently 

 lightened at that point. The material so removed from the land 

 is carried out and deposited at sea ; and as Sir John Herschel 

 remarks — " The whole bed of the sea is in the act of being pres- 

 sed down by the laying of new solid substance over its bottom." 



" Now following out this idea, where should we naturally 



expect (volcanic) outbreaks to take i^lace ? Why of course along 

 those lines where the relief of pressure on the land side is greatest, 

 and also its increase on the sea side ; that is to say, along or in 

 the neighbourhood of the sea coasts where the destruction of the 

 land is going on with the greatest activity. It is a remarkable 

 fact in the history of volcanos, that there is hardly an instance 

 of an active volcano at any considerable distance from the sea 



