THE NATURALIST. 



APRIL, 1832. 



NOTICE OF GRAHAM ISLAND. 



BY WM. AINSWORTH, ESQ. M. R. S. L. 



The ejection of volcanic masses, or the elevation of the 

 strata of the earth above the level of the soil or sea by natural 

 causes, is of importance, remotely to all theories of the earth, 

 and proximately to the true origin and formation of pseudo 

 and active volcanic rocks and of craters of elevation. 



This branch of geological inquiry has received a new impulse 

 from the late researches of De Buch and Elie Beaumont, and 

 every circumstance which tends to give consistency to opin- 

 ions more or less theoretically deduced, is advantageous to 

 science. 



The elevation of Graham Island, in lat. 37° 1 V N., and long. 

 12° 44' E., in the Mediterranean Sea, between Pantellaria 

 and Sciacca, which took place in the month of July, 1831, 

 has been observed at different stages of its progress, and has 

 been attended with phenomena of such decided utility to this 

 inquiry, that they will be my excuse for intruding upon your 

 pages some remarks connected with its origin and general 

 character. 



The drawings which are represented by pi. iv. are from the 

 pencil of Mr. W. Russell, of His Majesty's Ship St. Vincent, 

 and are/ac similes of the drawings sent by the same gentleman 

 to His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, and since published 

 by Ackermann ; and of those transmitted to the Admiralty, and 

 published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. 

 In both these cases the artists have made such alterations. 



