Phenomena in South America. 607 



at one extremity of the area affected^ the snow was melted on Yantales and 

 the neighbouring vents renewed their activity; whilst at Juan Fernandez, 

 at the distance of no less than 720 geographical miles from Yantales, an 

 eruption took place beneath the sea ; and soon afterwards the volcanos in the 

 Cordillera, 400 miles to the eastward of that island, burst forth in action, — 

 a large extent also of country, intermediate between these extreme points, 

 being permanently upraised. To form a just idea of the scale of this pheno- 

 menon, we must suppose, during the same hour, Europe to be shaken from 

 the North Sea to the Mediterranean, — a large tract of the eastern coast of 

 England to be permanently elevated, — a train of volcanos on the northern 

 coast of Holland to burst forth in action, — an eruption to take place at the 

 bottom of the sea, near the northern extremity of Ireland, — and the ancient 

 vents of Auvergne, Cantal, Mont d'Or, and others, so long extinct, each to 

 send up to the sky a dark column of smoke. Moreover, as, in Chile, a large 

 part of the same area was two years afterwards most violently shaken, at the 

 same time that Lemus was upraised, so must we imagine that, subsequently 

 also, in Europe, whilst France, from the English Channel to the central pro- 

 vinces, where the volcanos had been excited into long and fierce action, was 

 desolated by an earthquake, an island in the Mediterranean was permanently 

 elevated; — then should we have the subterranean movements which shook 

 South America on the 20th of February, 1835, and on the 7th of November, 

 1837, acted in countries with which we are familiar. 



When first considering these phenomena, which prove that an actual move- 

 ment in tlie subterranean volcanic matter occurred almost at the same instant 

 of time at very distant places, the idea of water splashing up through holes 

 in the ice of a frozen pool, when a person stamps on the surface, came irre- 

 sistibly before my mind. The inference from it was obvious, namely, that 

 the land in Chile floated on a lake of molten stone, of which the area, as 

 known from the various points in eruption on the day of the earthquake, 

 would be nearly double that of the Black Sea. If this inference be denied, 

 the only alternative is, that channels from the various points of eruption unite 

 in some deep-seated focus, like the arteries of the body in the heart, whence 



Voyage, Vol. ii. p. 84.) I allude to these cases more particularly, because that distinguished 

 philosopher, M. Boussingault {^Bulletin de la Soc. Geolog. Vol. vi. p. 54.), having been much 

 struck with the fact, that the earthquakes which have been most destructive to human life have 

 been unaccompanied by volcanic outbursts, has, I think, generalized the remark too far. The 

 earthquake of Concepcion in 1835 undoubtedly was one of extreme violence, although, from hap- 

 pening in the day, and from commencing gradually, it caused but few deaths (probably in the whole 

 province not more than 70) ; nevertheless we have seen, that it was accompanied by co-instanta- 

 neous eruptions from several and very distant points. 



