344 



R. Solly, Esq., then proceeded to read the following 

 Paper on a subject to which his attention had been directed 

 while in South America, namely, — 



ON THE TRANSMISSION OF EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS BENEATH 

 GREAT MOUNTAIN RANGES. BY RICHARD SOLLY, ESQ., 

 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SHEFFIELD LITERARY AND 

 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



No class of phenomena can possess greater interest than 

 Earthquakes to the Geologist, or, indeed, I may say, to any 

 inhabitant of this globe, if modern philosophers are correct 

 in supposing them to be the manifestations of that force by 

 which various portions of the earth's crust are alternately 

 and successively raised above the level of the ocean, and 

 again depressed beneath its waters ; changes by which it has 

 been by degrees rendered suitable for the habitation of man. 

 " To these convulsions," says Mr. Lyell, *Hhe present fertility 

 of some districts, the sterile character of others, the elevation 

 of land above the sea, the climate, and various peculiarities, 

 may be distinctly referred." Any contribution, therefore, 

 however trifling, to our knowledge of these phenomena, can- 

 not be wholly devoid of interest, which consideration has 

 encouraged me to read the following observations before this 

 Society. 



The great Valparaiso Earthquake of the 19th November, 

 1822, was felt along the coast of the Pacific as far as Lima 

 to the North, and as Concepcion to the South, a distance of 

 about 1,400 miles; and to the East beyond the Andes as far 

 as Mendoza and St. Juan, a distance of from 300 to 400 

 miles. The coast was raised in some parts from three to 

 four feet above its previous level for many miles consecutively, 

 exposing rocks covered with shell fish, whose putrefaction 

 infected the atmosphere. Mr. Miers says that " the governor's 



