1.834.] 



A Short notice of Earthquakes, 



110 



thousand square miles in area, has been uplifted to the average 



height of a foot or more, and that the cubic contents of the mass 

 that added in a few hours to the land may counterbalance the 

 joss effected by the aqueous action of many rivers in a century/' 

 He seems to consider that the dimensions of the planet remain uni- 

 form ; the internal accession from below by mineral springs and 

 volcanic vents, being counteracted by actions of a different kind, 

 the amount of subsidence and elevation being so proportioned that 

 the distance of the stirface from the centre remains unchanged. 

 In his conclusive remarks regarding earthquakes " he says that the 

 constant repair of dry land and the subserviency of our Planet to 

 the support of the terrestrial as well as the aquatic species, are secur- 

 ed by the elevating and depressing power of earthquakes, this 

 cause he says, so often the source of death, and terror to the in- 

 habitants of the globe, which visits in succession every zone, and 

 fills the earth with monuments of ruin and disorder is nevertheless 

 a conservtitive principle in the highest degree, and above all others 

 essential to the stability of the system." This reasoning of the 

 learned geologist will certainly be more cons olatory to the world 

 at lar^e than to those persons whose household property has been 

 disarranged by the late convulsions in Bengal. They doubtless will 

 not be inclined to attribute a conservative agency to that earth- 

 quake in particular, they are however the only persons, who from 

 local knowledge can be best capable of supporting an opinion as to 

 the ^mount of subsidence or elevation whether or not any gaseous 

 vapours escaped from the soil in this instance, and if there are any 

 volcanic products in the districts in which the vibrations of the 

 earthquake were felt. It seems to be generally supposed, that the 

 continent of India is deficient in evidence of volcanic agency, 

 which surely must be owing in some degree to the want of geologi- 

 cal scrutiny ; the only work which I have casually had it in my 

 power to peruse, is a survey of the Hyderabad country by Doctor 

 Voysey, in which I observe ample proofs of volcanic agency, 

 - although the author does not seem to attribute these to the real cause; 

 the nature of many volcanic substances not having been so well un- 

 derstood in the period at which he wrote, as it is now. He men- 

 tions that there are many hills in the neighbourhood of Hyderabad 

 consisting of trap, which has an appearance of having been once in 

 . a fluid state and that many of the granetic hills are covered with 

 ' this substance. In one particular instance, the hill of Koulas, there 



