337 
THE ERUPTION OF SANTORIN. 
BY PROFESSOR D. T. ANSTED, F.R.S. 
T HE close of the month of January, 1865, was marked by 
one of the most interesting volcanic eruptions of modern 
times, which then commenced on the upper flanks of Etna. 
This eruption was sudden, rapid, and complete. It included 
all the recognized phenomena, such as earthquakes, wide and 
deep fissures reaching many miles in length, very large out- 
bursts, both of ashes and lava and it has been followed up 
by a metamorphosis of the erupted rocks, which was still going 
on in January last, when I visited the site on the anniversary 
of the disturbance. The period of intense activity was short, 
but the sub-active state lasted many months. 
While this work was proceeding, the land, about 500 miles 
in a direction a little south of east, and at the southern ex- 
tremity of the Morea, and in part of the island of Cerigo, 
was undergoing elevation (see Plate annexed), and a shoal 
was formed in the Mediterranean, not far off Cerigo, the 
existence of which was recorded by the captain of the English 
barque Vigilia, on the 19th of July, 1865. Some time after- 
wards, towards the close of the year, severe earthquake shocks 
were felt in the island of Chios, near Smyrna, on the coast of 
Asia Minor, distant nearly 500 miles east-north-east from 
Etna, and about 200 miles north-east of Cerigo. All this 
time Etna was smoking, but not disturbed. The relative 
position of these points will be seen in the sketch map 
annexed (see Plate). 
Towards the end of January of the present year, or exactly 
one year after the great eruption of Etna, and soon after the 
disturbances of Chios, small earthquake shocks were felt at 
Santorini, an island in the Greek Archipelago, situated about 
150 miles east of Cerigo, and about the same distance to the 
south of Chios. Santorini, or Santorin, is one of a group of 
volcanic islands, sufficiently remarkable for its form (see Plate), 
; and very interesting for its geological history. Minute descrip- 
; tions of it have been published from time to time, commencing 
j with a notice by Pliny of an eruption that occurred in the 
j year 186 b.c. It has been rendered classical by Lyell, in his 
