[ 657 ] 
XXXIII. 
Ihe Rev. Wm. Stukeley M. D. F. R. S. to 
the Prefident, concerning the Caufes of 
Earthquakes §. 
the Inquiries of the Royal Society , none would 
more fcnfibly afifeef the Minds of contemplative 
Pcrfons than that of an Earthquake ; efpccially to 
us in this Country, where they fo feldom happen. 
When I had the Honour laft Thnrfday * to lay my 
Thoughts upon it before the Society , I found that 
fome worthy Members had not fully enter’d into 
my Way of Reafoning; nor with that Serioufnefs 
fo awful a Subject requir’d: Therefore I judg’d it 
necefiary to treat upon it in a more diffuftve man- 
ner; and with fome further Confiderations relating 
to that Argument. 
Among the numerous Accounts received here, 
and Obfervations upon the Manner of it, 1 judg'd it 
became the Society to inquire into the Caufe of 
fo extraordinary a Motion, of which we could not 
have form’d a proper Idea, had we not repeatedly 
both feen and felt it. 
The Notions of the Antients are fufficiently 
known ; nor have the Moderns any-way improv'd 
upon them, any further than by fome chymical 
Mixtures. The vulgar Opinion goes no deeper 
than fome Caverns, not far below the Surface of 
the Earth ; wherein are ingender’d Vapours, Ex- 
MONG all the Appearances o f 
Nature, which are the Subjects of 
P p p p 
§ This Paper is printed by the Author in a Pamphlet in 8 vo. 
London, 1750. * See this Tranf. p, 641. 
