TnEin phenomena. 
171 
JS T ew World, for instance, at the island of Barbadoes, more 
than twelve hundred leagues distant from the coasts of 
Portugal. 
Several facts tend to prove that the causes which produce 
earthquakes have a near connection with those which act in 
volcanic eruptions. The connection of these causes was 
known to the ancients, and it excited fresh attention at the 
period of the discovery of America. The discovery of the 
New World not only offered new productions to the curiosity 
of man, it also extended the then existing stock of know- 
ledge respecting physical geography, the varieties of the 
human species, and the migrations of nations. It is im- 
possible to read the narratives of early Spanish travellers, 
especially that of the .Jesuit Acosta, without perceiving 
the influence which the aspect of a great continent, the 
study of extraordinary appearances of nature, and inter- 
course with men of different races, must have exercised 
near the island of Trinidad. In the West Indies, and in several lakes of 
Switzerland, this extraordinary motion of the waters was observed six 
hours after the first shock that was felt at Lisbon.— Phil. Trans., vol. 
xlix, pp. 403, 410, 544, 068 ; ibid. vol. liii, p. 424. At Cadiz a moun- 
tain of water sixty feet high was seen eight miles distant at sea. This 
mass threw itself impetuously on the coasts, and heat down a great num- 
ber of houses; like the wave eighty-four feet high, which on the 9th of 
June, 1586, at the time of the great earthquake of Lima, covered the port 
of Callao.— Acosta, Ilist. Natural de las lndias, ed. de 1591, p. 123. 
In North America, on Lake Ontario, violent agitations of the water were 
observed from the month of October 1 755. These phenomena are proofs 
of subterraneous communications at enormous distances. On comparing 
the periods of the great catastrophes of Lima and Guatimala, which gene- 
rally succeed each other at long intervals, it has sometimes been thought, 
that the effect of an action slowly propagating along the Cordilleras, some- 
times from north to south, at other times from south to north, may be 
perceived. — Cosmo Bueno, Descripcion del Peru, ed. de Lima, p. 67. 
Four of these remarkable catastrophes, with their dates, may be here 
enumerated. 
Mexico. 
(Lat. 13° 32' north.) 
30tli of November, 1577. 
4th of March, 1679. 
1 2th of February, 1689. 
27th of September, 1717. 
Peru. 
(Lat. 12° 2' south.) 
17th of June, 1578. 
17th of June, 1678. 
10th of October, 1688. 
8th of February, 1716. 
When the shocks are not simultaneous, or do not follow each other at 
short intervals, great doubts may be entertained with respect to the sup. 
posed communication of the movement. 
