ON THE RECENT RIVIERA EARTHQUAKE. 
245 
pavement, with debris of all kinds from the fallen buildings 
lying about. At San Remo, however, about fifteen miles 
distant, it was learnt from an eye-witness that the buildings 
had suffered very little. San Remo is one of the largest and 
most typical of the Riviera liill-towns, and the houses are all 
clustered round the lump of rock on which it is built, and 
the winding streets are in many places completely arched 
over, with houses built over the arches ; and in others they 
are very narrow, with lofty houses on each side, and the 
houses are tied together with arches after the manner of 
living buttresses, high in the air. These arches are said to 
have been intended to protect the houses in the case of earth¬ 
quakes, and now it seems they have done good service in this 
way. It would be interesting to know how far the old inter¬ 
laced system of building has stood firm in other towns of the 
Riviera, when so many of the detached modern structures 
have been shaken to pieces. 
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are not to be looked 
upon as exceptional phenomena, but as portions of the regular 
chain of events in the progress of the earth, and as necessary 
occurrences from time to time ; not only necessary results 
from the causes that are in constant operation, but also 
necessary changes in elevation of the earth’s surface to 
counteract the constant levelling action of atmospheric and 
water denudation. These last forces are continually wearing 
down the mountains and hills, and depositing the debris to 
fill up the ocean ; and if there were no counteracting forces, 
it would only be a question of time for the inevitable result to 
be brought about, of the laud being all levelled down to the 
sea and the water spread over the whole surface of the earth, 
making it uninhabitable except for aquatic life. 
The constant gradual cooling that is taking place in the 
whole earth, in consequence of the annual loss of heat by 
radiation into space being greater than the annual supply of 
heat received from the sun, causes a continuous (though very 
slow) and gradual reduction in size of the whole earth, 
and a corresponding reduction in its circumference. As 
the surface is rigid and not elastic, this contraction of cir¬ 
cumference can only take place by the compression and 
crumpling up of the surface, and as the surface is not 
homogeneous, but on the contrary, varies greatly at different 
parts in its hardness and soundness, this compressing and 
crumpling up action has more effect in some localities that 
are weaker and more yielding, than in others where the surface 
is more solid. The weak places in the earth’s crust are thus 
found out, and although the acting cause is continuous and 
