AS THB 3fOTIYE POWER IN EARTHQUAIES AND VOLCANOES, AND BO CAVITIES IN THE EARTH'S CRUST; BY R. A. PEACOCK, Esq.~ C. E, JERSEY, TUNE 1866.'i&egte copies of this Pamphlet sedt free by post to aoll addess on reeceip-t of is.. Gd, in, stamps, o' a dozeln copies foIr 15s. by Post Office order. JERSEY: LE LIEVRE, BROTHERS, MACHINE PRINTERS & BOOKSELLER8, 13, lHALJKETT PLACOE F~ A stfc'ient perusal of eaeh of the fbllowinag abies may be aceoimpliShed siht very little trosble. T1he preli~ zilary text explains the method of makinzg Ihe calcula. zions anzd their object, and then by reading Ithe headings of the columns of figures, and next by ]pssing the e eye and the finger down the Columns of Diferences per eent., th1o ereader will see (ohcat is the ehif obect of the Tables) khow very mall the D[ferencees betweenz the best Ewxperiments and the Calczlations —avalays are, and can test intermediately, b6y repeating the calculations, as many quantities as he thinks necessariy Eve7ry calcutlation has been p)roved, and the prin't has' been corrected by comparing every individuhal qulantity with the or'zinal Calceulated Tables. The facts quoted and the reasonings speak for henmselveso IN T O D) U CT I O N. THE emnpirical law referred to in the following pages, has been used by the Author for the last seven years, and has of late become extensively believed in as the key to the cause of Earthquakes and Volcanoes; a result which it plainly led up to, and which the Author always had in view from the very first. He has.on all occasions when opportunity offered, during the period named, in conversations with scientific men, confidently referred Earthquakes and Volcanoes to Steam, and has published these views both before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, anCd in Scientific Journals. It occurs to him that it may perhaps be acceptable to the Association to have the scattered papers and memoranda (with their dates) collected together and republished so far as to make his meaning clear; which has accordingly been done in the present pamphlet. Great part of the pamphlet has not previously been brought before the Association. The following appeared in T7be Builder of June 22, 1861, p. 426; but the editor did not publish the table referred to, which was duly transmitted to him. NEW FORJMULA FOR CALCULATING THE TEMPERATURE, OF HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM FOR ANY PRESSURE EXCEEDING 25 lbs. PER SQUARE INCHI; AND TABLE CALCULATED THEBREBY. i HAVE had the following very simple formula in use, for more than two years past, whilst making certain calculations in connection with a small volume now preparing for publication; and it occurs to me that, as some time must necessarily elapse before the book is ready, it may be as well to publish it at once, for the convenience of scientific and practical men. I therefore beg a corner for this communication in your widely-circulated and valuable publication. Rule.-Divide the logarithm of the given number of lbs. pressure by 4-, and to the quotient, which is a logarithm, add the constant logarithm 2'07, and the sum is the logarithm of the number of degrees Fahrenheit required. Example.-What is the thermometric temperature, Fahrenheit, of steam, giving a pressure of 300 lbs. to the square inch? Logarithm of 300 _ 2.4771213 4-5 ='550471 + 2.07 = log. 2'620471 _= 417'32~ - temperature required. At the latter end of last year the second series of " Useful Information for Engineers " was published by Dr. William Fair-. bairn, F. R. S. At page 313 he gives 13 experiments on the pressure of steam of various telmperatures, of 242'900 and upwards, of which a copy is given in the annexed table, with his own nulnbers." It will be found that the constant 2'07 gives results very closely approximating to Dr. Fairbairn's experiments, the greatest difference being only as 1 in 517, or'47 of a degree of Fahrenheit; whilst the least difference is only as I in 9575, or'03 of a degree of Fahrenheit: the differences being sometimes + and sometimes -; that is to say, sometimes the calculations are greater, and sometimes they are less than experiments, which is for obvious reasons more satisfactory than if they were always + or always -. Another mode of making the comparison is as follows, and also gives very satisfactory results:-Adding together Dr. Fairbairn's column of temperatures, we get the sum of 3492'78S, and the sum of the corresponding calculations is 3494'035, difference 1'25Q, which divided by 13 (the number of the experiments), gives less than 1-10th of a degree of Fahrenheit for the average difference between experiment and calculation, the 4form-er being the greater. He gives also at p. 313, a set of nine experiments on the pressure, with temperatures of less than 200. But pressures below boiling point follow a different law of increase, and it was also foreign to my purpose to consider them. He informs us (at p. 312), that the experiments are being extended to higher pressures than 290~ Fahrenheit. I venture to predict that those results will not be materially different from the following calculations. I say this With confidence, because the experiments of the French Academicians, Messrs, Arago and Dulong, follow the same law of increase, making only a very slight difference in the constant, namely, 2'07125 (instead of 2'07), the differences again` Y1ep, 7. being sometimes _plus, and sometimes m/inus. The experiments of the Academicians were not direct. They were carried up to 439.34~, which gave a pressure of 375 lbs., and my calculations only once differ from them as much as 1'. WThen the two series of experiments are respectively averaged by the formula as above, it appears the difference is only as 1 in 347 (about'288 per cent.), between the two columns of calculations, which is a difference quite immaterial for all practical purposes. Of course Dr. Fairbairn's experiments are preferahle because they were direct. Well might the jacket of the funnel of the Great Eastern burst, when it is seen by the table that 1,141~, the temperature of a common fire, is capable of giving a (hypothetical) pressure of more than twelve tons to the square inch. This pressure -would soon be arrived at (if the boiler were capable of sustaining it) if the engine-man were to allow the whole of the water to become steam by neglecting to replenish the boiler with water. The reason why the constant is not the same in both cases is obvious. The exp2eriinents thembselves differ. The reader canl use which constant he pleases, or split the difference: either of them is near enough for any practical purpose. The pressure of steamc expressecd in lbs. Fper squcare inzch increases nearly as tfhe 4-5 2power of the tevm)eratutre, and vice vers&. And the use of the constants is onluy the same thing stated in another form, to save figures and diminish labour. Thus let it be assumed (for the sake of illustration only) that the temperature required to give a pressure of 300 lbs. to the square inch is exactly 418'96~ Fahrenheit, neither more nor less; and let it be required what is the temperature necessary to give a ton (2,240 lbs.) pressure on the square inch, assuminng as aforesaid that the pressure increases exactly as the 456 power of the temperature. 5Here we have 300 lbs. = log. 2'4771213 -5504714: 418'96 - log...... 2'6221726 2240 lbs. log. 3.350248 -4 7444995 383666721 Deduct first term...'5504714 The temperature required 654 94 - 2'8162007 But to shorten the process, we have only to take again the 4'5 root of 2240 lbs......... 7444995 log. And add the constant.... 20717012 654'94 = 2'8162007 being nearly the same as the two constants used in the tablet 6 namely 2'07 and 2'07125, and we then have 654r94~ as before, being nearly the same as in the table; clearly showing, as affrmed, thaat tbe p'ressure oj steca, is cabout' Ces tl e 4' 5 power of its tenperature, perha' e Uxactly te same in reality. F. A. P. St. Ielier, Jersey. On January 3, 182- a dclate fixed by a rmeinorandum made on the same day -in coLnversationL wivitl e other gentlemen at the home of one of t-le party, the, e.presi bimse flf (ac cording' to a note n witing by on 0 the pintlemien which is sulbstanti ally correct) 0las i oo: Io M T I e ha disitict - ecoilection, among other thillngs oi your0o s your opn i0 that Steanl generated in the hite ioT o -thIe ea-rts andint see ki a, vent was the most likeTly caus of ELathnle, bl acd haa cpparemntly been employed as a pili.lepali agceut -irm f oar con, ensionl eand probable colla.pses of the EiLr t'As sr_ c acei. On AugnLst 28, 186 3, r. o te 3ee-ng or -' f the Associauio at Newcastle -upo10-Tyra the author hbnde P, snall 3rS. book to one ofL the locea Sece. retaie- (e0 s.atedtoLlctat hle piaced it on the dec 01 Lw OLI.,> _s rv) t- e contents of the desk- of *he At smh etreeaa~l Tv) hillich are 1now pr ntehd ile it iitioo aving 0bee t h at it should be sunbmitt ued to thue p*roper Seeetion, in aCCOCcordance 1with the invitations given in thle ca fily J`Our nals, Bo otc is co-sequence, he supposes, of the late ope liod of te psen') -Iion o the'book to the Selretr i T A vnt 1 brou ght 1eibe ia0y Sec' 0tion- anld the au-bt.or nItlimtately obtavine it ba.G_ it a -iHaI it is ow, before him. Tlielre coulc evidentl.y be 1o10 1ar.x 1 iL show i' e (bjy way of hlpothesis) l-ilat 0mu-Lus of 01ipos wou Ld Ibe arrived at by variouiAs very h11igh trl-perlaurs o:. 0.!se sumo, 0siti0o that the samze lafw co nt i iuel-o, T? i' —,mTi.-'0 0-:ci ILo}lt, or mioght not, be true. Because it had lcco-me ovi t ov - that is that law, 01or ally tililng like i-t did real10 y o'[` in a 1 _ ea o melted lava, the force of steam as that -L -Laure vOtudc. 0 al,,v sS..l cient to account for 1l e 0-1e01-tes- efec-Ls of Earthquakes and Volcanoes. The folloowinlg is a. eopy o te co-'tt s of the sm 11l book in question, a hi l, el,lch Sta fo rla.n0"e TEMPLEREATJ-RE 01 A',_, AND FL'S COERESPONTDING PhEISSTJRF L -V —-- l -!_I) -i-. S: PJE JS.E T S NOT LESS THIAN 2511s. PEi:-,',:;NX t -0lC iP -*..?m.:'.V'co.:_S. JB _',_~ E y The formula by minc s of 1v-]1c1h &" 0"niatlols Thelel'l1tlL31r)) -*~eJR-tSO~,i5-l)e.,-!..).'fo].}o-imA3'2 cajc-ulationls wer-e obta, iued will be ihtl~ell g isA. Ill,.-::' - 33,~cuL c, i'O'd.d appear R' I' ias alseady bee, gie-n, to be the lOst con,roTenioei coulrs to exi Cibit i in he first instance how nearly the calculations agree with Dr. Fairbairn's and M. Regna-ult's experunients, respeci'ively. The followivng sceries of ae-erimente are quoted fr-om " Useful information for Engilneelers." Second series, 1880, p. 313, the thirdC cohnldnn consissti n' o0 CalcuitionS by the Forumula for corresponding pressures. The cifferenee -neaver ainotin-,4s to, half a dcegree Falhr. lbs. pressure of | Tenip. 3lalhr. by Steam per square Dr. Fairbairn'as Calcula-uioni Difference. inch. h experients.ellbs. o dec. 0 Cleo 2G'5 252'90 21J 37 — 47 627' 244-' s2 2,5 19 — 37 2.7 6 245322 21-5 9 -37 33'1 25.050 250'7 1 -91 $37' 263'14 263'36 9 -22 40'3 267'21 267' 14 + t07 41'7 269'20 26917 + 03 4657 274 76 274 70 +'06 4-9'4.270942 2,7950 — 08 51-'7 2382 58 282 34 + t24 55'9 287'25 287 2 - 03 3567 288325 28'3 20 + t05 0C6 6 29235 3 292148 + 05 31492'78 3494 03 As, the formula somet-hines gives qr'ela"r asndl somnetimes less results -than Dr. Faiir-'bairn'os experinents, it may be said to a certainl extent t-o avera.ge -the exl)eri —nents. lIe. etE GNALJST's ExPERnIlmENT5. 3I%. Regnaul-t ound that o-ne law of incrase of pressure prevailed firom-80~ to d- 32" Fahl' a n'llt e' frc' om 320 Fahir. t;o 212 FaRh., tand th.at a third law obtained between about 212~ Fahr. and 4330 Rqo Jr., beyond vrlcl i is experiments did. not exsend. WVTe scJal1 coinsequ-ently see that the res-ults'given by the formula for t. 7 lbs,. alre 1',5.0 btoo ore'j," but tshat this excess gradually clhni-nisaes utmtil or l29 s. pressure ] )i. Riegtnault and ithe formula giave preeisely equLal tepernn a-'lres. Afterwards the forniula up to 80 osc. u-ress ur e iTe: ts less and less thaen those produced by? iut u'u l'se' er ence never amiounts to quite so nuch as a oi $ ahreJlh eit. lt Arterwatds the dif-:erenice between the'on-mi a d 4 ]'. ieaiout s g'ra ldulv Cillinishes -until for 300 ibs. presilre, ie-' -e is only a diffference of'18 Fahr. The figures give. in. tihe column headed eReg'nault, are obtained royu " I/Tfi l.' 1_:,...ll-.wrk by D7) r.'W. Far'bairl'i n, p. 202. They are copied fromn is ~ Table V. Of -he p essure and correspondiing tenperat-ure " of satuiated Stepam, obtailned fromu tire Tables of li. Regnault "by iit.erpolartio (1n. I iedcti, ion to Enjg'.ish nmeasures." Note. There appears to be an inaccuracy in the column headed Regnault, opposite 51 Its. pressure, as the following Table shows lbs. Regnault. Difference. Q 43 278 30 49 279'59 1'29 50 280'85 1'26 51 282'09 1'24 52 283'3-T 1'23 53 284'53 1'21 54 1 285 73 1 20 When the Temperature 282.09 is substituted as corrected above, for what s-tands in the Table in " Mills ancd Millwork" namely 282.60, the Diferences follow ill a proper decreasing order. And the correction has been made accorcdingly in the following Table: Pressure in IRegnault, lbs. per Fahr. Calculation. Difference. square inch., dec. o dec. 14'7 212' 213 50 — 150 15 213'02 214'46 -1' 44 16 216 29 217 56 1' 27 17 219'42 220'51 — 109 18 222 37 223'33 — 96 19 225 19 226'03 — 84 20 227'91 228S62 -71 21 230 54 231'11 -57 22 233'08 233'51 -43 23 235'43 235'83'40 24 237'75 238307 -32 25 240' 240924 —'24 26 242'16 242 34 -' 18 27 244'16 244'39'13 23 246'32 246'37 — 05 29 248 30 248 30 equal 30 250'23 250'17 +.06 3 1 252'09 252'01 ~+ 08 32 253'94 253'81 + 113 33 2,55 70 255'53 + 17 34 257 47 257'23 + 24 35 259'15 258'90 +'25 36 260'83 260'52 +'31 37 262'44 262 11 + 33 38 264'04 263'67 4-'37 39 265'58 265'20 +'38 40 267 12 266 70 +-'42 41 268'60 268316 + 44 42 270 07 269'60 + 47 43 271150 271'02 + 48 44 272'91 272'40 +'51 45 274 30 273' 77 +'53 46 275' 65 275 11 +'54 47 276'99 276-42 +' 57 48 278 30 277 72 +'58 49 27959 2799 279 -- + t59 50 280'85 280'25 +' 60 51 282'09 281'49 +'60 Pressure in IRegnault, lbs. per Iahr. CaLn Difference. quare inch. a dec. Q dec. + 52 283-32 282 0 -62 53 284-53 1 283'90' 63 54 285 73 3 285'08 -65 55 286' 90 286'25 *65 56 288'05 287'40'65 57 289'19 288'53 -66 58 290-31 289'65' 66 59 291'42 290"75' 67 60 292-51 291'84'67 65 297'77 297'08 -69 70 302-71 302-01' 70 75 307 38 306-67' 71 80 311'83 311'10 73 85 316 —- 315.32' 68 90 320-03 319-35'68 95 323-87 323-22'65 100 327 56 326'92'64 105 331-10 330-49 -61 110 334'51 333'92'59 115 337 84 337-24 -60 120 340'99 340-44'55 125 344-06 343-54 -52 130 347 05 346-55' 50 135 349-93 349-47 -46 140 352' 6 352'30'46 145 355'60 355'06'54 150 358'30 357 -75 55 160 363.40 362-91' 49 11'0 368-20 367'84 -36 180 372-90 372-54 -36 190 3i -50 377 -04 46 200 381'80 381'37 -43 210 386'00 385'52'48 220 389'90 389-52' 38 230 393'80 393-39' 41 240 397 50 397'13' 37 250 401-10 400'5 -35 260 404-50 404-26 -24 270 40- 90 407.67 -23 280 411-20 410-97 -23 290 414-40 414-19 -21 300 417-50 417'32 -18 Assuming the same ratio of increase to obtain up to 1141, wo shall have ibr various temperatures as follows: Pressure in lbs. per Calculation. square inch. 9 dec. 360 434.58 400 444-87 450 456-67 500 467-49 6560 ( ton~) 479-41 600 486-82 650 495'56 700 503-78 800 518-96 900 532o71 1000' 5'8 10 Pressure in lbs. per Cain. square inch. ~ dec. 1120 (y ton.) 559.25 5760 Lead nmelts.............................. 1279'09 576 — 1680 (L ton.) 611'98 2000 636'15 6408 Linseed Oil boils.....2................. 205 640 — 2240 (a ton.) 652'37 662Q Mercury boils (Professor Daniell). 1 ton 1521lbsl. 662 — 2 tons. 761'02 802~ Charcoal burns................ 2- tons 73 lbs. 802 — 3 tons. 832'77 4 887'75 o 932'88 6 971 45 980~ Dull red heat (Daniell)............ 6:- 980'30 7 1005'31 8 1035 58 9 1063'05 10 1088'23 11 1111'53 12 1133'23 11410 Highest temperature of corn- 12 tons 839 lbs. 1141' mon fires. (Daniell). 141 tons. 1186'40 A sufficient number of calculations for the present purpose appears now to have been given. [Here followed explanations and. examples of the method of making the calculations, which'being similar to those already given on p. 4, 5, need not be reprinted.] By the use of the constant Log. 2'07 the previous tables have been calculated. Aug. 28, 1863. ON THE PRESSURE OF STEAM AT HIGH TEMPERATURES. By R,. A. PEACOCK, C. E. [Extract from the Artizan of Jan. 1, 1864.] It may, perhaps, be of interest to some to see the calculations by this formula placed side by side with the results of some of the best known experiments and formulae. The following table gives a copy of the " more trustworthy of Arago and Dulong's experiments after all necessary corrections," copied from "A Treatise on Heat," by the Rev. R. V. Dixon, A.M., Dublin, 1849, p. 173, and copied by him from "Ann. de Chim. et de Phys.," tome xliii, p. 108, reduced, however, froim Cent. degrees to Fahr., and fionm elastic force in atmospheres, to pressure in pounds per square inch by the present writer, au atmosphere being taken at 14.71b. It will be seen .11 that the fobrimulla does not agree with MYiL. A. rago and Dulong's experiments, but that it does agree nearly with other well-known experiments specified afterwards. The American Commissioners' experiments which are not now given, differ as much from. the formula as.IM. Arago and Dullong's, but in a different way..iKiM. Acrago ancc Diulong's Sxj'perirmtents. 7Pressure. Temp. Fahr'. Temp. Fahr. Observed. Cal. lbs. per Diff: sq. in. Deg. Deg. + 31'458 254'66 252'83 1'83 42'196 271'94 269'88 2'06 67'23 301'46 299'31 2'15 95'516 326'12 323'61 2'51 108'4198 335 30 332'84 2'46 170'99 371 30 368'31 2 99 252'619 40421. 401 68 2'56 254'089 405'32 402 20 3.12 272'008 410'90 408 33 2'57 31.6858 4 425)12 422'42 2'70 351'8298 435'47 432'36 3'11 The fobllowig are the experiments of Dr. Win. Fairbairn F.R.S., given at p. 313 of " Useful Information for Engineers," second series. The formula; it will be seen, never differs as much as half a degree Fahr. from experiment; and the calculations being sometimes less and sometimes greater than the corresponding experiments, indicate that the experiments are averaged by the formula, and some of the differences are quite insignificant. [This Table has already been printed at p. 7 antll.] The following are M. Reognault's experiments from 231bs. to 300 lbs. per square inch, from which the formula never differs as m-uch as three-quarters of a degree Fahr., and at 3001b. pressure it very nearly coincides With experiment. Regnault's experiments, as now given, are copied from Dr. W. Fairbairan's " MfVills and Millwork," vol. 1, p. 202, obtained from the tables of Mi. Regnault,. by interpolation and reduction to English neasures. [This Table has already been printed at p. 8 and 9 ante.) The following table is given in THE ARTIZAN for October, 1863, p. 219, the third and fourth columns being calculated by the present writer as before. Pres8s.!Mr. Blhcrkel's Telmp. Temp. Cal.i lbs. per sq. in. Deg. Deg' Diff, 24'54 239 239'255 — 255 28'83 248 247'976 -+.024;33'71 257 256'745 -.255 Press. M r. Birckel's Temip; Ternm. Cal. lbs. per sq. in. Deg. Deg. Diff. 39'25 266 265'574 + ~426 45'49 275 274'426 +'574 52'52 284 283'33 +'67 60.40 293 292'27 +'73 69'21 302 301 25 +'75 79'03 311 310'264 -- 736 89'86 320 319'24 + -76 101 90 329 328 285 + 715 115'10 338 337'3 -+ 7 129'80 347 346'43 +'57 145'80 356 355'5 +'5 163'30 365 364.564 +'436 182'40 374 373'63 +'37 203'3 383 382'75 i-'25 225 9 392 391 82 - -18 This table, by Mr. J. J. Bireckel, agrees very nearly with Mr.;Regnault's. In the November number of THE ARTIZAN, Dr. Macquorn Rankine, F.R.S., publishes a, paper " On the Expansive Energy of HeatedWater," in which he gives a table, which we quote from; and which, in its first part, consists of some of the identical figures just given under the name of Mr. J. J. Birckel. The following is Dr. Macquorn Rankine's table-the last two columns being added in the usual manner by the present writer. Initial Absolute Initial Initial Pressure. Temp. Fahr. Temp. Fahr. Calculated. lbs. per sq. in. Deg. eg. Diff. 23'83 24S 247'976 -+ 024 52'52 284 233'33 +' 67 89'86 320 319'24 +'76 145 8 356 355'5 +.5 225 9 392 391 82 +'18 336'3 42S 42805 — 05 {about 729,6321bs. 2360 or 325'7 tons. [Here some small matters of detail, of no importance now, are omitted. The following is extracted from THE ARTIZAN Of Feb. 1, 1864.] For the purpose of exhibiting in the following table that the temperature gradually increases with the pressure, which ought clearly to be the case if the calculations are correct, the whole of the calculations are given. This also will enable any one to make a comparison between the best known experiments and the calculations. For a reason M hich will presently be explained,'543 per cent. ought to be added to each of the following calculations of temperatures, in order to produce the resp.ctive pressures stated opposite to them. TABB LE of Pressures and corresponding Teriperatures of Satur a ted Steam, the calculating being on the theory that the temperature illcreases as the 4' root of the pressure and conversely thatJ tlhe pressure increases as the 4,- power of the temperature. Prless. Calcuns. Press. Calcns. Press. Calens. lbs. pr. sq. in. Tern. Fahr. lbs. pr. sq.'in. Ternm Fa. lFa is., sq. in. Tern. Falhr. deg. deg. deg. 2.5 i 240'24 49 i 279 50 110 333'92 26 242'34 50 280'25 110 25. 3S408 26'5 1 243'37 R5 231 49 115 337'24 27 244'39 51.45 282'02 1 1151 337'30 27 4 24519 51'7 282'34 120 340'44 27 ~ i 24559 52 282 70 124 95 343'51 8 246 37 52'52 283 33 125 343.54 28 83 247 98 52 233'90 129 8 346'43 29 248'30 54 28)5 08 130 34 655 2994 4905 55 286 25 132' 3 i 3490 30 ] 250 17 9 29 287 -2 135 349'47 31 252,' 01 56 237 40 1. 39 65 352'11 31 458 225 83 56 7 2 88 20 140 352 30 32' 253-81 57 288 5 3 145 355906 33 25;5'593 8 289-69 14958 355650 33'1 25 5'371 58'8 290'53 ] 47 356'14 3371 1 256'74 59' 290'75 10 357'75 34! 257'23 60 2 991.84 154'3 1 360 (1) 35 25, 90 i 60- 292 217 160 362.91 36 260 52 60.6 292.148 1.63 3 364-56 36-75 261. 7r0 65 2 9708 165 365'40 37 962 11 66.15 29 23 170 367'84 37 8 2,63.36 67-23 299 31 170919 368'31 38 263'67 69 21 301 25 180 372'54 39 265.)20 70 102.01 182'4 373'63 39'25 265 57 735 3059 30 190 377 04 40 266 70 75T j 306 67 195 3 279'22 40'3 267 14 9031 310'26 200 381-37 41 68 16 80( 31110 203)3 3 382'75 417 269' 17 80 3311'83 210 385 52 42 269 0 85 3132 220 1 389952 42 196 239'88 88 2 17.92 225 391 48 43 01':3 102 80. S;' 3019624 12.9 391 82 41 272'40 90 ( 1935 230 0 393 39 44'1 9i 72 54 95 323'22 240 397 13 45 273 7 7 7 95'5] 6 3 2 3 6 1 250 4007 O O 5 45 49 274'43 95'-55 a 323'63 529619 401 68 457 94' O 100 326 92 254 089 402 20 46'127 11 101.9) i 28 28 255 402952 47, 276 42 1029 1 329 01 260 404'26 48 277 7'2 10) i 330 49 270 407'67 49 279 1 [08 4198 332'84 272'008 408 39 (1 Soft solder, two -pati;s tin and one pamtb, lead, melts at 360g. 14 Preure, I Calens. Press, Calrns.'PJress. Calons. lbs. pr. sq. in. i Tern. Fah:r. lbs. pr. sq. in. Temp. Fah. per sq. in. Tern. Fahr. deg. I eg. tons lbs. deg. 280 4,1097 980 542'90 6a 99721 285! 412'60 1000 545.34 7 100'531 290 414'19 1050,55128 7' 1013'17 300 417 32 1100 557 01 7' 1020'84 31.5 421 87 1120,. ton. 5 5925 7- | 1028'30 316 858 422'42 1200 567 89 8 1035'58 330 426'25 1279'09 576' (.) 8 1042'69'3V6"3 428'05 1300 5 78 08 8' 1049'63 345 430 48 1400 587 68 1056 41. 351 8298 4.32 36 1500 596 76 9 1063'05 360 434'58 1600 601 5 38 9 I 1069'54 375 438'54 1680, ~ ton. 611 98 9 1075'90 400 444'87 1700 613 59 93 108.O13 420 1:49 72 1800 621 43 410 1088'23 440 454'40 1900 6 28 94 o10) 1094'22 450 4i56 67 1984 635 () 103 1100 10 460 458 91 2000 636-15 1 0 1 105'86 480 46 27 20. 55 640 (4) 11 1 11 153 500 467'49 2100 64..09 11] 1117.09 520 471 58 (1) 2200 649'77 I' 119.256 540 475'55 2240, a ton. 652'37 11 — 1127.94 5.50 4-77 1-9 Tons. lbs.'12 111-' 23 560, ton. 47941 1 152 662 (5) 192 118 580 483 16 1 6285'.;4 12 839 1141 (9) 600 486 862 1' 71 0'9 129 114;5'0 620 490 28 1 728.77 19- 1148 60 t6::t5 492.99 2 761 02 1' 115.6 650 495'56 2' 781'90 1I, 11i58 46 660 497?4 2 79.971 147: l1i63 8 6S0 600'55 2. 73 802 (6) 1'8,! 168.03 700 150378 7 2. 332 810 (7) 14 117 72 720 506 9o' 81 6 8 14' 1177164 740 510 010 3 832 8'7 7 14' 118190 750 o115 7 3' 847 72 143 1186'40 760 51. 08 3. 861 80 15 1190. 84 780 516 04 33- 8'7, 1 1 1 —- 1195 92 SO0 118 96 4, 88' 75 15' I 11 99. 54820 521 81 4' 8.97 9' 1: 20'82 840 5'4 61 4 0 7 16 120804 850 596 4'8 I 99210 17 192442 SkCItfr i96 a, 9 St22','n0 17 1 224'42 860 527' 36 5 9 9) 288 18 1240.07 880 5;0.0t6 5~ 943).05 19 1255.06 900 532 71 5 952 85 20 1269.45 920 535 33. O 962 31,5 13234 940.537 89 6 971 445 30 1389. 15 950 53' 16 69 980 30 (8) 50 1156 14 960() 40-1 6 988 88 100 1815.28 (1) Bismuth mlelts, 471 6". (Dixon on heat.) (2) Leads melts, 576~. (3) Iron, read heat in the dark, 6'35. (4) Linseed oil boils, 6400. (5) Mercury boils, 662". (6) Charcoal bruns, 802' (7) Antimzony umelts, 810". (8) Iron, dull read heat, 980~'. (9) Heat of a comilmon fire, 1141". The following are the several melting heats of somae of the more refractory imetals, with the hypothetical pressures of steam of equal temperatures calculated by the formula: Calculations of Pressure in Tons per square inch. 114 Brass melts at...... 18690 (11) Fahr. 115...... Silver,,...... 18730 (12) 1.53...... Copper,,...... 19960 (13),, 237...... Gold,,.. 2200~ (4), 326........ 2360~ (15),, 687...... Cast iron,...... 2786 (1 6) 959...... Subterranean fusion.. 3000~ (1I),, The temperatures marked 6,s,9,1 0,1 1,1,3,4,16, ar2e on the authority of Professor Daniell, F.R. S., the temperature 2360, is stated by Dr. Mllacquorn Rankine, F.IR.S., to be that about at which the water in an engine boiler would be totally evaporated. (Ai.TIZAN, Nov. 1863, p. 252.) In Sir W. G. Armstrong's address to the British Association, at Newcastle (p. 9.), he assumes the temperature of subterranean fusion to be 3000(~ Fahr. The other mlelting points, &c., have been obtained from a small volume on steam, published by the late Mr. Weale. Earthquakes, Volcanic Explosions, and UCC heCavals of Strata. —There is another point of view in which this formula may possibly be-not without interest to a class of scientific men, other than engineers. More than a century ago, the Rev. John Ailichell, M.A.. " conjectured" that steam might'be the cause of earthquakes, and he reasons very ably at considerable length on the subject.*:- His idea, however, seems to have been dropped, except by a very few, by whom it is entertained only as one out of several conjectural causes. Now if, as must now and then happen, fissures open in the bed of the sea, by the action of earthquakes and close again after a few seconds or minutes, it follows that a large body of water will rush down and be imprisoned, and come in contact with the fused matter below. This water will necessarily be converted into steam, which will only remain quiescent as long as it is everywhere surrounded by a resistance greater than its own expansive force. If the formula approximates towards the -truth, unless the resistance amounts to a thousand tons per square inch or thereabouts on every side, in certain cases an explosion will take place of sufficient force to account for an earthquake or volcanic eruption, as the case maybe. In reading accounts of volcanoes and earthquakes, it will frequently be observed that hot water and steam are ejected, to say nothing of the hot wacter and steam which notoriously issue from boili ng sprinugs and geysers. The writer has umade a consi. h Pfil. Trals. R.S 1760 Vol. 1i, p. 447, &a, 16 derable collection of such cases. There is then plenty of direct proof of the existence of steam in the bowels of the earth, and steam will not be idle if it can find any point of less resistance than its own expansive force. Therefore, in considering the cause or causes of earthquakes, volcanic explosions, and upheavals of strata, you cannot get rid of steam. For let us look from whatever point of view we will, the pressure of saturated steam must be enormous long before it reaches the temperature of 8,000 degrees. At the Bath meeting, Sept. 1864, in the mechanical seetion, (see Report, p. 19,) the author read a paper on Steam, Volcanoes, Fifty or sixty copies of the following table were distributed in the Geological Section at Birmingham September 9, 1865. TEMPERATURES AND PRESSUlRES OF HIGH PRESSURE STEAM. BY R. AA.PEACOCK, C.E., JERSEY. Pressure per iRegnault' s Dr. Fairbairn's As 4- Roots of square inch. Exp'ments Experiments. Pressures. Differences per Diif"s. cent. Temp. F. Temp. F. Temp. F. Ibs. deg. deg. deg. deg. 24-998 240 240244 — 244 — 102Z 26-5.. 242'90 243'375 — 475 -195 27'3518 24. 245'093 -.093 -038 27'4... 244-82 245'188 -'368 — 150 27-6 *. 245'22 245-585 -'365 -1.49 298753 250... 249 946 +054 +022 325899 255... 254.824 -+176 +t'069 331... 2 5550 255.705 -205 -o080 35'5005 260... 259715 +-285 — 110 37-8... 26314 263'362 -'222 -084 38,6169 26-5 264'617 +-383 +'145 40.3... 26(7 21 267-137 +-'073 +~027 41'7 2.6920 269'17 ~ 03 +-'011 41-9587 270... 269'543.'457 -. —170 45'5259 275 27Lt4:74 ~+526 ~+192 4517 2.7476 274-71 +'0 -~ti018 4i93332 280. 279-417 ~-583 ~+209 494... 279-42 279'50 -.08 -029 517... 282-58 282-34 1 +24 +.085 5633953 2385 284-374 +-'26 +~220 ) 5.9... 28725 287-29 — 04 — 14 567... 288-25 288-20 +05 +017 57-722 290... 289-34 ~ 66 ~+228 60-6 g... 2392 543 29248 ~'05 + 0172-92' 62-328 295... 294 319 +681 +231 67-2231 300... 2.99-306 + 694 +-232 — 72'42 305... 304'302 +'698 229 AM1 atmoeph ee is taSke at'147 lbs, pi- Ecupoo inch. 17 Pressure per Regnault' s As 4 - Roots of square inch. Exp'ments Pressures. Differences per Differences. cent. Temp. F. Temp. F. lbs. deg. deg. deg. deg. 77'9345 310 309'303 +697 +225 83'7802 315 314'315 685 + 218 89'9689 320 319'332 +.668 +209 96.5104 325 324.352 - +648 +-200 10384292 330 329'381 + — 619 -188 110'7302 335 334.412 + -.588 -176 118.433 I 340 339,446' -.554 -163 126'5523 345 344'486 5 -'514 -149 135'1028 350 349527 - -'473 -'135 144.0992 355 5465 - - 43a5 -123 153 5562 360 359 614 *-386 - 107 16384934 36 6 364-660 340 -093 — 173'9206 370 369'705 _ 295 -.0791 184.8574 375 374.750 +. 250 _-067 196'3234 380 379'795 +-205 -054 208.3284 385 384.838 + 162 042 220'8871 390 389'876 + 124'032 234'024 395 394'918 +'082 -021 247'7538 400 399'949 + - 051 +'013 262'0912 405 404'980 +-020 +-005 277o0509 410 410'007 — 007 —'002c —a 292'6525 415 415'029 — 029 — 007 308'9156 420 420'047 -'047 — 011 32585 0 420 425,058 — 058 -'014 343'4753 430 430'063 — 063 — 015 350.7224 432 432.063 -063 -'015 411'6'*': " - 7 t 447'71 —'71 —'159-=6 - = 28 atmospheres, and t — 230'56 centigrade. See Rev. R. V. Dixon's " Treatise on Heat," p. 183. At the Birmingham Meeting, on Sept. 9, after distributing the copies to the President and Committee, and amongst the members present-the author called attention to the enormously rapid ratio in which Steam Pressure increases in proportion to the increase of Temperature. It does not increase merely as the square or second power, nor as the cube or third power, nor as the square of the square or fourth power-it increases still more rapidly than any of these, namely, as the 4 _power of the Temnperature.~ The pressures of greatest amount in the Table and the Temperatures corresponding therewith, are the highest present limit of our exact knowledge. But fortunately we are not without practical proof of the enormous amount of Steam pressure even at the temperature of melted brass, which is only 1869Q, whilst the heat of melted lava is probably not less than 3000. The Rev. John Michell wrote a very valuable paper (Phil. Trans. R. S., 1760 Vol. xi. p. 458, &c.) in which he contended that earthquakes were caused by steam. But the paper has scarcely, if at all, been believed in. He says that in casting two brass * The Author has since seen occasion very slightly to modify this law, as will appear presently. 18 cannon "t the heat of the metal of the first gun drove so much damp into the mould of the second, which was near it, that as soon as the metal was let into it, it blew up with the greatest violence, tearing up the ground some feet deep, breaking down the furnace, untiling the house, killing many spectators on the spot with the streams of melted metal, and scalding others in the most miserable manner." These effects were evidently produced by the steam of a few ounces of water only, for it is called merely " damp," and it must therefore have been very powerful steam. Now, according to the late Professor Daniell, F.R.S., brass melts at 1869~ F.; and supposing (for the sake of argument) that the empirical law continued to prevail, the pressure of the steam would be 114 tons per square inch. The author then offered to read some accounts of the ejection of Steam from Volcanoes, Earthquakes, &c., which the President of the Section thought was unnecessary, because they were so well known. The President then remarked that he had not the least doubt that Mr. Peacock's conclusion was a right one. He had not the least doubt that steam escaped from the earth when it got vent, and that when it did not get vent it caused undulation. No one of the Committee or Members present signified anything like dissent from these opinions. &An account on the subject will appear in the forthcoming volume of the British Association in due course, to which the Author refers; he has not kept a copy and therefore cannot reprint it. The table (distributed at Birmingham), so far as relates to M. Regnault's experiments was quoted from a table at p. 259,260 of the Rev. R. V. Dixon's Treatise on Heat.*' His column of "force in inches of mercury" being reduced to lbs. per square inch, on the principle of taking 1471lbs. to an atmosphere. The last line of the table is obtained from p. 183, where he says the pressure of about 28 atmospheres has a corresponding steam temperature of 230'56' Centigrade or 447~ Fahr. The following are Evtracts from an unpugblished Ji.S. But it was right to go to the fountain head, and accordingly Vol. XXI of MI/neoires de l'Institut has been referred to, where M. Regnault gives a full account of his steam experiments for the French Government, and many tables of results. His experiments are as nearly perfect as anything merely human could be expected to be. In fact, more nearly so than could a priori have been expected, when we consider the many difficulties and dangers which he had to encounter and overcome. He gives the pressure in millemetres of mercury, taking 760 millemetres to an atmosphere, And he takes as his standard Hodges and 8mith. Dublin, 1849. 19 the Observatory of Paris in latitude 480 50' at 60 inetres (196ft. lOin.) above the level of the sea. Sir John Herschel gives* mean barometric pressure at sea level on 1 square inch in lbs. 14'7304." But the pressure would be less than that at the Paris Observatory, nearly 200ft. above the sea. Datca used in cclclclating the t7hree following tables. Specific gravity of mercury at 324 Fhr. (water at 400)*.........,........................I..... 13'596 Hence a cubic foot of mercury weighs lbs.... 849'75 And a column of mercury a mnetre high (39'37079 English inches)' and one inch square, weighs lbs.............................. 19'360678 And an atmosphere of 760 millemetres therefore weighs lbs................................ 14'714132 And it follows that an atmosphere will be equal to a column of mercury of the height, inches.............,.................. 29'9218 At pp.p 625-6 M. Regnault gives a table " des forces elastiques de la vapeur aqueuse " from which may be gathered by comparison with his table at p. 608, that the latter was calculated by his formula H. Table II. now given is calculated from data obtained from his table at pp. 625-6, and it will be seen that his formula gives results all but identical with the 4- roots of the pressures, the Differences being quite insignificant, for they range only from + t- to There is therefore practically no difference between his formiula and thaCt sed by the present writer: — TABLE II. Being extracts from M. Regnault's table calculated by his formula H., and given by him in Mem. de l'Institut, vol. 21, p. 625-6, Reduced by the present writer to English denominations, and compared with his own calculations, made as 4 roots of pressures. * Outlines of Astronomy, 1864, p. 716. 20 TABLE II. MI. Regnault's millemetres, Mean tempera- Calculated as reduced to lbs. tures 41 roots of Differences. pressure centigrade, re- pressures. Differences. per cent. per sq. inch. duced to Fahr. Temperatures + or- + or - lbs. dec. Cent. Fahr. Fahr. Deg.: Deg. Deg. 24'5767 1151 239 239'3344 -3344 -140 28,3722 120' 248 248'0568 — 0568 — 023 33.7627 1251 257 256.8341 +.1659 +.065 39'3076 1301 266 265G661 +-339 +'127 45'5699 135i 275 274'5333. +4667 +'170 52-6152 140 284 283.4452 +5548 +~195 60.5128 145, 293 292.3924 +-6076 + 207 t 69'3351 150 302 301'3705 +'6295 -+208 — ~ 79'1574 155i 311 310'3752 +-6248 +-201 90'0586 160 320 319'403 +'597 +'187 102'1188 165l 329 328'449 +'551 +'167 115'422 170 338 337'51 +49 +145 130 054 1755 347 346'58 -42 + 122 146'1034 180 356 355'6605 -3395 +-095 163 6604 O185 365 364'7433 -2567 +-070 182'8170 1901 374 373'827 — 173 +046 203'6670 195' 383 382'9072 +0928 +-024 226'3065 200 392 391-982 +018 -+005 26508307 205a 401 401'0473 — 3473 — 012 277'3381 2101 410 410'101 — 101 — 025 305'925 215 419 419'13 -'13 — 031 336'689 220 428 428'16 — 16 — 037 - 369'732 225; 437 437161 -161 -'161 037 27. 405'15 2301 446 446'139 -139 -031 Tables III. and IV. give the highest temperatures used by lM. Regnaullt in his experiments. Where two or more of his Nos. are mentioned in the samle line, the mean results have been taken. Note. It will be observed by comparison of columns 4 and 5 with each other, both in Table III. and Table IV., that the temperat;ures are reduced a little too much by taking them as 41 roots of the pressure given in columns 2. And a small supplementary quantity viz. 0'543' F. _per cent., has been added in column 6, which makes them nearly equal to the experimental temperatures given in coluhmn 4, the mean difference per cent. averaging only 1 in 714 in Table III.; and being also insignificant in table IV., as will be seen by examination:TABLE III. Being a selection of gradually increasing tempera. turles and pressures taken from Serie y of M. Regnault's experiments. See. Mem. de l'Inst. Vol. 21, p. 565-7. TAB3LE 1I. 21 zr Mean mercurial S 2 a P.Q {temperatulres cen- ~' L.rn a a M. Regnaults' a W grade, o n o ~ o 5.+ v 4 experiments. 0"",reducedto + _ la Fahrenheit. M -~ cn c a) lbs. dec. Cent. Fahlr, Fahr. Fahr. Deg. eg. Beg. Beg. His Nos. 91'0665 161'17 322'106 320'194 321'943+ -163 +-050 3, 4, 5. 106'597 167'58 333 644 331-597 333 409 -235 +07() 6, 7. 130'979 176.32 31149376 347 128 349'025 -3o51 +-100 8, 9. 146.39 181'17 358106 355816 357761 — 345 +096 10 11 167 748 187.33 369.194 366749 368s754 -440 119 13. 193.392 193.82 380.876 378.528 380.596 +- 280 +-07' 19. 200.595 195 57 384 026 381616 383;701 +325 +. 08 27, 28, 29. 9240 71 2 204'48 400'0641397'394 399'566 4-498 +-124 30, 31, 32. 266'874 209630 409'28 406'611 408833 — 447 +-109 35. 287'818 213'685 416'633 413495c415.757 -876 +-210 36, 37. 314.336 218.24 424 832 421'l674423.981s + 81 +200 42, 43, 321'834 219'46 427 028 423'89 4260'209 -819 +-192 45, 46. 816'738 218'G675 425 615 422'3871424698 +- 917 +-215 48, 49. - 126 -- mean difference or I in 714., 3 4 t 5 ] 6, 8 Table IV. gives similar results. It is clear, therefore, that the formula ought to stand as follows, (with the exception only that the two first and three last quantities in Table IV., column 8, are a little above the average, the intlermlediate twenty-four quantities giving only infinitesimal differences). Correctecd forizcl. Temperature calculated as d4 roots of pressures + about 0'5430~ ].?iel cent. on column 6 - approximlately the mean actual temperatures' 1\i. Reg'nault says, p. 619, that the graphic curve by which he represents iis pressures and temperatures in his large plate, " presente u11 poinmt d'inflexion " at 627'20 C, (1160'96.~ Fahr.) " Enfin " says he, " la courbe qui tonuraitt sa colnvexitS vers l'axe des temperatures'" up to the temlperature named, " tourne sa conzcaVit vers ce mume axe, t partir du point d'inflexion, l'ordonnie tenld vers un mllaximlulm, et la courbe a pour asymp-tote, une " ligle parallele ht l'axe des telllperatures, dont l'ordonnSe est... 121,617 atmnisph leres " whlich aml0ounlt to about 800 tons pressure per square inch. " Ce serait done It la limnite superieure de la force elastique de la vapeur." As far as he can judge; but he very properly adds:-'" IvIais il serait m101on avis tout't fait deraisonnable d'attacher ulne signification reelle t ces points singuliers de la courbe, qui sont si loin en dehors des limites oh nos observations peuvent atteindre." Supposing he is correct in saying that stea1ml pressure may conltinue to increase up to about 800 tons per square inch and no igyhes', that force would still acd * The 0'543~ F. per cent. has in reality been calculated on column 4, inadvertently; but the greatest difference, namely, for the last quantity, is only diminished thereby 0'193 per cent. (1 in 5,026), which is an insignificant difference. count for the greatest effects of earthquakes and volcanoes. Fig. 1, is from his plate.e" Will the curve if continued, ever become a vertical line? Treating the temperature 3,0000 by the corrected formula for the nmomenlt, the quantity obtained is 9353 tons. But the question of main importance is not whether the highest steam pressure continues to iincrease as far as 800 tons, or 900 tons per square inch; but whether the pressure continues to increase up to one of those or in some other enormouslyrapid r'atio or ratios, so as to account for the most powerf4ulforces of earthquakes and volcanoes? MI. Regnault's views plainly tend towards an affirmative conclusion, And he is evidently an impartial witness, for he had no thought that his achievements and opinions had any bearing on the cause of earthquakes and volcanoes, because he never mentions either the one or the other; as it was no part of his object to enter into any considerations other than the phenomena connected with " Des Machines a Vapeur." TABLE IV. Being a selection of gradually increasing temperatures and pressures, taken from Serie z of M. Regnault's experiments. See \elmn. de l'Institut, Vol. 21, p. 568, &c. Meanl meruollrial a o C) 0 0, temperatures cl, a z. Centigrade Q. t reduced to + o Fahrenheit. - lbs. dec. Cent. Fahr. Fah. Fai. HIis Nos. 25 6456 116'40 241'52 241 609 242'920 — +1400 — 580 3 33'6925 12.515 25'7'27 216 7153 258'112 -'842 — 327 6 41 322 132'00 269'60 268'628 270 092 - -492 -'182 8 50 4G29 138 91 282 038 280 827 282 398 - 320 -'113 10 61'9105 146 31 295' 358 293'88 295'o484 - -126 -'042 13 67'3625 149'45 301'01 299'444 301.078 - 68 — 022 16 71'7964 151 86 305'348 303'716 30 374 1 - 026 — 008 18 19 79 4936 155'79 312'422 310 669 312 36,5 +'057 ~-:018 21 84'4232 158'14 316'652 314'85 316 569 + -083 -026 24 89'8585 160 47 320'846 319'245 320 987 - 141 044 25, 26 94-7687 16265 324'77 323'042 324'805'- 035 -011 27, 28, 29 100'8593 165.24 329'432 327'544 322'333 +'099 +'030 33 111'493 169'365 336 857 334'922 336 701 + 106 - 031 34, 35 120.947 172'80 343'04 341 035 342 898 + 142 -041 36 134 4498 177'39 ]351 302 349'179 3b1 087 + - 21 -061 38, 39 144-463 180'50 356'9 354-769 356'707 -'193 +-'054 41,42 1566(3S8 134'13 1363'434 361-206 363 179 + 255 — 070 46 166'972 187'05 368569 366'372 368 374 - 316 -086 48 183'701 191'44 376'592 374-228 3762 73 - 319 +-085 49, 50 194 701 194'18 381 524 379'095 381 167 - 37 -093 52 208'748 197'475 387'455 385'009 387-113 +- 342 -088 53, 54 234'836 203'16 397-688 395-218 397-377 + 311 +-'078 57, 58 279'276 211'94 41.3492 410 736 412 981 + l-511 — 123 59, 60 305 05 216'51 421-718 418-873 421.163 + - 555 + —131 62 326'338 220' 15 428'27 425 2 4279j25 -+'745 - -'174 65 352 997 224'31 1 4357,58 432'685 43o (051 i- + 707 — +162 67 3829 228 89 444''440'574 442.985 - -1 015 + —229 76 409'034 232'56 450'608 i 447'086 449' 33 1 — 1 075 +238 81 409'223 2 32'605 450'689 4471317 449-5789 -+-1 1101 +246 78,79,80,81 4 2 3 4 1 5 6 0'7 8' The vertical line is divided into degrees Centigrade; and the horizontal divisions show one atmosphere of pressure, divided into 100 parts. LII. 0 lo 90 So 2'71 IL w__I. ~~~~~~'72~~~~~~~~~~~'!C:Q,90 80 70 0.~'0R 4-0'0 l,0 io En- I #)I I l;_~.. 7:,,';'" " - C~.",, /~~~~~~~~?' H.,......,?, - i! //:, Xt.'\ / / // 23 If we were to hear a loud explosion adcl to see the fragments of a building flying in the air, and a cloud of smoke spreading itself among the ruins, and on entering the smoke to perceive the well-known smell of gunpowder, we should naturally conclude that gunpower was the cause of the catastrophe. So also in the late explosion at Erith, even if we had known that there was a portion of gun-cotton in each magazine, we should still call the accident a gnpowder explosion. Ought we not, then, to attribute the various species of natural disturbances of the earth's crust chiefly or even entirely to steam, when it or its constituents are proved to have been preseut, as we shall now see in at least seventy cases, even if metallic bases of alkaloids were present also? Because amongst other reasons, we shall find in these evidences, Humboldt and Sir Humphrey Davy condemning the alkaloid theory as co-oorerctive only. Whilst he would have a difficult task, who undertook to prove, that metallic bases of the alkaloids were always present in su.icient quantity to cause the greatest explosions. No such difficulty exists with regard to steam; indeed, it is self-evident that it may be present in all but unlimited quantity, the amount of oceanic and fresh water, and of subterranean fire being so inconceivably great. We shall see in evidence No. 40, that the Kaimeni submarine volcano has been active for 2,000 years. That is to say the Mediterranean has not been able to quench the fire, which must therefore be very vast. The like is true of the volcanoes under the Pacific Ocean, for its average depth is but as an exceedingly thin film when compared with the mass of the earth. We know that "the terremotos of South America, indicate violent horizontal oscillations similar to the wave movements of the sea; or perpendicular upliftings, as if a power was operating on the roof of a cavern from the interior, struggling to force it open, and dash it away in frapments with everything upon it."- Very powerful steam might clearly do either of these things, according to whether the sides or the tops of the caverns offered the least resistance. We purpose on a future occasion to prove that there must necessacrily be caverns. The very powerful steam, when it increased in volume without increase of temperature, might lift a weight which it had not power to explode (just as every one can lift a weight which is too great for him to throw) and thus slowly ancd gradually elevate a country, Spitzbergen and northern Norway for example. On the other hand if steam ceased to be produced from any cause in a given cavity, the steam already contained therein would gradually cool by the natural conducting away of heat by the surrounding cooler ground, and allow the roof to settle; and so cause a gradual continuouts depression, as in -the south of Sweden. X~ Milner's allery of Nature, p. 430 In extensive reading on the subject of all kinds of natural disturbances of the earth's crust, the present writer has found no reason to believe, nor any allegation, that steaml or its constituents are ever absent. An initial force of 243.2 tons per square inch mlay be taken as a fair representation of the average effects of volcanoes. That is to say, it would propel a mass of granite 9ft. thick from a supposed focus at three miles below sea level up to one mile above sea le iel-total, four miles of vertical height. Of this force considerably more than one-half would be expended in overcoming the resistance of the atmosphere, as will now be shown: FALLING OR ASCENDING BODIES. The velocity generated by Gravity in vacuo is given by Sir John Herschel in Outlines of Astronomy (1864, p. 716) as 32.18169 feet in a second of time, in latitude 25~ 16'. It is well known that a body propelled vertically upwards ascends 32'18169 feet in each second, less than it did during the previous second. And it follows that (avoiding any fractions of a second) a body must ascend for 36 seconds to attain a vertical height of 21,433 feet which are equal to 4 miles and 313 feet, and it must ascend 1158.54 feet during the first second. Force requireed to overcomze the gravity of ca, macss of grancite 9 feet t7lick.-The specific gravity of granite being taken at 2651, the weight of a column of granite one inch square and 9 feet high will be 10.355 lbs:, and the total resistance of the column of granite in vacuo would be foot-pounds, or equal to the weight 10.355 lbs: x 21433 - 99.08 tons. The resistaccnce of the acir. —Say atmospheric pressure at 45 miles above sea level= 0, the pressure at sea level at average temperature is 14.7304 lbs: per square inch (see Hferschel ibid.:) and the average resistance of the air viz: at one mile below sea level, to be overcome by the columln of granite, would therefore be 15.057742 lbs: per square inch X 21433 feet = 14-4.12 tons. And 99.08 tons + 144.12 -- 243.2 tons. Note. The heated air in the Yolcano wsould have less pressure than 15.057742 lbs:, but on the other hand we may suppose the propelled mass of rock has to be fractured off, or at least to overcome the friction of contact, which wTould require additional force, The temperature of Steam bythe corrected empirical formula at p. 21 to overcome 243.2 tons per square inch, -mnust be 2223.56~'F. And by: the saone empirical formnula, to overcome twice the pressure, or 486.4 tons, would only require saturated steam of a temperature of 2594.8~ Fahr.- And in like manner a pressure of 935' tons would be produced by saturated steam of 3000~, which temperature therefore gives a pressure about 48 per cent. greater then the pressure due to a temperature of 2593.8~ Fahr. Now perhaps the results given by the formula are not widely different from the truth, but even if they were widely different, and in the most unfavorable sense, namely, in that sense which gives much less power to steam of very high temperature, it still appears that saturated steam of 3000, even after deducting about 48 per cent. from its power as calculated, would have twice the rowelr recquired to propel a mass of granite 9 feet thick to a height of four miles. Hence it follows that Steam power reduced to this great extent, would yet have force sufficient to account for the greatest effects of Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Caln there really be any reasonable doubt that steam is capable of exerting a much greater force than this after the perusal of these papers? Every reader will, of course, judge for himself; but, for my own part, I long ago arrived at the conclusion that steam has amply sufficient power to cause the greatest effects observable, and that OTHER FORCES CO-OPERATE WHERE INO HELP IS REQUIRED. This was illustrated last month by showing that the late accident at Erith would still have been a yuCjpowcter explosion, even if there had been a little gun-cotton in each imagazine. There is no risk of attempting to prove too mulch in these papers, because the greatest amount of steam power contended for, as it happens, is only about enough to account for the tremendous convulsions of the coal period.-See Silzria, 1859, p. 529, &c. Evidence No. 57 following would seem to have required nearly the maximum force of steam for which these papers contend. THE CONTACT OF THE METALLOID BASES WITH WATER AND AIR MAY BE A CO-OPERATING CAUSE IN EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES.'The nucleus of our planet is supposed to consist of unoxidisecl masses, the metalloids of alkalies and earths. Volcanic activity is excited in the nucleus by the access of water and air. Volccanoes celrtainty por forth ca great qcuantity of aqueouns vajcour into the atnmosphere, but the assumption of the penetration of water into the volcanic focus is attended with much difficulty, considering the opposing pressure of the external column of water and of the internal lava; and the deficiency, or, at all events, very rare occurrence of burning hychiogen gas during the eruption (which the forlnation of hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and sulphuretted hydrogen certainly does not slufficiently replace) has led the celebrated orig-inator of this hypothesis (Sir H-umphry Davy) to abandon it of his own accor(d."-Bohn's Cos7mos, vol. v., pp. 169, 170. "WVhilst Davy ill the most distinct maunner ggave up the opinion that volcanic eruptionls are a consequence of the contact n 26 of the metalloid bases with water and air, he still asserted thllt the presence of oxidisable metalloids in the interior of the earth, might be a co-operating cause in volcanic processes already co-nnmenced."-Boihn's Cosmnos, vol. i,, p. 234, and p. 170, vol. v. Gay Lussac thinks that " the penetration of sea water does not appear to him to be improbable under certain conditions." — Foot note to Bohn's Coszos, vol. v., p. 169. It is well known that the late Baron Humboldt examlined mcore volcanoes than perhaps any other man ever did, and that he cxperienced some earthquakes in South America and in the ec:t. His " difficulty" aforesaid, besides being answered by himself I1I the same sentence, is also answered by him in No. 5. followir:g, by what he aptly calls " a very striking proof " of water haviang got down to a volcanic focus. Water mnust get down to a volca.:ic focus, because we shall often find stearm and hot water comuinout again. EJECTIONS OF STEAM OR AQUEOUS VAPOUR FROM VOLCANOES. 1. Sir H-umphry Davy says, the volcanoes of Central America give out aqueous vapour in very large quanctity, as well as certain gases.-Lyell's Principjles of Geology, 1853, p. 549. 2. In the explosion of the volcanic mountain Cosiguina in Central America, there was a noise of as many cannon fronm various parts of the Gulf of Fonseca. An enormous coal black cloucd of smoke rolled high above the summit of the volcano. This cloud was fine ashes so abundant as to produce darkness. There was a tremendous subterranean report as of a thousand cannon, heard at several hundred miles distance.V'` The eruption was most violent for three days. Clouds of steamn continued to rise from the volcano for months after. The eruption commenced January 20, 1835.-Travels in Central Amlerica, by Dr. Carl Scherzer, vol. ii, p. 224, &c. The four following evidences are from Sir Charles Lyell: 3. At the great eruption of Skaptt'r Jokul in 1783, in some places where the steain could not get vent, it blew up the rock, throwing fragments to the height of more than 150ft. About a month previous to the eruption on the main land, a submarine volcano burst forth in the sea, and a new island was throwni up (which volcano must necessarily t7ave Fprodlced s-tea,); the isliand was named by the King of Denmlark, Nlyoe, or the New Island, consisting of high cliffs, but before the end of a year nothing was left but a reef of rocks from 5 fathoims to 30 fathoms uncler water. (This is similar to what took place at Graham Island, see post No. 51.) Earthquakes, which hacl long been felt in Iceland, became violent on the 11th of June, 1783, when Skapt'Lr Jokul on the mlainland, distalt nearly two hundred miles fronm -Nye, threw out a torrent of lava. —Principles, p. 425. -' Humboldlt says at nearly 560 geographical miles distance.-Bo2lin's Cosos, Vol. v, p. 275. 27 Besides proving the existence of steam, this proves two other things, nanmely, that the same causes operate both in earthquakes and volcanoes. And secondly, that there may be cavities, or at all events, fissures or communications continued through the great distance of two hundred miles. The like may be gathered as to distant communications underground from Nos. 24 and 59. 4. " Aqueous vaepour constitutes the most abundant of the a/riform1 products of volcanoes in eruption."-Principles, p. 553. 5. " We know that volcanoes in eruption not only emit fluid lava, but give off ste-aim and other heated gases, which rush out in enormous volume, for days, weeks, or years, continuously, and are even disengaged from lava during its consolidation."-Lyell's 3lIanuctl, p. 601. (Ed. 1855.) I believe in the soundness of the following, which Sir Charles Lyell suggets as a speculation; it is quoted from his Parinciples of Geology, p. 558. He says: " In speculating on the mechanism of an ordinary volcanic eruption, we may suppose that large subterranean cavities exist at the depth of some miles below the surface of the earth, in which melted lava accumulates; and when water containing the usual mixture of air penetrates into these, the steam thus generated may press upon the lava and force it up the duct of a volcano, in the same manner as a column of water is driven up the pipe of a geyser." 6. Sir Charles quotes Sir H. Davy as stating that the subterranean cavities of Vesuvius threw out large volumes of steam during an eruption.-Principl2es, p. 550. 7. Schmidt saw clouds of volcanic smoke and steam, which encompassed his observatory on Vesuvius during the great eruption of 1855.-Intellectual Observer, vol. i, p. 149. 8. Whoever has seen the blowing off steamr from a boiler will probably recognise Sir William Hamilton's " mass of smoke like whitest cotton," in the following abstract, as steam. This opinion is corroborated by the latter part of No. 5', following. Sir William says that for two years previous to the eruption of Vesuvius in 1779, its top had never been free from smoke. On August 5th he saw a mass of smoke like whitest cotton issue, four times as large as the mountain itself, which is 3,700ft. high; stones, scoriae, and ashes shot up at the samue time 2,000ft.; at times heavy liquid lava poured forth over the sides of the crater. On August 8th there was a loud report, and instantly a column of liquid transparent fire rose as high as the mountain itself; puffs of very black smoke accompanied, and at the same moment could be seen bright electrical fire playing briskly in zig-zag lines. On August 9th there was a subterraneous boiling noise, and smoke of two sorts, white as snow and black as jet, the black being scorize and minute ashes. Very large stones mounted to an immense height, forming parabolas, leaving a trace of white smoke. Some burst like bombs, others burst into a thousand pieces soon after 28 emission. On August 11th the last explosion came, and gradually increased, being louder than any before. A mnountaCin of wthite cotton-like clouds rose to an extraorclinary height, and formed a colossal mass indescribably great. —Phil. Trans. R. S., 1780, v. xiv, p. 163, &c. May we not conclude that on this last day Vesuvius was blowing off its steam, its business being finished for the time? Sir Williamr made his observations from Pausilippo through a good telescope. He was not on the spot so as to ascertain whether the "white smoke" was steam or not. 9. MIr. William Smith, C.E., F.G.S., proprietor of THE ARTIZAN, has lately visited Vesuvius and Etna, and says, in answer to a question in a letter dated June 23, 1865, "' he thinks steam is generated during volcanic action, alld is a material agent in the production of those explosive effects which are observable both at Etna and Vesuvius." 10. Mr. J. J. Jeans, British Vice-Consul at Catalia, says, in a letter dated Feb. 4, 1865, " A deplorable accident has happened at Etna by an explosion caused by the contact of brningy lavca with somne cistern or twatercourse, by the effects of which a number of Sappers have lost their lives, but the particulars are not known."-Ilzlustrated London News, Feb. 25, 1865. I-ere we have a distinct proof of lava converting water into steam, and causing a destructive explosion. 11. M. Fouque has commnunicated to the Academy of Sciences an account of his recent ascent of Mount Etna. He states that the eruption of February, 1865, has not materially changed the configuration of the great crater.... It is only towards the south that he found fissures from which were issUilng torrents of suffocating funes comlposed of steavz charged with sulphuric and hydrochloric acid, the latter predominating. He found a " fumerolle" with a temperature of 2030 centigrade, which is equal to 3974~0 Fahr. 12. From Art and Ncature unclerc acn Ita/ian Sky, 1850, p. 110, published anonymously, we gather that just as the author reached the base of the cone of Vesuvius a mllagnificent explosion took place. The sound has often been colmpared to the firing of artillery, but he thought a mmuch more apt conlparison was the bursting of can iimlzense steanm boiler. A vast quantity of red-hot stones was projected, some of them to the heigh-t of 300 feet. The projectifngforce is evidently steamb, he says, froin the app2earanzce of the vapour and the shower of hot water which falls around. 13. In a recent eruption of!ount Vesuvius, aqueous valpour and storms of ashes issued. At Torre del Greco a sea whirlpool of 360ft. diamneter was boiling violently and emitted a strong sulphurous odour: the sounding' was 23 fathoms. The principal development was carbonic acid gas. —- Morning Advertiser, Dec. 28, 1861. 29 Was the water descending by the whirlpool to the volcanic focus? 14. Von Buch found that in a, crater in the Canary Islands, were open fissures out of which hot vapours rose which in 1815 were 145~ F., and were probably at boiling point lower down. The exhalations appeared to be agueous vapjour, but they could not be pure steam, for the crevices were incrusted with siliceous sinter.-Principles, p. 438. 15. Fromll near the centre of the volcanic mountain 7Bromo in Java (see Voyage of IH.lV.S. Fly, vol. ii., p. 68), rises a rough conical mound, 600ft. or 800ft. high, having on one side a number of subordinate craters. One of these had been frequently active in 1845 when Mr. Jukes visited it, and was then belching out much smwoke and steam, with a great rumbling noise proceeding from the depths of the great funnel-like crater.-Juk7es's Manual of Geology, 1857, p. 290. 16. Ja-mies D. Dalna, the geologist of the United States exploring expedition, says vol. x., p. 368, " That the ordinary eruption and usual action of a volcano proceed principally fromnte water ygaining access to a branch or branchlets belonging to a particular vent, and not to a common channel below: the fres7h waters of the island are thepprincipal so8urce of the vacpour (evidently steamn) of Kilaea." This is one of several deliberate conclusions which Mr. Dana arrived at. 17. Mr. Coan was present in December, 1864, at the eruption of the volcano of Kilauea in one of the Sandwich Islands. He spent a night near a beautiful pit crater called Napau, nearly circular, about 300ft. deep, a mile perhaps in diameter, and with a bottom of sand so smooth and hard that a regiment of cavalry might be reviewed there. One eighth of a mile from this crater fissures are opened in the earth, out of which SCalding stecamn and sumoke have issued froom tnime imntmemnorial, and affording heat enough to cook for an army.- Anmerican Jorncal of Science, quoted in Illustrated London News, Oct. 28, 1865, p. 415. 18. The island of Hawaii, formerly called Owhyhee, is an imlmense volcano of 4,000 square miles, its summit lMowna Roa being 16,000ft. high. Volumies of sumoke and steaim were ascending from the vents, but as the evening closed, fire after fire appeared glimmering through the vapour; somne of the cones were ejecting fragmyents of r'ock: others ashes, lava, and boiling watter.- Gallery of Naturce p. 210. azntell's Wonders of Geology, p. 724, &c. 19. " Chimborazo throws out mqasses of mCud and elastic flulids." -Cosmos vol. v., p. 336. Note. —nTudcl implies the presence of water.' The words " evidently steam " have been inserted by the present writer, not by iMr. Dana. 30 EARTHQUAKES ARE ACTUALLY FED BY WATER. 20. In a paper read by M. Pissis before the French Academy, see Comrqptes Ren?dtus, Jan. 27, 1862, he says, "' it is generally believed in the districts of S. Amlerica which are most subject to earthquakes, that those distorbcances occur duclrizng the c7rainy season, and up to the period of drought." During twelve years of his own residence on the spot this theory held good; and the Jyears of mzost violenzt rain, wvere Cistinguished by a gy'eat,numnCber of ecarthqctkes. ACTIVE VOLCANOES ARE ACTUALLY FED BY WATER. 21. iMr. Dana ancd Dr. Junghuhn say that the volcanoes of the Pacific Islands, however large, hozwever mtch/ ei2posed to hecavy raiIns, su)Port no 1ivers, so long as they are in the process of growth, or whilst the highest crater emrits showers of scorice CaCd fioods of lava. The ejected matters are very porous. - Lyeil's ilfacnucl, 1855, p. 497. 22. The like is true of Etna, for we read as follows:-" An unusual silence prevails on the Val del Bove, Etna; for there are not torrents dashing' -rom the rocks, nor any miovement of running water in -this valley such as may be almnost invariably heard in ouantainous regions. Every cdrop of wcater thact fcalls fron the heacvens, or from the qetting ice or snowtv, is instantly absorbed by the po0rous Clava." -Priciles, p. 405. " Ruunning water in general exerts no power on Etna, the r'aiCn w7hick falls being iitsm~tedliately imnbibed by the poroes lava, so that vast as is the extent of the mnountain, it feeds only a few small rivulets, acnd even these are dry during the greater portion of the year." —Princi1ples, p. 411. 23. It often happens that a clake wvhich has endured for centuries in a volcanic crater, disarearls suddenly oi, the cproach of c ieiwu ewruion.-Princiles, p. 389. 24. It is well known that on the shores of the island of Cephalonia there is a cavity in the rock7 into which the sea has been flowiing for ages, and lmany others doubtless exist in the leaky bottom of the ocean. The water, perhaps, being converted into steacm acnzd escacping zwca rds.-Principies, p. 389. Note.-Cephalonia is 300 miles distaint in a direct line from Etna, and from the stufas of the Lipari Isles, and 360 miles from Vesuvius, which appear to be the nearest vents. There may, therefore, be a cavity or cavities extending for either of these distances. ROCuIS EJECTED FROM, A VOLCANO BY STEAM. 25. Speaking of the angular masses of the agglomerate of the Caldera of Palma, Siri Charles Lyell says that " the only cause he knows capable of disperosing heavy frag'ments of 3ft., 4ft.. or 6ft. in diameter, without blunting their edges, is the peowver of steaic,; unless, indeed, we could suppose that ice had co-operated with water in motion, and the interference of ice cannot be suspected in this latitude (28~ 40' N.), especially as he looked in vain for signs of glacial action here and in the other mountainou s regions of the Canary Islands.-lIncIlz;cdi, 1855, p. 503. DEPOSITS OF WATER, AND OF ICE AND SNOW, BEADY TO DESCEND INTO VOLCANOES BY GRAVITATION THROUGH THE POROUS STRATA. 26. " At, Volcan d' Ansango are two chcass fiecll wit'2waterl."Cosmzos, vol v., p. 336. 27. There are sevecral mcwrsh,7es and two smncall zlakes in the long and broad ridge which unites the volcanic mountains Cotopaxi and the Nevado de Quelandana.-Cosmos, vol. v, p. 339. 28. IIn the crater of the Volcano of the Island of S. Lucia are severeC smctll basins )ew'ioiccally filled widh boiling wctt-e;.-Cosgmos, vol. v, p. 422. 29. The thirty-eight considerable volcanoes of the Isle of Java are rellarkable for the quantity of sulphur andcl salphlllurons vapours discharged. They rarely emit lava, but rivers of mudcZ issue fi'rom thfem. The crater of Taschem contains ca lake 1 lon strongly impregnated with s-ulphuric acid. —Pricip2les, p. 8353. 30. The Persian volcano, Demavend, is covered qiwitlh geretual sno'w.-Cosiosls, vol. v, p. 361. 31. Two volcanic m-ouintains, Petschan 1cand Totshen, of Tur. fan (Asia), are separated by a gigantic block of mountains 420 miles long, cr'own ei'wi/th eternal snow and ice.-Coosmo0s, vol. v, p. 360. 32. The most extensive, and, probably, the latest pre-historical eruptions of Ararat, chte call issed, belowu the limb;it of me'l"ettCal snow.-Cosmos, Vol. vol, p, 361. it is obvious tllat in the many other cases where volcanoes have their tops higher taln the limit of perpetu al snow, there is a means of prodLucing steaml ready to descend. And it ought not to be forgotten that nearly all the volcanoes in. the world, are either in the bed of the Pacific Ocean, or in its islands, or not far distant from its shores, and they ar e doubtless fedL by its waters directly, or by its rains incirectly. EJECTIONS OF STEAlI FROMI GEYSEIRS. 33. " Stem1 is esclusively:the mtoviny p)ow)eDr in the geysers of Iceland." —Lyell's Prinzciples qf Geoloyy, p. 5o3. 34. it has more than once happened acfte, eacclh7gfulkees (in Iceland that some of thVe boiling fotcaidi s have increased or diminishled in violence or volume, or en-tirely ceasel, or that new ones have umade their appearance." —Ibicd'zote. —Does not this prove the connection of geysers and earthluakes? " 35. " Steamn of high temjpeerature has continued for more than twenty centuries to issue from the' stufas' of Italy," and " many craters emit hot'vapours in the intervals between eruptions, and solfataras evolve incessantly the same gases as volcanoes," proving theml to have one common origin." — Ibid, p. 546. 36. At the foot of Sulphur MB/ountain, in Iceland, stecajm, issued from all pca'rts. There was a caldron of boiling' mud fifteen feet in diameter; near this was an irregular space filled with water boiling briskly, and. at the foot of the hill steamz rushed with gyreat force from among the loose fragments of rocks.-Sir George Mackenzie's Tracvels in Iceland. 37. Such is the explosive force of steami of the Great Geyser of Iceland, that very hardl rocks are sometimes shivered by it into very small pieces.-Principles, p. 554. 38. At the geysers near San Francisco Bay, California, the air is strongly fiavoured with sulphur, and the water is strongly ferruginous. There is an allkaline spring surrounded with jets of sulphur, and deposits of magnesia, Epsomn salts, and various alkcaline mixtures. You hear boiling springs, andc are half choked with steain. A horrible nmouth in tlhe black rock belches forth tremendous volumnes of sulphurous vapour. The waters boil in macd fury, the temperature is about 5000. An egg clipped in is taken out boiled. The steam1 rushes fromi the clargest vent hole with such force, and heated to such a degree, that it fiJst becomes visible only at the distanzce of 6fl. fromn the earth. It rises to the height of 80 feet.-Honme accnd Abroad, second series, by Bayard Taylor, p. 81, &c. 39. It is said of a mucl volcano, about 150 miles from the head of the Gulf of California, that those only who are familiar with the wild r~'ush of steam? can reaise the rude sounds of the mud explosions. The steamc jets issue from conical mounds of mud of fron 3 to 15ft. high' from solme the steam v rushes in a continuotus streavm; in others, the actionm is intermittent, each rus7h of steam being accompanied by a shower of hot Lmud, sonmetimes thrown to a height, of 100ft. These discharges take place every few mliinutes. The volcanmic action has been mlore violent at a former period, as is proved by the traces of former eruptions, and fragments of pumice stone scattered about the plain. —John A. eatch, Mll. D., Titan, April, 1859, p. 465, &c, I endeavoured, in citing these evidences, to classify volcanoes, eartl-hcjuakes, geysers, hot springs, &c., each under different headings. But they would commingle with each other, especially in what follows, aiLd they thereby prove that they have all one conmmon origini, ntamely, steaddm. ACTIVE VOLCANOES BENEATH THE SEA IMUST NECESSARILY PRODUCE BOTH STEAM AND EARTHQUAKES. 40. The Gulf of Santorin in the Grecian Archipelago has been for 2,000 years a scene of active volcantic o2erations. The Gulf contains three volcanic islands, namely, Old, New, and Little Kaimeni. Pliny informs us that Old Kaimeni rose above the water 186 before Christ. It was increased in size by other eruptions in A.D. 19, 726, and 1427. In 1573 another eruption produced Little Kaimieni. In 1650 a submarine outbreak gave rise to a shoal, which was surveyed in 1848 by Captain Graves, and found to have 10 fathoms of water over it, the sea deepening around it in all directions. This eruption lasted three months, coverilng the sea with floating pumice. At the sanze time an earthquake destroyed mtacny houses in Thera. -Principles, p. 441. It is well known that Santorin has been for some time, and is now in active operation; sending forth clouds of steam and flames, and giving earthquake shocks. SUBM1ARINE ERUPTIONS IN VERY DEEP WATER. 41. "In the' Nautical IMagazine' (says Sir Charles Lyell) for 1835, p. 642, and for 1838, p. 361, and in the'Comptes Rendus,' April 1838, accounts are given of a series of volcanic phenomena, earthquakes, troubled water, floating scorise, and columns of smoke, which have been observed at intervals since the middle of last century, in a space of open sea between longitudes 200 and 2.20 wes-t, andc about "I south of the equator." —P~'rinciples, p. 436. Note.-I find this situation is more than 600 miles from the nearest land, which is the small island of Ascension, and the sounding is 2,800 fathoms, according to Lieut. Maury's chart. The hydrostatic pressure would be 7,4961bs., or about 3~ tons per square inch on the bottom. Steam, however, overcame this pressure, and in addition gave shocks to ships on the surface, as will be seen in the two next evidences. And the mass of fire must be very great not to have been extinguished by the vast volume and pressure of water. 42. " Submarine volcanic action near the equator has been for some years going on. We have now two accounts of it observed by ships, but a few miles apart from each othei —the Dallas, Captain Wikander, and the.Zelbourne, Captain Cowie-on March 20th, 1861. The latter says: —' We were startled by a heavy and loud rumbling noise, and at the same time felt the ship tremble fronm. stem to stern, which lasted four or five nzinutes. The noise resembled more the low grumble of distant thunder than the harsh, grating noise produced by the ships taking ground. The Dallas lost her false keel by the collision."' Illustrated Lonldon News, Aug. 17, 1.861, p. 157. 84 43. "Ft eb. 9th, 1885, at 10 hrs. 45 min., on board the barque La Couronne, of Liverpool, a shock was felt at sea in 0~ 57' south latitude, and 283 19' west of Greenwich." See "Comptes Rendus," t. 6, p. 514, as quoted by Lieut. Maury in "Physical Geography of the Sea." Note.-From Lieut. Maury's chart the sounding would be about 3,000 fathoms, and the inertia of the water 8,0311bs, o; more than 3l tons per square inch. 44. A Volcano in the Ocean.-The ship Orient, 1032 tons, Capt. John Harris, the arrival of which with a cargo of wool, &c., has already been announced, and which sailed from Adelaide Nov. 10, brings the: report that on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7.15 a.m., when in lat. 510, 44' S. and long. 160~, 49', * with a moderate wind from N.N.W., and a clear sky, the ship commenced ringing the bells and trembling violently, as if she were passing over a rough bottom in shallow water. In an instant all was con. fusion on board, as the crew and passengers thought she was; settling down. The violent trembling lasted two or three minutes, with nothing visible. Sounded the pump well and foulnd no water; and sounded over the ship's side with the deep sea lead, but found no bottom. The conclusion arrived at by all on board was, that the ship had experienced the effects of at submarine volcano.-Morning Advertiser, Feb. 16, 1866. SUBMARINE ERUPTIONS AT LESS DEPTH. 45. An earthquake at sea.-Capt. P. E Lawson, of the barqLue Viking, of Sunderland reports that on the 16th ult., at 2 p. im., while in latitude 36~ 18' north, and longitude 2~ 32' west, (which position is in the Mediterranean 165 nautical miles east of Gibraltar, opposite the Bay of Almeria) he experienced a severe shock of an earthquake, as though the ship had taken a shoal of rocks; and so severe was it that the vessel was shaken with great violence, and everything on board was similarly effected. This lasted above five minutes, when the shock subsided, and the vessel resumed her course, nothing the worse for the severe shaking she had undergone. The weather at the time was beautifully fine, and the water remarkably clear. —Record Newspaper, Aug. 21, 1865. 46. " On the 20th Nov., 1720, a burning island was raised out of the sea near Tercera, one of the Azores, at which place several houses were shaken down by an earthquake which attended the eruption. This island was about three leagues in diameter and nearly round; whence it is manifest that the quantity of pumice stones and melted matter requisite to form it, must have been amazingly great."-Rev. John Michell, Phil. Trans. R.S., 1760, p. 452. *- Some 1,400 miles east f'om the nearest land, which is the south island of New Zeaamnd, 47. Another example of the same kind happened at Manilla in 1750. This, also, was attended with violent earthquakes, to which that island, as well as the rest of the Philippines, is very much subject.-Ibid. 48. Barren island in the Bay of Bengal, east of the Andarmav Isles, in lat. 140 15', when seen from the ocean presents on almost all sides a surface of bare rocks rising with a moderate acclivity towards the interior; but at one point there is a cleft by which we can penetrate into the centre, and there discover that it is occupied by a great circular basin filled with the waters of the sea, and bordered all round by steep rocks, in the midst of which rises a volcanic cone very frequently in eruption. —Principles, p. 466. 49. In 1835, a submarine valcano broke out near Bacalao Head, Isle of Juan Fernandez, about a mile from the shore, in ixzty-nine fathoms water, and illuminated the whole island during the night.-Principles, p. 454. 50. In the Aleutian Archipelago eruptions are frequent, and about thirty miles north of Unalaska, near the Isle of Umnack, a new island was formed in 1796. It was first observed at a point in the sea from which smoke had risen. Flames then issued from the new island which illuminated the country for ten miles round; afrightful earthquake shook the new formed cone, and showers of stones were thrown as far as Umnack.-Principles, p. 352. Note. —The flames in the water in the two last evidences cannot have failed to produce steam. In 1806 another, and in 1814 a third, submarine island arose among the Alentian Islands.-Principles, p. 468. Note.-There are vast tracts of submarine volcanoes. (See Lyell's Principles of Geology, p. 350, &c). 51. Graham Island, off the south-west coast of Sicily thirty miles, rose in July, 1831, in 100 fathoms water, steam playing an important part, and disappeared again in three months. The fole lowing are a few details:About a fortnight after the eruption was first visible, Sir Pulteney Malcolm passed over the spot in his ship and felt the shock of an earthquake, and the same shocks were felt on the west coast of Sicily-direction, S.W. to N.E. About July 10, John Corrao passed in his ship near the place, and saw a column of water 60ft. high and 800 yards in circumference, rising from the sea, and soon after a dense steam in its place rose to the height of 1,800ft. On his return from Girgenti on July 18, he found a small island, 12ft. high, with a crater in its centre, ejecting volcanic matter and immense columns of vapouro In August, there was a violent ebullition and agitation of the sea on the south-west side of the island, indicating a second vent not far from the surface.-Principl, pp. 432, 4384 There is a similar account in M1Vimner's " Gallery of Nature," p. 376, &c., which says, in addition, that Admiral Sir IH. Hotham sent an officer to report, whose account confirms the preceding statement. This officer particularly mentions the vast volumes of pcure white steam, which tends to corroborate the opinion expressed in No. 8, that Sir William EHamnilton's white cotton-like vapour was steam. We have had, and shall have, abundance of proof that Vesuvius ejects vast quantities of steam and boiling water. EJECTIONS OF STEAMI FROMl EAARTHQIAIKES. Are not the two following cases proofs that steam must be the cause of earthquakes? 52. At Deception Island, in Tierra del Fuego, where earthquake shocks are of most constant occurrence, there are no less than 150 chasms or fissures, from which steam pours obrth with a loud hissing noise.-Chamber's Edinburgh Journal, Aug. 17th, 1861, p157.. 53. Baron Humboldt says that hot steam was ejected during an earthquake in 1812, at New Madrid, in the valley of the Mlississippi. —Cosmos, vol. 1, 209. EJECTIONS OF WATER AND OF MIUD (WHICH IMPLIES THE PRESENCE OF WATER) FROM VOLCANOES. ALSO SINKINGS OF RIVERS AND OTHER WATERS. Following are some additional evidences that steam issues from Vesuvius, and necessarily in vast quantity, for it becomes condensed into torrents of water, which descended the cone, and are as destructive as lava itself. Lava is generally ejected frovme volcanoes during eruptions, but is not always mentioned in these evidences, because the object now is to exhibit aqueous products, not molten matter. 54. " Not long before the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631, in one part of the plain (at the foot of the cone) covered with ashes, were three small pools, one filled with hot and bitter water, another salter than the sea, and a third hot but tasteless. In December, 1631, great floods of nmud were as destructive as the lavac itself; no uncommon occurrence during these catastrophes; for such is the violence of rains prozduced by the evolutions of aqueous vapour, that torrents of water descend the cone, and become charged with impalpable volcanic dust, and rolling along loose ashes, acquire sufficient consistency to deserve their ordinary appellation of caqueous lavras."-Principles, p. 374. 55. From Gallery of Nature, p. 781, we learn that:-" Among the peculiarities of Vesuvius the emission of boiling water fromn its ficnks, has often been remarked; this is not uncommonn with translantic volcanoes, together'with torrents of mud-a compost of water and ashes-forming a fetid c ty" 37 56. It is stated in the Encyclo2. Brit., vol. xvii., in an article attributed to Sir John Herschel, Bart., F.R.S., that "an ecarthquake happened in 1631 at Mount Vesuvius, which covered with lava most of the villages at its foot, and sent forth torrents of boiling water." 57. The following is so important and so full of significant facts, that it is quoted almost entire from Princtiples, p. 430. At Galangoon in Java in 1822 there was a volcanic eruption. " In July, 1822, the waters of the river KIunir, one of those which flowed from its flanks, became for a time hot and turbid. On the 8th October following, a loud explosion was heard; the earth shook, and immnense coluumns of hot water ancd boiling mud, mixed with burning brimstone, ashes, and lapilli of the size of nuts, were projected from the mountain like a water spout, with such prodigious violence that large quantities fell beyond the River Tandoi, 40 mtiless distant (sic).... It was remarked that the boiling nmud and cinders were projected with such violence from the mountain, that while many remote villages were utterly destroyed and buried, others much nearer the volcano were scarcely injured. The first eruption lasted nearly five hours, and on the following days the rain' ell in torrents, and the rivers densely charged with mud delugced the country far and wide. At the end of four days (Oct. 12), a second eruption occurred more violent than the first, in which hot water and nmud were again vomited, and great blocks of basalt were thrown to the distance of seven miles from the volcano. There was at the same time a violent earthquake..... and in the night of October 12th, 2,000 people were killed." 58. In Quito, on July 19th, 1698, cduGr'ing an earthqcuake, a, great part of the crater and sumnmit of the volcano of Carguirazo fell in, and ca stream of tmud ancd water issued frolm the broken sides of the hill.-Principles, p. 503. 59. The following is a remarkable case of the connection of a volcano with another mountain, and with an earthquake at great distances, and of the ejection of water. It is from the " Encyclop Brit.," vol. xvii., p. 511. In 1797 it was proved that the volcano of Pasto was coznnected with the volcanoes of Quito. Black smoke had issued from Pasto for months, but suddenly disac)peared at the moment when the city of Riobamaba, 65 leagues distant, was destroyed by a terrsific earthquake. The country round, namely 40 leagues from south to north, and 20 leagues from east to west, undulated with extreme violence for four minutes. Round the -mountain every town was thrown down, and. two cities buried underneath impending mountains. The base of Mount Tunguragua, near Riobamba, was riven asunder, and poured out stryeams of water and Emud which filled valleys 600ft. + At a guess, there must have been some such a force as 800 tons per square inch at work on this occasion, 88 deep. Suffocating exhalations were emitted from Lake Quilotoa, and, it is said, flames also. Violent shocks were felt for three months over a district 170 leagues from north to south, and 140 from east to west. The curious fishes (pimelodes cyclopum) were found in the ejected water of the volcano. Note.-Much more than what we have called the " average" effects of volcanoes and earthquakes appears to haye been in operation in this case. 60. From the same volume we learn that, on March 26th, 1812, subterraneous thunderings were heard, the ground undulated, and at one shock the fine city of Caraccas was destroyed with 10,000 of its people. By this earthquake the great Lake of Aiaracaibo had its level lowered, and the riven earth at Valencia and Puerto Cabello poured forth enorimous torrents of water. 61. " Micld, black smoke, and even flames were ejected at Messina in 1781." —Cosmos, vol. i., p. 209. 62. On May 7th, 1860, severeal earth shock7s were felt at Myrdalen, a village in the southern district of volcano Kotlugia, after a rest of thirty-nine years. NText day the volcano threw up an iJmmense quantity of water. There was a pretty heavy shower of ashes, accom-panied by subterranean thunder.-Athenceum, July, 1860, p. 94. 63. Boussingaunt says, Chimborazo has ejected nmasses of nucd, elastic fluids, and trachytic blocks.-Cosmos, vol. v., p. 335. 64. Next morning after the formation of Monte Nuovo, in 1538, an eye-witness says, the inhabitants of Puzzuoli were covered with a mzuddy and black shower, which continued all day. -Principles, p. 367. Another account says, jets of red hot lava, large rocks, and sometimes mnud coumposed of a mixtzure of pumice, tuiff, and water, were hurled into the air.-Principles, p. 370. EJECTIONS OF WATER, OFTEN HIOT, FROM EARTHQUAKES AND FtROM RISINGS AND SINKINGS OF STRATA, AND FROMv EARTHQUAKES COMIBINED WITIH VOLCANOES. 65. " Hot water was ejected firom an earthquake in Catania in 1818." — Cosmos, vol. i., p. 209. 66. There was a treimendous earthquake in Peru in 1746, 200 shocks in twenty-four hours. A volcano in Lucatlas burst forth the same night and so much water descended from the cone that the whole country was overflowed; and in a mountain near Pataz three other volcanoes burst out, and frightful torrents of water swept down their sides,-Princigples, p. 501. 67. In 1692, Port Royal, in Jamaica, with about 1,000 acres adjoining, sunk in one minute into the deep. In Clarendon precinct the earthl gaped, and spouted u2 with prodigious force great uaomtities of water at twelve miles from the sea. In: 1746 th.e ocean burst in upon the land., when the baryrier of land sank into the sea; Lima was overwhelmled, and the present port of Callao formed. These convulsions were accompanied by eruptions of water cnd mud from severacl volcanoes among the Andes, many hundreds of miles distant. —-Phil. Trans., R.S., 1760, vol. xi., p. 469, and. Ezclyclop. Brit. 68. The earthquake by which Jeddclo was destroyed, in 1783, destroyed also twenty-se en other townis a.nd villages, totally. Boiling rivers overflowed their bcanks, and at least 180,000 people are said to have perished.- Quarterly/ Review, Oct. 1863, p. 461. Sir Rutherford Alcock, vol. 1. p. 186, says of the same earthquake: —" Twenty-seven towns and villages were destroyed; the rivers boiliny and overflowizg, inundated the whole country to complete the work of destruction." 69. lIumboldt says, a very striking proof of the origin of hot s.rings by the sinking of cold leteoric wcater into the earth, and by its contact with a volcantic focts, is afforded by the volcano Jorullo in Mexico. In September, 1759, YJorullo wacs suddenly elevated into a nzountain, 1,183 feet high. Two sm[,zall rivers the Rio de de Cuitimbo, and Rio dce San Pedro disappeared, and some tinme afterwards burst forth acyain as hot spjrinz/s, whose temperature he found in 1803 to be 186'4~F.-Cosmos vol i, p. 219, and vol. v. p. 313. 70. In the afternoon of the day preceding the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 the wcater of a foZuntain at Colares, twenty miles from Lisbon, was gyerealy decreased. On the nmorniny of the earthquake it ran very mucddy and cfter the earthquake it returned to its usual state both in qtantity ancd clearness.... This earthquake took its rise fronm under the sea (p. 458).-Rev. John Michell, Phil. Trans. B. S., 1760, p. 463. 71. On Feb. 2, 1828, the whole island of Ischia was shaken by an earthqcuake. The hot spyrincy of Rita, which was nearest the centre of the mlovement, was ascertained by MI. Covelli to have incrveased its temera fture.-Pirilciples, p. 4.56. VOLCANOEs, EARTHQUAKES, -OT WATER AND INC REASING TEMPERATURE OF EOT SPRINGS, SOMETIMIES ALL CONNECTED TOGETHER, 72. NiY. Abich has proved the connection which exists between the thermal springs of Sarcin, and the earthquakes which frequently visit the elevated districts in every second vear. In October, 1848, an undulactory movemzenzt of the earth which lasted for a whole hour, caused the temleriature of the spring, which is be" tween 1110 and 1150 F., to rise immtediately to a most painzf~ul scaldinzq heat.-Cosumos, vol. v, p. 175. 73. Charpentier observed that the temiperatlure of the sulphlurous spring of Lavey (above S. Miaurice, on the bank of the 40 Rhone), rose from 8780~ to 97'30~., during t7le Swiss eartthquake of August 25th, 1851.-Cos.nos, vol. v, p. 175, note. 74. A tremendous earthquake, which destroyed a great part of St. ]Domingo in 1770, caused innumnerable fissures throughout the island, fromr wbhich mepljtic vapours emanated. Hot springs burst out.where thzere had beeu, no water before, but after a time they ceased to flow.-Principles, p. 494. 75. In the cases of Stromboli, Etna, the volcanoes of the isle of Bourbon, and Kirauea, in Owhyhee, melted matter of unknown depth, covered for the most part with a thin pellicle of scoriform lava, and emittilnlg copjious vobuines of steamt or gas, was perceived in the craters.-Dr. DDaubeny, p. 662. 76. The violent, earthquake which devastated Syria in January, 1837, was felt on a line 500 miles in length by 90 -miles in breadth; more than 6000 persons perished; deep rents were caused in solid rocks, and newt 7hot sajrings bur'st out at Tabereah. 77. " The town of Chittagong, in Bengal, was violently shaken by an earthquake on the 2nd of April 1762, the eart7h opening in many places, and throwing up2 wcater and miu'l~td of a sulphurous smell." —Priinciples, p. 494. The following, especially the parts in italics, are very striking and significant. iHas the water sunk so as to be now in process of conversion into steamr? EXPECTED ERUPTION OF VESUvIUS. 78. " In the townships under Vesuvius," says a letter from Naples, " I find an uneasy feeling prevailing, and a general expectation of an earthquake. The less educated classes say that as the cholera in 1856, was followed by an earthquake, so we may look out for another now. Among persons better educated, one said,'I never go to bed without apprehension, and sleep with my door open.' The reasons for such apprehensions, when they are adduced are these:-Vesuvius has long been dormant. Of late it has been making solme ineffectual efforts to relieve itself, but nothing beyond a, line of smoke by day and an occasional tongue of fire by night is perceptible. Then, all rountd Vesuvitus, extending even to Castellanmare, there is a 2perfect dearth of water, so much so that the arsenal of that place, which has always derived its water from mountain springs that have never failed even in sumumer, is now compelled to send to a considerable distance for water. Perhaps the most startling fact is the de:pression of /the sea all rou'?cnd the bay, I have examined it at various places, and find that this deq:ression is at least two pcalms benteath the ordinary level. We have certainly had a month's calm weather, but, still, this is scarcely sufficient to account for the fact now stated."Britishk Press (Jersey), Jan. 1.2, 1866. Is the water sinking down to the melted ]ava? 41 RIIEMARKS ON THE SEVENTY-EIGHT EVIDENCES. Observe, in the preceding 78 evidences, how closely and inextricably call the species of natural disturbances of the earth's crust are commingled and combined together, as if they were all produced by one and the same cause. And how very probable that steam, produced by the contact of lava and water, is their cause! It is an interesting question whether volcanic operations originate from the internal heat of the globe, or from certain chemical operations going on beneath and around us. Perhaps the truth is that both contribute more or less. Be that as it may, heat, whether derived from one source or the other, will certainly produce steam when brought into contact with water. And it is impossible to overlook or ignore the tremendous power of highly heated, saturated steam, let the origin of its heat be what it will. Is it possible to imagine that such steam does nothing? Pumice, scorise and smoke, having come up, as we have seen, from volcanoes in very deep water, prove the presence of melted lava, and one of two things must necessarily have happened. Either the water with its immense pressure and quantity extinguished the lava (producing steam at the same time), and in that case there could have been no action afterwards; or otherwise the lava was sufficient in bulk to convert the water into steam again and again at several miles in depth of water, and even to remain as melted lava afterwards; which latter we must suppose to have l:ei n the case. Because we have seen in No. 40, that a submarine volcano (producing pumice) is known to have been active for 2,000 years, and we have seen also in Nos. 41, 42, 43, that volcanoes (producing scoriae and smoke) occur periodicaZly, in water of as much as 2,800 and 3,000 fathoms deep. The internal fire is therefore a vast mass, or masses, which the ocean with its variously estimated average depth of from two to five miles cannot quench. The ocean is but as a very thin film, its depth being only about a one thousandth part of the earth's radius. It is probable there are vast areas of fire, consisting (say) of melted lava, and of hundreds of mIitles in cdepthi; else they would necessarily have been extinguished long ago by the statical depth of three or four miles of water. As a matter of fact, the ocean does not extinguish the fires, and steam must necessarily be produced: which in its turn will necessarily produce those shocks which we call earthquakes. Professor Bischoff calculated that one eruption of a volcano in Iceland ejected as much lava as the bulk of 3Iont Blanc.* A-nd yet, more was left behind, for the geysers continue to act with undiminished vigour. I believe, with Mr. Hopkins, that the present condition of the shell of the earth is, that it is a solid mass of 800 or 1,000 miles thick, containing numerous cavities filled with fluid incandescent matter: LyeIl's "Principles of Geology," 1853, p, 427. 2? (and some of them, I say, also with steam, and perhaps others with steam and gases), and either entirely insulated, or perhaps communicating in some cases by obstructed channels.* Such cavities must be distant from the surface of the earth, in countries free from volcanoes, earthquakes, geysers, &c.; but so near the surface in the disturbed localities, that water gets access to the lava and steam is produced. The heat of the molten lava in these cavities was perhaps what led Humboldt to believe that in consequence of the progressive increase of 1~ F. in every 40, 50, or 60ft. (as the case may be), as we descend into deep mines, that the nucleus itself was only about twenty-five miles below the surface. These respective increases of 1~ in 40, 50, or 60ft. as you descend mines in different countries would seem to signify that the fluid lava exists at various depths in different localities mand countries, as the hypothesis requires. The dividing walls of the cavities perhaps consist of granites, and elvans containing black non-lithia micas, which Sir H. de la Beche and Mr. Dillwyn found could not be melted by the greatest heat of a smith's forge,t which is probably from 3,000~ to 3,300~ F. If any reliance can be placed on the following hypothesis, we may not believe that the interior nucleus (of about 6,000 miles in diameter) has a very much higher temperature than these, else also would it not melt the solid crust? and on the other hand we may not believe the nucleus has much less temperature than those named, else it would have abstacted heat from the fluid lava in the cavities, and would have solidified it. HYPOTHESIS, AS TO THE PRESENT TEMPERATURE OF THE EARTH'S NUCLEUS. If we make a large hemispherical coal fire on the ground, it will not, perhaps, very badly represent a hemisphere of the earth. The late Professer Daniell, F.R.S., determined for us that the heat of it will be 1,141~ F., that is to say of its centre. The heat, also, at half the distance from the centre to the sides will be sensibly the same. That is to say, the eye cannot detect that the fire approaches nearer to a white heat (which is the measure of its temperature) at the centre, than at half the distance towards the sides. And it may be a question whether attempts at actual measurement would succeed in proving tbat the centre was the hottest. The comparatively cool outside of the fire would not badly represent the crust of the earth. Take, again, the case of a large mass of melted cast iron, run out into a mould, which the same authority has determined to be 2786~ F. The exterior surface in contact with the sand would immediately part with a portion of its heat and become solid; but the centre part,and the parts at half the distance thence to the sides would remain at 2,786~ * Brit. Assn. Report 1847, pp. 51 and 54. t Sir H. de la Beohe'ls Cornwall, &c., p. 191. for a certain period. The case does not appears to be more difficult if we venture to speculate on the refrigeration of the earth. Let it be supposed, then, as it has often been supposed before, that the earth with its waters, its atmosphere, and its gases, was originally a vast spheroid of vapour with the enormous temperature due to such a state. Let it also be supposed that the universal law of gravitation then prevailed, and that the body of vapour revolved on its axis, and circulated in an orbit, no matter of what form or dimensions, nor what was the nearest approach to the central body. The space traversed by our vaporous body in its orbit must have been of a lower temperature than the body itself, else the vapour could never have cooled into a fluid much less into a solid. And we know indeed as a matter of fact, that the space traversed by the earth in its orbit, is not only not intensely heated, but not even heated at all-for it does not heat the earth's atmosphere. After a short geological period, a comparatively thin stratum all over the surface of the spheroid would have so far cooled down as to become fluid instead of vaporous, by which its specific gravity would be jreatly increased, and it would immediately fall like a shower of rain, the heaviest parts being foremost, along radii of the spheroid towards the centre of gravity. But it would fail to reach that centre, because it wouldc soon become vaporous again, from a double cause, namely, from the heat it would absorb from the vapour by which it would have become surrounded, and by the conversion of its own rapid motion into heat. Very soon after, in due order, another, and another, and another shower of fluid would be precipitated toward the centre of gravity to be again, and again, and again, reconverted into vapour by the two combined causes. But this process could not be repeated for ever; the whole spheriod of vapour would part with more and more of its heat, and become fluid in process of time, and would consequently diminish in volume; and the showers of lava would descend nearer and nearer to the centre of gravity, which some of them would at length reach, and there they would remain; because they would be heavier than anything else, and would, in fact, be the commencement of the nucleus. This commencement of the nucleus we will call the end of the first stage of the process of conversion. Note.-Some of Lord Rosse's beautiful drawings of nebulae in Phil. Trans. B.S., 1861, part 3, will well serve as diagrams, by their forms and textures and incipient nuclei, to illustrate this hypothesis. The following figures or drawings are especially referred to, viz., H 15, H 262, H 311, H 327, H 1,111, and 1,113, H 1,946, and H 2,075. Whether there is any real resemblance in the nature and present condition of any of those vast systems to the hypothetical primitive condition cf our earth is more than I know, but Messrs. Miller and Huggins throw light on the subject. 44 It would appear to be very probable from the following extract from a very striking paper, "On the Spectra of some of the Heavenly Bodies," by Professor W. A. Miller, V.P.R.S., and W. Huggins, F.R.A.S., that the earth really was a planetary nebula when in its primitive condition:-" The third and most remarkable part of this communication was that which referred to the spectra of nebulae; and the observations in this field were stated to have been conducted solely by Mr. Huggins. The nebulhe examined were chiefly those denominated planetary nebulee. It was scarcely expected that the extremely faint light of these bodies would be sufficient to produce any spectrum at all; nor would it have done so had their construction been that which has been usually assigned to them. But to the surprise of the observer he beheld; not a continuous spectrum, such as that which proceeds from a solid, interspersed with dark lines due to ttmospheric absorption, but a spectrum consisting of a few bright lines, such as that which proceeds from an intensely heated gas. It was, indeed, the smallness in number of these component lines that enabled any success to be obtained; and the result from three or four of these nebulae revealed the fact that they were in each case composed of glowing gas, probably hydrogen and nitrogen, without any solid nucleus whatever. But what can be the origin of this high temperature, since, upon the principle of the conservation of energy, some other form of motion must be destroyed in order to produce the luminosity? The origin of the light of the heavenly bodies thus becomes more perplexing than ever, and seems to point to some law regarding which we are still in the dark.-" British Association Report, 1864, Transactions of the Sections," p. 12. Must we not, perforce, answer this question by other questions? Supposing (as Mr. Huggins and the present writer agree) that a primary condition of the earth was, that it consisted of vapour, gases, nebulous matter, highly heated. Must we not be content with that condition as the most rudimentary to which human intellect can reach? How can hydrogen and nitrogen be- analysed so as to resolve them into still more primitive elements? Man's researches must from the very necessity of the case stop short of the very beginning. Have we any choice except to suppose that it was in the vaporous, highly'heated condition, stated in the hypothesis that our earth was first projected into space as a planetary nebula, direct from the hands of the-Creator? This conclusion however is intended to be provisional only. And it will not in point of fact, and of course it is not intended -to impede, much less to stop, the progress of scientific investigation on the part of those who may happen to think the ultimatum of possible human knowledge, in this direction, has not yet been reached. To proceed with the hypothesis, which is by no means identical 45 with Sir W. Herschel's nebular hypothesis: —A long geological period would elapse before the first stage of the process was reached, and a farther long period mayperhaps have elapsed before the remaining parts which are now either solids or fluid lavas, had all changedfromo the vaporous to the fluid condition, and the earth had become reduced nearly to its present dimensions. By the time this second stage had been accomplished, the rapid circulation which has been sketched would have brought all except an extremely thin shell of the surface to a unifornm temnperature of about 3,000~ Fahr.; or to something else not widely differing from that amount. And our spheroid of fluid lava would then begin, as a third process, to cool on the outside and form a cavernous crust. Emphatically a " cavernous" crust, because those parts which contained non-lithia micas would solidify at higher temperatures than those others which consisted of felspar, for example:MIust not the ilmmense nucleus of the earth therefore even now be fluid lava, and of not greatly higher temperatures than those named, and consisting of ingredients of a certain average specific gravity such that the average specific gravity of the whole present spheroid would of necessity be about 6'565, as the Astronomer Royal eliminated from his experiments at the Harton mine, which cannot be far from the truth? His figures indicate a specific gravity intermediate between the gravities of the commoner metals, viz., copper, brass, iron, tin, and zinc, which all range between 8'91 and 7'19 —and those of stones, viz., marble, granite, Purbeck, Portland, Bristol, mill-stone-grit, and sandstone, which all range between 2'72 and 2'143. We may not, therefore, suppose that the amount of metals (especially not of the precious metals) contained in the nucleus, is relatively great, for that would. make the specific gravity too high. And we may not even suppose that the nucleus is composed of material as heavy as melted stone at the surface of the earth, because the pressure due to the enormous depth down to the centre of gravity, would con2ress, and make even that too much. Apparently we are compelled to suppose that some such light material as puimice constitutes an important part of its bulk, and we actually know, in point of fact, that pumice is an abundant product of volcanoes. This hypothesis of a uniform heat of the earth's vast nucleus, is most favorable to the fact of the absence of all appreciable secular refrigeration since the time of HIipparchus, a period of 2,000 years. If such refrigeration had occured, the earth's bulk would have diminished, and its revolution on its axis would have been performed in a shorter time, that is to say, the day would have shortened. Whereas astronomers know that the length of the day lhas not diminished by 1-100th of a second within that period. W We shall see presently in No. 9 that when granite is passing from a plastic to a solid state, a contraction of more than 10 per cent. takes place, which would leave a cavity of that dimension. We shall see also plenty more reasons why there must be cavities. 46 ELEVEN REASONS WHY THERE MUST BE CAVITIES IN THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. I. The well known aperature on the shore of Cephalonia into which the sea has been running for ages (see Evidence No. 24), seems to give incontestable proof that there is a cavity beneath, and that it must be a large one, if we suppose with Sir Charles Lyell, that the water is converted into steam and escapes upwards. In which case the nearest known vents, Etna, and the Lipari Isles being each 300 miles distant from Cephalonia, that distance must be the length of the cavity. If Vesuvius is the vent, the length will be 360 miles. Of course the b~readth and depth of the passage may be either great or small, we do not know. Or otherwise it must also be a large one, for if the water does not escape as steam, the cavity must be so vast that even ages of constant flow of water have not sufficed to fill it, Such an idea as this latter cannot be entertained. 2. qMarine fossils have been found at an elevation of more than 8,000ft. in the Pyrenees, 10,000ft. in the Alps, 12,000ft. in the Andes. Captain R. J. Strachey found oolitic fossils 18,400ft: high in the Himalayas.* And the late Professor Forbes says that Illampu or Sorata (Andes) 24,812ft. high, is fossiliferous up to its summit. t When these were elevated must not large cavities have been left behind? And the like with other fossiliferous, and with all igneous ranges? UTnde collapse took place about the bases of all mountains and range of hills, which we have no reason to believe, lava, which is at most semi-fluid, could only partly fill the cavity, and even then it must have formed more cavity at the places from whence it had flowed. 3. We have seen in Eviclence No. 3, that there must be a communication underground nearly 200 miles long between Skapta'r Jokul and Nyoe. And in Evidence No 58, that there must be underground communication between the volcano of Pasto and the volcanoes of Quito, which are sixty-five leagues distant. 4. We saw at p. 24 that a force of 243.2 tons per square inch would be required to propel a column of granite 9ft. thick, to a vertical height of four miles. This was on the * Lyell's Manual of Geology, p. 4. + Quarterly Review, January, 1863. 47 supposition, however, that it swas entirely unconnected with the adjoining ground, and not impeded either, by the friction of contact with the adjoining ground. Now, to propel a column 9ft. thick through a height of four miles, is equal to propelling a column four miles thick through a height of 9ft. The terms are convertible, the one into the other. And if we make allowance for cohesion of the columnn to the adjoining ground, we may scarcely affirm that a supposed force of 800 or 900 tons per square inch will do more than propel the mass of 9ft. thick through, say twice that distance, or eight miles of vertical height, so as to produce undulation. Mr. Mallett, C.E., F.R.S., states that the focus of the great Neapolitan earthquake of 1857, is at 5'64 geographical miles, which however he conceives to be somewhat below the true depth, as a closer examination of the various wave paths led him to conclude that the probable vertical depth of the focal cavity itself does not exceed three geographical miles. * We may, at all events, be pretty sure that so far as evidence has yet been gathered, either from the distances to which masses of rock have been hurled, or from dislocations observed by geologists in the Alps and elsewhere; that the maximum force can hardly be supposed to exceed 800 or 900 tons per square inch, and that it would scarcely do more after allowing for the uncertain amounts of cohesion and friction, than project a mass eight miles thick through a space of 9ft. Now to apply three considerations. The average diameter of the earth, omitting fractions of a mile is 7912 miles, t and the outside circle of the figure at p. 22 represents that diameter on a scale of 1,000 miles to 3 in., and the thickness of the line forming the outer circle is ten miles, or,5in., as nearly as may be. The two interior circles are respectively at 800 and 1,000 miles below the surface of the earth, on the same scale; and one or other of them defines the thickness of the crust according to Mr. Hopkin's calculations based on precession and nutation. Now it is clear, on a mere inspection of the figure, that earthquake shocks taking place at foci within the thickness of the line forming the outside circle, which represents ten miles by the scale, could not cause the undulations which are so frequently the accompaniments of earthquakes, if the crust were solid, and 800 or 1,000 miles thick. The mass of the crust would have too great a rigidity to be capable of being made to undulate, by a force acting within the thickness of the exterior line. We must suppose, therefore, that there are cavities (some filled with melted lava, and others with vapour, perhaps), else the undulations could not take place. For the force could at the utmost, only take effect, say, ten miles upwards and ten miles *- "Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857," by Robert Mallett, C.E., F.R.S., 2 vols. t " Hersohel's Outlines of Astronomy," 1864, p. 139 48 downward, leaving hundreds of miles of solid crust below, quite unaffected; and consequently the whole solid mass of 800 or 1,000 miles thick would be unmoved and immoveable by a force so comparatively puny and insignificant as 800 or 900 tons per square inch. Undulations could not take place, even if the crust were a solid of only twenty-five geographical miles thick, as Humboldt supposed it to be. That is to say, it is immaterial to the present argument whether the thickness of the crust is twentyfive miles, or 800, or 1,000 miles, or something intermediate. Provided it abounds with cavities, and a sufficient number of them be filled with nothing more substantial tha-n air, steam or gases, the groundc might then undulcate in either case, as in point of fact it actually does. If the crust of the earth were a homogeneous solid, and if the interior nucleus were homogeneous also, the plumb line when freely suspended, would always hang in a direction pointing to the centre of the earth. As a matter of fact. however, it never does so point in the several instances about to be quoted, which are all I have'been able to collect. Now this circumstance may mean either of two things, viz.: First, the crust may be cavernous or porous on that side from which the plummet is drawn away. Or second, the deficiency in attraction may be due only to material of less specific gravity. lfay we not fairly and reasonably conclude that the phenomenon is sometimes due to the first cause and sometimes to the second? Obviously, whether cavernous or only porous, eithler would hold steam; though of course the latter would not allow sinkings of ground.'i95.. Intstances of deflections of thte plunmb line. It will be observed that deflection is the rule and not the exception, the line is atvways deflected more or less. MI[. Schweitzer, director of the Observatory at 3Moscow, found that a difference of 8" in latitude existed between the result determined by direct observation, and that observed by triangulation from distant well known points. And by observation at very numerous stations in the neighbourhood, it was found that a line existed to the South of Moscow where observations of all kinds agreed; but that to the north there was a difference in one direction, and to the south in another. And that in the direction of the inericdicn the tract of country affected seemed about sevenmty-fo'ur miles in extent, but that in the line of east and west the extent was greater, and had not yet been reached. The effect was that plumb lines at the two extremes converged -0 part less than they ought, and the only explanation which could be given was, that a large trough of the earth was less in density than the surrounding country. There are no mountains, nor large surface of sea, to disturb the general 419 effect of gravity, as those features were sometimes Iknown to (do.:".Another account sa-ys that Mi. Sclhwveizer s more receAnt resen'.cleS have confirmled the obse vati ons of th`Ie Russiatn geo esist, a. d estabhlished the existence of a l ocal deviation to the ext-raord ci-nary-T amlount o 19 secondts within a very shlort dis-ance of ct/:oscr,. At that city'h-.e plunb lihue aeviates a'o fIoni the siheeola:l l,O er-. pendiculaur to'wards the nor-th. A-t 0':2. versts (13 English mries) to thne north of Moscow -this deViation ceases.. i Ceases acsoe aii2 versts (8 milies) to the south o] elM oscow; butr (, on o,01,l'.-, frutherl south, it'recomlmen-es in a co directit on, alc 25 veY-a:: a (I6 miles) to the south of the city, it is coni vertec into a sO-c-11-e,1t devwiation oe f I". Proceed1ing 1]or reoc:co inc eiohe-m o a-n east.-1- o0 _ w-e;st0:i dtiroc:tion, s i-Ala phenoimena Care ob'se, veU. As e- ere ot lhia. deserviwngo the tnaane of a nmontain i n the n1ig'hbo' aroio{o of 3Al, scow, i 3t Co lo-ws aCs c necessarni'oneluenle fio m t ci:[,ct,ets Ist. That t ihere exis' beneat-h iffosco'w% entlor'oiuso caviti es, occutpied by-. ar, or perhaps by -\wattLer (or as the present A,_-writer s:oogests, pe"naczs tointe-iejs- b st eamu, a.nd at othenr'i.imes by s'oea.i acnd gases), Or, 2nd." Te-t stratta of some su bstance of very 8inall s pecinec g'-r vity exist beeathe the city, Or, S3rd. 1hat there extends over the w hol0 of toe con otry,u -- rounding 1 scow, a general'iI loose: unconsolidaecd mass of eologicale fornation s (wihich would coniit in stea. as we 1l as cayvites wroulid) sat a depth hopelessly beyond nwhaT t Ihunman. i abouri c-i, ever expect to penetrate. ^, Deviations oj 7ie plumb tine 01a Inain. Acl'IIdeacon Pniatt founld by calculation that the deflexions wer-e ar s ta, lows'to1- -! t three places named: —-- Kalian} Lalianim}. Dam argidt'. In the meridia.n 2783,.,I,11 96 8 6 909 In pirime vertla...... 6942 4 763 2I'7S Total deflections...... 682'01 I ip8s 7 426 (p.92) O-c these the Astronomler?oyvli ol- England, in another pa-er ilnmmlediaz;dtel y fo.lono,7-ig (np 101), says "' there is nothinlg surp: cinoil in ]Pratt's CouclUSiont, it Oug'ht to Lare S])ce'.tl 1ine3 iSiie(l! of expecting a -osit-ivte e cfet of a-;ttiation of ta,!a..rge mouniIaI-,-n:. imass upon a siationi a a eon siderCe1le dsistnce fi'm i"t,'t re o uth, to be iprepaled to expect -no efiect wlblatever, 01o l ison:.e C L:-eS ei't e.i " mall negative efiCect.... lost phlsici.st, sIp1)ose: i:i;':e e -i; thle inlterior of' tle ea,rtl is nonrw'iluitL, o ii tl.,', it;as rtli.: id'h'iii t;le im ouintains took their presen't forms.' ~ Inteilectual Observer, Isay, 1863, p. 505. t " Cornhill Maglazine," October, 18`62, p. i55'0(. JL Phil. Trans., R. S., 1 i;)5. 5O 109. An. are of the meridian was triangulated a few year. ago from Dunnose in the Isle of -Wight to Burleigh Moor in YTorkshire. And the deflexions of the plumb line at each extremity, and at three intermediate stations were noted. And it is remarkable that at not one of these five stations did the plumb line p-oint, as prima facie it might have been expected to do, towards the centre of the earth. The deviations are as follows: -Dunnose ].'767 south; Greenwich, 1"'27 north; Arbury Hill, 1"'692 north; Clifton, 2"'864 south; and Burleigh Moor 3"`855 south. —Parer by Captain Clarke, R.E. Phil. Trans., IR.S., 1858, p. 789. The deflexion being towards the south instead of the nolrth at Dunnose, is not a little remarkable. The low level of the sea and the less specific gravity of its water than so much earth, chalk, or rock, would naturally have suggested that the plumb line would have been deflected towards the north; in consequence of the large mass of the island and its considerably greater specific gravity than that of sea water. The sp. gr. of chalk is 2'781, Sea water only 1'028, distilled water being I'000 The deflexion of the plumb line at Arthur's seat is 5"'25, and at the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh, it amounts to 5"'63, both to the south. Phil. Trans., E.S., 1856, p. 591, bv Coi. Jamnes. Early during the present century the headland east;ward of Portsov, on Cowhythe in Banffshire was visited by an officer of the [Royal Engineers with the zenith sector., constructed for the Ordnance survey of this country by the celebrated Ramsdenll and from the observations made with that instrnu-ment to cletermine the latitude of the trigonometrical station there, it was found that the plumb line, instead of being vertical was deflected northward of the zenith, and southward of the earth's centre, f;llly nine seconds of angular measure. By way of verification, a party of the same corps, some sixteen years back (1848), furnished with a new zenith sector, designed by the present Astronomler Royal, and constructed by Troughton and Simms, visited the same spot, More observations and to a greater number of stars, resulted in confirming the first or earlier determination.AeRTIZAN, Nov., 1864, p. 259. Cavities of various sizes, and positions, and at various depths, wouIld perfectly account for all these deflexions of the plumb line. 6..Densities as observed by the 2pendulum.-lIn the Phil. Trans. I1.S. for 1856, p. 42; the following table is given by Archdeaccon Pratt, who takes it from Col. Sabine's volume on 51 the pendulum. They are quoted as given. How can it be otherwise than that there are cavities? Stations Excess or defect Scale of density of of Vibrations. Strata beneath. St. Thomas............... + 5'58 100 Ascension............... + 5'04 94 Spitzbergen............... + 3850 79 Jamaica..........+...... + 0'28 45 New York.............. 0'00 43 Greenland...............- 08 43 Sierra Leone.......... -- 12 42 London................. - 28 41 HIammerfest......... -- 52 37 Bahia..................... - 1'80 26 Drontheim............... - 3'10 12 Trinidad.................. -- 4'12 2 Maranham............... - 4'34 1 These great variations are consistent enough with the deviations of the plumb line in various and opposite directions, and with the existence of cavities. 7. The vast masses of materials ejected by volcanoes zmust have caused cavities beneath. The volume of lava ejected by the Skaptar Jokul in Iceland, in 1783, was very immense. " Of the two branches, which flowed in nearly opposite directions, the greatest was fifty and the lesser forty miles in length. The extreme breadth which the Skaptar branch attained in the low countries, was from twelve to fifteen miles, that of the other about seven. The ordinary height of both currents was 100ft., but in narrow defiles it sometimes amounted to 600." And Sir Charles then mentions Professor Bischoff's calculations, which we have referred to before, that the mass of lava brought up from the subterranean regions by this single eruption, surpassed in magnitude the bulkl of Mont Blanc.* This must have left a large cavity behind. 8. In Bohn's translation of " Humboldt's Cosmos," vol. v., p. 170, 171, and notes, we read that cavities have been attributed to the elevation of enormous, sharp-edged, perfectly hardened rocks. 9. Cavities inust be caused by the solidifying and consequent contraction of melted stone. We learn from " Principles of Geology," p. 562-3, and a reference is there given to "h Bulletin de la Soc. Geol.,'" 2nd series, vol. iv, p. 1312; that " according to the ex"Lyell's Priniples of Geology," p. 427, who quo~ts Jameson's'" Phil. Join,'" vol. xxvi, p. 291. periments of Deville and calculations of Bischoff, the contraction of granite when passing fromn a inelted or plastic, to a solid and crystalline state, must be more than ten per cent," which would ceAtainly leave cavities. 10. The aggregate subsidences or sinkings of land, l-Lmust have been all along at least as great as the aggregate elevations, else ~the mean diameter of the earth would have. been increased, and thie day would have lengthened-unless the equator had revolved -uore rapidly, which we have no right to suppose. Hear Sir John Herschell:- -" The time occupied by one com],lte rotation of the earth on its axis, or the mean sidereal day,'ana-y be shewn o-n dylnamiical principles, to be subject to no variation front any external cause, and although its duration would be shbortened by contraction in the dimensions of the globe itself, (and vice ver.sa would be lengtheened by increase of those diinensions), such as imight arise fromn ttie gradual esbape of its internal heat, and consequent refrigeration and sinking of the whole mass, yet theory on the one hand, has rendered it aliost certain tlha-t this cause cannot have effected any perceptible amount of chanloge d-uring the history of the human race; and on the other, the comparison of ancient and modern observations affords every corroboration to thliis conclusion. From su-ch comnparisons, Laplace has concluded that the sidereal day has not changed by so imuch as 1-100th of a second since the time of IHipparchus.t TVhen we refer to Lyell's "lPrinciples of Astronomy," chap. xxvii., " On earthquakes and their effects," we find that the recordced sinkings are for the most part only from 2 to 10ft. in depth. Surely there -must be a vast aggregate amount of sinkbigs yet undiscovered! Ancd if so, must there not have been, zndc may there not be still, vast cavities? 11. Somne very extensive and'deep sinkings have accordingly been discovered within a very short period (and doubtless mnore such dciscoveries are on the eve of being made). For example, "-At a recent Imeeting of Geological Society, a paper was read by MIr. -Robert DIawson, relating to the occurence of dead littoral shells in Jthe bed of the Germian Ocean, fort'y miles from the coast of Aberdleen. Fron the fact of four species having been dredged in one dapy, }r. -Dawson considered that it -was probable that they had li:er] and died. where they were found, and di.d not owe their preT l'he hypothesis at p. 42, accordling to whichthe nucleus is of uniform t-;emperature, accounts for tlie non-refrigeration and consequent non-shrinking f t he buldk of the earth since Hipparchus' time. I Outlines of Astronomy,". 1864, p 667. NoTE.-l-ipparchus florished',600 oyearS, ago. 3 sence at that depth and distallnce from land to any mere accident."' — Izlstr'ated.London New.vs, Mcvarch, 3, 1866, p. 212. Also from a private letter from an F. G. S. who was present at the discussion on Air. Dawson's paper. Again, it appears from a " futrther report on Shetlancld Dredgings," by J. G-wyn Jeffreys Esq., F.R.S. Report of BritishAssociation for 1864, p. 329. He says:-" Mfore quasi-fossil shells were dredged, and for the first time in this district Lepeta cceca, dead, but apparently as fresh as any Scandinavian specimen. A perfect specimen of 2Rhynconella psitttaceca was also obtained at a depth of 86 fathoms; but it had two tell tale associates. One was Pecten Islandicus, and the other Spirorbis granuclatus, var. heterostrolpha, of much larger size than specimens of the same Annelid from the southern coasts of England; the Spirorbis was also dead, and covered'both the Rhynconellc and Pecten. S. grcanulatus has not been found in a livinQ state north of the Hebrides, so far as I have been able to discover. This appears to have been one of the numerous relics of the glacial or post-glacia~l epoch, it is can inhabitant qf Shallow'vatelr, and affords another confirmatory proof of mly hypothesis that th7e Shetland sea-bed has sunk considerably durinzg at compsaratively r.ecent period." But there is a still more surprising circumstance which remains to be stated. I quote from a private letter dated the 22nd ult., in which my correspondenti`says:-" We had a talk last evening (also at the Geological Society's) about depression of land which hlad evidently taken place (but not in the historical period) between 1ialta and Jaimaica." What the nature of the proof is, o:f this extraordinary depression, I can-not even conjectuLre. The Mid-Atlantic is too deep for dredging. But I have full confidence in the scientific knowledge and caution of my friendly correspondent. Fourthly, it will be nmy business in future papers to endearour to convince the reacder that some two or three thousand square miles of land and sea-bottolm, have sunk fully 100ft., and were within the last 1,900 years, parts of the northerly and westerly coasts of France. For some or one of the eleven reasons just given also, there miay have been, and for some or one of the same eleven reasons, there m.Ju~St htave been cavities elsewhere. The following conclusions may, perhaps, be accepted, provisionally and hlypothetically at least, until further facts, corroborative or negative, ccL11 be obtained, namnely: The nucleus of the earth, has,a uniforml temperature of about 3000~ F. This is probably suflfcient to prodluce saturated steamr, having a force orl pressure of about 900 tons per square inch. Such force is powerfui enough to acco-Lunt.for ally convulsions either ol the, coal period, or silinc, And, linalS-ly, llhat seaem (asssisted by other forceps 54 whose hell is not essential) is the cause of all the natural disturbances of the earth's crust. STEAM IS THE ACTIVE AGENT IN VOLCANIC EXPLOSIONS OF THE GREATEST INTENSITY. The following extract from the Illustracted London News, May 12th, p. 470, refers to something which occured at the Geological Society, in reference to the present eruption at Neo Kaimeni. "1 M. Fouque's observations tend to support 6M. St. Claire iDeville's law, that there exists a certain relation between the degree of intensity of a volcano in action and the nature of the volatile elements ejected. In an eruption of maximnum intensity common salt, and salts of soda and potash predominate; in one of the second order, hydrochloric acid and chloride of iron; in one of the third degree, sulphuric acid and salts of ammonia; and in fourth or most feeble phase, steam only, with carbonic acid and combustible gases." On the contrary, we have seen not only in No. 57, but also in Evidences 2, 3, 8, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51, 59, 66, 68, 70, that Steamn was the chief, if not the only, agent in all of them. And they were all of very great intensity. SUMMARY. Since the Birmingham meeting, the author had further considered the subject, and had made a full statement in the pamphlet just published. The following abstract gives the principal results. The Steam law set forth is empirical, because of the imlpracticability of making experiments with very high temperatures. Some of the reasons for believing that the law stated, is the true one, will now be given.: — A. The Tables prove, that 240~ Fahr. is the temperature, clue to Steam pressure of 251bs. per square inch, and 450'689~ is the teluperature due to a pressure of.4012331bs. per square inch. And that the pressure increases in the eamormously rapid ratio, as the 41 power of the tempercture. The last is the highest limit to which experiments have been carried, which was done by M. Regnault. A rigid reduction of his weights and measures to English, only proves that a correction of the formula by the trifling addition of 0.5430, or about half a unit per cent. to the,-tmeperatures, is requisite to produce the given pressures. B. Seventy-eight Evidences recited, prove that Steam is the active agent in every species of natural disturbance of the earth's crust. From No. 43, of these, corroborated by others, it appears that two ships sailing near the equator at 600 miles distance froim the nearest land, both experienced the shock of an earth; 55 quake. And since, troubled water, floating scorise, and columns of smoke have been observed at intervals since the middle of last century; apparently steam produced by lava is the cause of the shocks. These shocks occurred where, according to Lieut. IMaury's chart, the water is 3000 fathoms deep, and consequently a force of more than 83 tons per square inch is required to overcome its pressure. And the steam must have exerted that great power, over and above whatever force was required to give the shocks to the ships, and to cause the ship DALLAS to lose her false keel by the collision. C. But we may go further in illustrating the great power of Steam. Brass melts at 1869~ Fahr. And we have had proof that in casting two brass callnon, the heat of the metal of the first gun, drove so mztch damnp into the mnould of the second which was near it, that as soon as the metal was let in, it blew up with the greatest violence, tearing up the ground some feet deep, breaking down the furnace, untiling the house, killing many spectators on the spot with the streams of the melted metal, and scalding many others in a most miserable manner.-Now the pressure due to Steam produced by melted brass, according to the formula, would exceed a hundred tons per square inch. And whether that is true or not (and he saw no reason for disbelieving it), the Steam was at any rate exceedingly powerful: for the whole effects were due to the Steam of a few ounces of -water only, it being described merely as " cdamp." D. It now became an interesting question to make an estimate in tons per square inch, of the force of ordinary volcanoes, and of volcahoes of the greatest intensity; in all of which be it remembered, Steam is the active agent. And it appeared by calculation, depending on the well-known laws of Falling and Ascending bodies, that a force of about 243 tons per square inch, which would propel a mass of granite 9 feet thick to a vertical height of 4 miles overcoming at the same time the resistance of the atmospheremight be taken to represent the force of an ordinary volcano; and. twice that force a volcano of the highest intensity. And even supposing the calculations by the steam formula, to be 48 per cent. in excess of the truth, steam of 30000 Fahr. would still give a force equal to that of a volcano of the highest intensity. For it has been seen in Evidence No. 57, that at Galangoon in Java, lapilli of the size of nuts were projected, apparently by steam, with such prodigious violence that large quantities fell more than 40 miles distant. And great blocks of basalt were thrown, by a still more violent valcano in which steam was also the active agent, to the distance of seven miles from the volcano. If these things be so, steam has sufficient power, and other forces co-operate where no help is required. E. A hypothesis stated, would account satisfactorily for the absence of refrigeration of the earth during the last 2,000 years. 56 And fir~st t;here appear to be good grounds for the hypothesis, which consists of this; that primarily the earth was a planetary nebula. MlVr. HUgggins had examined the spectra of several planetar-y nebul1m, and found that they consisted of a few bright lines such as those which proceed from an intensely heated gas. Andc it is certain that the space passed through by the earth in its orbit, is cold, not hot-: -uwhich is proved by the atmosphere not becoming heated, and by the perpetLual existence of snow on all the loftiest miountains. HIe therefore concluded that -the earthl's nebulahad gradually cooled down by passin7g through cold space, so as to become a fluid instead of vapour' and of the heat of melted lava,, say about 30000, which he supposed is its present condition. Such lulniiobrmit.y of temperature would be favourable to the absence of secullar ref'rigeratioin. The vast nLucleus, wvhich must be abo-ut 5(000 miles diameter, if the crust is 800 or 1000 -miles thickl, must in large part consist af pumice (whichl is known to be an abundanlt product of volcanoes) or other light substance; else the a;verage specific gravity would be too great. And this hypothesis prevents the steam theory from provin.g too much, for he had shlown that the steam could never exceed a pressure of from 900 Lo 1000 tons per square inch, which,.vas due to the supposed maximum or mrather utqzifomrn temperature of about 3000~. F. And this brouoght him to the conclusion of his subject, in whvich he stated eleven reasons-old, or new, or iewly put,-why thlere mlust be Cavilties -in the Crust of the Earth. The outside circle of the disgram, represented the average diameter of the eath, and the thickness of the line was 10 muiles by the scale, which was about the extreme depth at which it appeared that steam of the highest pressure stated, had the power to overcome t;he inertia and tenacity of -the earth's crnust. If this be so, the crust must abound with cavities, else such corparatively puny shocks of earthquakes and volcanoes could never cause undu-ations, even if the crust was only 25 miles thick as Baron RaumnI)oidt has supposed. The interior circles were respectively at 800 a)nd 1000 miles below the earth's surface; and represented the thickness of the crust according to Mr. HTopkins; in which case of coutruse it was far beyond the puny power of steam to cause undulations: unless there were numerous cavities filled say, with steanm, snoke, or gases; and at any rate, not with anything more sol;d than melted lavTa. And there r,est,,s, in fact, be cavities, else sinkings of land, which had often occurred, could never have ta,_ren place. And these cavities nma;y7 some of then be receptacles of Steanm. The author is sensible of the imperfection of the pamphlet. Te has done what he could with the facts gathered up, in the absence of any steam experimel ts with very high temperat-ures. T[E, IiEarrE, BRos, nlachine Printers and Booksellers, 13, Halkett-place, Jersey. WIHAT 1S, AND WHAT IS NOT, TIlE CAUSE OF ACTIVITY IN EARIrrT()UAKIES ANI) VO()CANT)S:' BY It. A. PEAY )(I,,2, C.E., FL.(TS. It is a La:w ol Naturte that Stc;Lmi ofi the tenpleratuttrc of 2, 5'Jt8- A Fahr. vtl,:ita ptrie,;le io,)t 52'529 I. per soluare inch. At h igher tenllerturlls the Law is th;t thle )'rcslt ilcrets lt ill th,.ellollronsly rapid ratio ats the 4 pyower of the temperatr;rc. —See t axt and l'0ll1,o ifll;villg. LONDON: 11. AN1) F. N. 8PON, 48, CHARIN(G CROSS. NEW YORK446, BROOME STREET. 1877. To face p. 2-, ~_~c~~ar~'~~i~ Lt —y * %' nCARTE DU COTENTI N N CFOt~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~a 3S,,, -LES AEIISShETSDELA MER, ng- DR SSEE sAU A.hbA SlECLE,257 5391'193 2 911 482 22 900. 9268'66 81.44 9187-22 4 227 537'77 1000' 14891- 98 638 14792 362 6 1352 593'33 1100' 22866-13 115*83 22755'03 10 355 616'11 1141't 26959 4 122-879 26836'521 11 2196 ton. ton. ton. 1648'88 3000' 932'66'1975 932'4625 932 1036 2 3 4 5 6 Either column 3 or column 5 of the Table may be adopted, their differences are insignificant. * MlM. Arago and Dulong's highest. t Daniell's greatest heat of common fires. Note.-So vast a force as 932 tons per square inch can never be attained, unless the volcanic focus happens to be at a depth of several hundreds of miles below the earth's surface. If the focus is at a smaller depth, the roof might be blown off by a smaller force. Jukes's' Manual,' 1862, pp. 61-89, gives the specific gravity of 15 varieties of igneous rock, the mean of all being 2'696, taking water as 1 at 62~. lb. per cubic foot. Therefore mean weight of a column of the igneous ( 14 ) rocks one inch square and one foot high is 1' 17013 lb., and it would require a column of 31,219 feet or 5 9 miles high to weigh the 12 tons of Table III. But a force of 12 tons would not propel the small column to the height of 5 9 iniles, because there would be atmospheric resistance to overcome. Jukes says that "' Bischoff arrives at the conclusion that columns of lava 29,348 feet to 35,209 feet in altitude might be lifted by steam from depths of 88,044 feet and 105,627 feet respectively, provided the communications between the sea and the volcanic focus were not interrupted." * 35,209 ft. + 105,627 ft. + 1'17013 lb. - 164,796 lb. =73 tons only, exclusive of the force required to overcome atmospheric resistance. Therefore the Callao earthquake, presently to be described, which had a force of more than 500 tons per square inclh, proves that Bischoff was much within the mark. Jukes says also that " water will readily pass through porous substances which are quite impermeable to it when converted into steam, so that it is possible to conceive pent-up reservoirs of steam receiving continued accessions from water arriving by channels which the steam cannot escape by."j This is quite intelligible, because when the steam ascends through the porous strata, it will come among strata cool enough to condense it into water, when it will descend and again be converted into steam; and then ascend again, and so on. This accounts for springs becoming hot and muddy, and diminishing in quantity of water immedi* Jukes's' Manual,' 1862, p. 343. t Ibid. ( 15 ) ately before earthquakes, phenomena which occurred in the Lisbon and other earthquakes, some of the spring water descending no doubt with the condensed steam. We have proofs that the focus is sometimes at a great depth. For instance, in the earthquake of Lima and Callao, 28th October, 1746, a noise like an underground thunderclap was heard " a quarter of an hour after the shock." * And taking the velocity of sound at 1142 feet per second, we have for the depth of the focus 194 miles, which at Mr. Jukes's average specific gravity proves the force in 1746 to have been 535 tons per square inch. And the Quito earthquake with a focus at the depth of 246 miles would have a force of 678 tons per square inch. Humboldt says: " It has been computed that on the 1st of November, 1755, a portion of the earth's surface, four times greater than that of Europe, was simultaneously shaken." t The area of Europe is 3,650,000 square milesJ x 4 =- 14,600,000 square miles, and the total area of the earth, seas, and oceans being 196,677,000 square miles, it follows that nearly 1 th of the whole surface received a shock by the earthquake of Lisbon. In August 1868, earthquake shocks extended all across the Pacific; in fact more than half round the earth.~ For want of sufficient data I am unable to institute any comparison between the bulk of either of the parts shaken in 1868 and 1]755 with the other, or with the supposed force of 932 tons per'Cosmos,' vol. i. p. 203. t Ibid. p. 206. $ lutler's'Atlas,' 1868. ~ Scrope, pp. 494-7. ( 16 ) square inch. May not the two bulks and the 932 tons very possibly account, the latter for either of the two former? Neither Mr. Mallet nor Mr. Peacock claims any appreciable amount of action from the gases or from the metallic bases of the alkaloids. Volcanos.-The following three shots, though caused by forces vastly less than those operating from deepseated foci, are yet much greater than the forces of human artillery, great as those have become. What was the power acting in No. 1, I have no information, but steam was palpably and clearly the active power in Nos. 2 and 3. 1. M. Bouguer tells us, that he met with stones in South America, of 8 or 9 feet diameter, that had been thrown from the volcano Cotopaxi, " to the distance of more than 3 leagues." One of these, supposing it to be of granite, would weigh 20 tons.* And having regard to the vertical direction of craters, the projectile probably rose to an immense height before it descended at 3 leagues distance. 2. The late Mr. Scrope was very learned in all that relates to volcanos, and carried off a gold medal for his writings thereon. He gives a picture of an explosion of Vesuvius in October, 1822.t We see an immense column of stones, &c., shooting up to a height of apparently 4 miles, and then an immense white fleecy cloud of vapour expands horizontally for miles, which is evidently steam. Indeed, he says it is so to the extent of 999 parts in 1000. *'Phil. Trans. R. S.' 1760, p. 457. t'Scrope on Volcanos,' loc. cit. ( 17 ) 3. The following is the finest example of a longrange shot I ever heard of:- At mountain Galangoon, in Java, in October, 1822, a loud explosion was heard, and immense columns of hot water, boiling mud, burning brimstone, and lapilli, the size of nuts, were projected to beyond the river Tandoi, 40 miles distant: steam was obviously the motive power." No doubt the crushing of rocks produces a great quantity of heat, but simple heat has no explosive power whatever. Look at the many blast furnaces, the hottest things on earth, they never explode, unless water gets in, and then a steam explosion occurs. And the sun himself, the largest and hottest body known-he never explodes. What peaceable things are the hottest fires! Steam, on the contrary, burst a boiler lately and destroyed forty-five valuable lives. Therefore steam is, and heat produced by the crushing of rocks is not, the cause of activity in earthquakes and volcanos. All experiments, even the very best (among which, I think, M. Regnault's may be reckoned), are liable to small inaccuracies. But the calculations by Rule A are not thus liable (each has been worked at least twice), because they average the whole mass of experiments, each one with all the rest, by an arithmetical law. Perhaps the calculations have cleared Tables I. and II. of minute errors. The cause of earthquakes and volcanos has been a desideratum ever since science began to be cultivated. It is hoped that something has now been done towards settling the question. * Lyell's'Principlcs of Geology,' loc. cit. APPENDIX.;Siatement.-I lived twenty years in Jersey, and only left it to reside at Moselle Villa, Margate, in March, 1876. During the twenty years, I from time to time collected information respecting some extensive sinkings of land around Jersey and Guernsey, and on the west coast of Normandy, which have certainly occurred within the Christian period. And about 1865 I published such rough notes of the facts as I had up to that time collected, in'The Artizan,' a well-known periodical, having previously failed in my attempts to get them read to the Geological Society, of which I was not then a Fellow. While the types were standing, the editor cast from them stereotype plates, from which were printed most of the 190 pages constituting a small volume, entitled' Physical and Historical Evidences of vast Sinkings of Land,' &c., 1868. This has been long out of print, but a copy is in the Geological Society's library. The " Jersey' paper, now in MS. for a new edition, consists of forty-five note-paper pages of MS., containing the additional facts collected since 1868, as well as the original facts often better arranged and more concisely expressed, The new facts (never hitherto published) consist of notes on the peat and submerged trees found in the bed of what is now the Bay of Grbve de Lecq, on the north side of Jersey. Of additional facts tending to prove that the Eerehous and Dirouille islets were once part of the mainland of Jersey, though they are now separated by at least seven miles of sea. Of additional tree stumps found at low water near the north ( to ) breakwater of St. Catherine's Bay, on the east of Jersey. Of additional particulars tending to prove that the Bane du Vieillet, on the south side of Jersey, now consisting only of marine rocks, was once dry land. Of further evidences that the island on which Elizabeth Castle stands was once part of the mainland of Jersey. With regard to the " Guernsey" paper, consisting of twentysix MIS. 4to pages, the grand and important novelty is that the line of 160 feet souzndings on the excellent and most recent Admiralty chart (date 1859-62), coincides exactly witth the coast-line shown on the curious old chart called of the date 1406, but showing a state of things which cannot have existed since the year 550. All this tends to prove the authenticity of that very surprising old chart, which unites Guernsey, Herin, Jethon, and Sark into one considerable island, 241 miles long from west to east, and having an extreme width of 18~ miles. - It connects Alderney with. Normandy, and Jersey with Normandy, and shows Jersey extending some miles farther into the sea on the nortlh, west, and south. And it adds several miles in width to the land of the north and west coasts of Normandy and northll coast of Brittany. It also makes the Minquiers rocks into an island fully twice as large as present Jersey. Falle's'History of Jersey,' 1734, pp. 3, 4, states: "Jersey wvas an island in 550 [then called Augia], for Childebert, King of France, son of Clovis, gave this island to Sampson, archbishop of Do], in Armorica, about the year 550, ineluding in the same grant the adjoining islands; of which grant that accurate and diligent historian D'Argentre attests to have seen authentic deeds and evidences." D'Argentre's'Histoire de Bretagne,' 1611, folio 114B, which he wrote by request of the States of that Province, states in old French: " To this archbishop Childebert gave some islands and lands ill Normandy, de Rimoul [Alderney], Al-lgia [Jersey], Sargie [Sark], and Vesargic [Guernsey], which are islands on the ( 20 ) coast; for I have found that in ancient letters." Therefore the old chart called of the date of 1406, which is believed by its original publisher to have been copied from one much older, refers to a state of things at least as early as the middle of the sixth century. I will now give a brief account of the facts which have come to light within the last twenty years, and of the inferences which I think may fairly be drawn from them, which will be new to many of the scientific men to whom I intend to present each a copy of this tract. M. Quenault published in the Journal de Coutances, nearly twenty years ago, a copy of the old Chart opposite, on which all the writing was in an ancient hand, supposed to be Celtic. The copy opposite is a fcte-sinile of another chart contained in his' Guide de l'Ltranger a Coutances,' which he presented to me lately, except that I have written on the ancient coast line of Guernsey twice, "Line of 160 feet soundings." He gives the following account: " This chart, says the ancestor of 31. Deschamps-Yadeville, is a reduced copy which I made in 1714 of an ancient chart in tatters, caused by worms and damp, which was presented to me at M3ont S. Michel by the holy father de St. Amand; it was of 1406." I believe it to be quite authentic so far as relates to Guernsey, because the line representing the ancient coast of Guernsey coincides very exactly with the line of 160 feet soundings shoswn on the Admiralty chart dated 1859-62, but not published till December 24, 1863. The line of 160 feet was then first thoroughly worked out by marine surveyors, and I believe no one had ever drawn that line on a chart till I did about the end of 1875, and showed it to Mr Dallas, AssistantSecretary of the Geological Society, and left the chart with him till November 27, 1876. Now, since the line had never been seen by any human being until a year ago, and since the coast on the ancient chart exactly coincides with that line, it follows that the old chart is true anzd authentic so far ( 21 ) as Guernsey is concerned. And Gquernsey has sunk 160 feet. Since when? I have proved, on D'Argentre's authority, that, the sinking must have been before the year 550, for Guernsey and Sark were separate islands then, and the chart is believed by M. Quenault to have been copied from one much older than 1406. For more than a century great quantities of peat, and stumps and roots of trees, and other terrestrial products, have been found in the sea bottom off the present N.W. coast of Guernsey, especially at extreme low water. And I have proofs that dry land formerly existed on the east coast of present Guernsey. By comparison of the two most recent Admiralty charts,* the bed of the Great Russell Channel, west of Sark, is found to be rising now. It has risen about 40 feet in forty years, ending with the date 1859-62. The captain of one of the Jersey and Southampton steamers said in 3March, 1876, " I know it is shallowing." Off the west coast of Jersey, in the winter of 1786, thousands of trees, with roots, branches, and some of them with leaves, were washed ashore after a severe storm. From the nature of the ground it is quite impossible that a ground slip can have taken place. I have many proofs of various kinds that the north, south, and east coasts of Jersey have sunk to the extent of some miles outside of the present coasts within about six centuries. And of course the drifted trees of 1786 prove that the large tract on the west of Jersey sank also. This was also within six centuries. If Jersey was ever connected by dry land with Normandy, as the old chart shows, it must have been before the year 550. I have three distinct proofs that the ancient coast of Normandy extended several miles farther westward into the sea than at present. * Now deposited at Messrs. Spon's. ( 22 ) Before beginning to write the Jersey and Guernsey papers, I applied privately to a friend on the Council, asking if it would be admissible to send in the statements already made if they were illustrated and corroborated by new facts. And his reply was in the affirmative. But both what is old and what is new have alike been suppressed. So far as I have been able to discover from examining the twenty-four last numbers of the'Quarterly Journal,' the Society do not encourage the study of that grand branch of our science, Risings and Sinkings of Land. I say "grand branch," because nearly all the dry land in the world has been at one time under water, and of all the fossils known, a vast proportion, though got in dry land, are of marine origin, which proves that the ground must have risen. I have been met by an amazing amount of unbelief. It often amounted practically to this, in the face of all geological history:-" There have been no sinkings, there shall be no sinkings, and we won't believe them if there were." This would have been very comic, if it had not also been very mischievous. I may safely affirm that I have never heard an objection to my views which I thought worth the breath that uttered it, or the paper on which it was written. If I had advanced anything new and unprecedented, doubt and even unbelief would have been natural; but what I have said is not new, it is only new in a particular district, namely, that of the Channel Islands. A personal friend of my own said in print, that my views are " by no means certain." But so far as I know he has never attempted to explain away even one of the facts which I have collected. It is my firm belief that the facts which I have laboriously and diligently assembled together, cannot be explained away, but will have to be accepted ultimately. Geology is progressing, but only in particular grooves-all consideration of recent risings and sinkings of land is habitually resisted and often ignored. This I know by personal experience. 2( h3 ) M. Quenault, of Coutances, Chevalier de la L6gion d'Honneur, Membre de la Societe des Antiquaires de Normandie, Vice-President de la Societe acad6mique du Cotentin, &c., &c., is working at this interesting subject of' sinkings of land, and intends to publish'Miouvements de la Mer, un volume avec plans et cartes, 10 francs.' I shall offer him any assistance in my power. MOSELLE VILLA IMARGATE, December', 1876, kONDON: PIUINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAmIFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSSf