CHAPTER XXIII

Summary

We have already stated, in our sketch of the geographical boundaries of volcanic regions, that, although the points of eruption are but thinly scattered, and form mere spots on the surface of those vast districts, yet the subterranean movements extend, simultaneously, over immense areas. We shall now proceed to consider the changes which these movements have been observed to produce on the surface, and in the internal structure of the earth's crust.

It is only within the last century and a half, since Hooke first promulgated his views respecting the connexion between geological phenomena and earthquakes, that the permanent changes effected by these convulsions have excited attention. Before that time, the narrative of the historian was almost exclusively confined to the number of human beings who perished, the number of cities laid in ruins, the value of property destroyed, or certain atmospheric appearances which dazzled or terrified the observers. The creation of a new lake, the engulphing of a city, or the raising of a new island, are sometimes, it is true, adverted to, as being too obvious, or of too much geographical interest, to be passed over in silence. But no researches were made expressly with a view of ascertaining the precise amount of depression or elevation of the ground, or the particular alterations in the relative position of se ejections, and the upheaving of it by forces acting from below.