 principles of geology chapter 28 part 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jonathan Reed principles of geology by Charles Lyle chapter 28 part 2 thermal waters augmented it is stated by Grimaldi that the thermal waters of St. Euphemia in Terra di Amato which first burst out during the earthquake of 1638 acquired in February 1783 an augmentation both in quantity and degree of heat this fact appears to indicate a connection between the heat of the interior and the fissures caused by the Calabrian earthquakes not withstanding the absence of volcanic rocks either ancient or modern in that district bounding of detached masses into the air the violence of the movement of the ground upwards was singularly illustrated by what the academicians call the Sbalzo or bounding into the air to the height of several yards of masses slightly adhering to the surface in some towns a great part of the pavement stones were thrown up and found lying with their lower sides uppermost in these cases we must suppose that they were propelled upwards by the momentum which they had acquired and that the adhesion of one end of the mass being greater than that of the other a rotary motion had been communicated to them when the stone was projected to a sufficient height to perform somewhat more than a quarter of a revolution in the air it pitched down on its edge and fell with its lower side uppermost effects of earthquakes on the excavations of valleys the next class of effects to be considered are those more immediately connected with the formation of valleys in which the action of water was often combined with that of the earthquake the country agitated was composed as before stated chiefly of arduous strata intersected by deep narrow valleys sometimes from 500 to 600 feet deep as the boundary cliffs were in great part vertical it will readily be conceived that amidst the various movements of the earth the precipices overhanging rivers being without support on one side were often thrown down we find indeed that inundations produced by obstructions in river courses are among the most disastrous consequences of great earthquakes in all parts of the world for the alluvial planes in the bottoms of valleys are usually the most fertile and well-peopled parts of the whole country and whether the side of a town is above or below a temporary barrier in the channel of a river it is exposed to injury by the waters either of a lake or flood landslips from each side of the deep valley or ravine of terinova enormous masses of the adjoining flat country were detached and cats down into the course of the river so as to give rise to great lakes oaks olive trees vineyards and corn were often seen growing at the bottom of the ravine as little injured as their former companions which still continued to flourish in the plain above at least 500 feet higher and at the distance of about three quarters of a mile in one part of this ravine was an enormous mass 200 feet high and about 400 feet at its base which had been detached by some former earthquake it is well attested that this mass travel down the ravine nearly four miles having been put in motion by the earthquake of the 5th of February Hamilton after examining the spot declared that this phenomenon might be accounted for by the declivity of the valley the great abundance of the rain which fell and the great weight of the alluvial matter which pressed behind it dolemn you also alludes to the fresh impulse derived from other masses falling and pressing upon the rear of those first set in motion the first account sent to Naples of the two great slides or landslips above alluded to which caused a great lake near Terra Nova was couched in these words two mountains on the opposite sides of a valley walked from their original position until they met in the middle of the plane and they're joining together they intercepted the course of a river etc the expressions here used resemble singularly those applied to phenomena probably very analogous which are said to have occurred at Fez during the great Lisbon earthquake as also in Jamaica and Java at other periods not far from Soriano which was leveled to the ground by the great shock of February a small valley containing a beautiful olive grove called Fra Ramondo underwent a most extraordinary revolution innumerable fishers first traversed the river plain in all directions and absorbed the water until the argillaceous substratum became soaked so that a great part of it was reduced to a state of fluid paste strange alterations in the outline of the ground were the consequence as the soil to a great depth was easily molded into any form in addition to this change the ruins of the neighboring hills were precipitated into the hollow and while many olives were uprooted others remained growing on the fallen masses and inclined at various angles the small river charity was entirely concealed for many days and when it length that reappeared it had shaped for itself an entirely new channel buildings transported entire to great distances near Seminara an extensive olive ground and orchard were hurled to a distance of 200 feet into a valley 60 feet in depth at the same time a deep chasm was written in another part of the high platform from which the orchard had been detached and the river immediately entered the Fisher leaving its former bed completely dry a small inhabited house standing on the massive earth carry down into the valley went along with it entire and without injury to the inhabitants the olive trees also continued to grow on the land which had slid into the valley and bore the same year an abundant crop of fruit two tracts of land on which a great part of the town of Paulus Dana stood consisting of some hundreds of houses were detached into a contiguous ravine and nearly across it about half a mile from their original site and what is most extraordinary several of the inhabitants were dug out from the ruins alive and unhurt two tenements near Malito called the miscini and vaticano occupying an extent of ground about a mile long and half a mile broad were carried for a mile down a valley a thatched cottage together with large olive and mulberry trees most of which remained erect were carried uninjured to this extraordinary distance according to Hamilton the surface removed had been long undermined by rivulets which were afterwards in full view on the bare spot deserted by the tenements the earthquake seems to have opened a passage in the adjoining ardullacious hills which admitted water charged with loose soil into the subterranean channels of the rivulets immediately under the tenements so that the foundations of the ground set in motion by the earthquake were loosened another example of subsidence where the edifices were not destroyed is mentioned by Grimaldi as having taken place in the city of Caranzaro the capital of the province of that name the houses in the quarter called San Giuseppe subsided with the ground to various depths from two to four feet but the buildings remained uninjured it would be tedious and our space would not permit us to follow the different authors through their local details of landslips produced in minor valleys but they are highly interesting as showing to how great an extent the power of rivers to widen valleys and to carry away large portions of soil towards the sea is increased where earthquakes are of periodical occurrence among other territories that of sinca frondi was greatly convulsed various portions of soil being raised or sunk and innumerable fishers traversing the country in all directions along the flanks of a small valley in this district there appears to have been an almost uninterrupted line of landslips currents of mud near San Lucido among other places the soil is described as having been dissolved so that large torrents of mud inundated all the low grounds like lava just emerging from this mud the tops only of trees and of the ruins of farmhouses were seen two miles from Loreana the swampy soil and two ravines became filled with calcareous matter which oozed out from the ground immediately before the first great shock this mud rapidly accumulating began air long to roll onward like a flood of lava into the valley where the two streams uniting moved forward with increased impetus from east to west it now presented a breadth of 225 feet by 15 in depth and before it ceased to move covered a surface equal in length to an Italian mile in its progress it overwhelmed a flock of 30 goats and tore up by the roots many olive and mulberry trees which floated like ships upon its surface when this calcareous lava had ceased to move it gradually became dry and hard during which process the mass was lowered seven feet and a half it contained fragments of earth of a ferruginous color and emitting a sulfurous smell fall of the sea cliffs along the seacoast of the Straits of Messina near the celebrated rock of Silla the fall of huge masses detached from the bold and lofty cliffs overwhelmed many villas and gardens at Giangreco a continuous line of cliff for a mile in length was thrown down great agitation was frequently observed in the bed of the sea during the shocks and on those parts of the coast where the movement was most violent all kinds of fish were taken in abundance and with unusual facility some rare species as that called chicharelli which usually lie buried in the sand were taken on the surface of the waters in great quantity the sea is said to have boiled up near Messina and to have been agitated as if by a copious discharge of vapors from its bottom shore near Silla inundated the prince of Silla had persuaded a great part of his vassals to but take themselves to their fishing boats for safety and he himself had gone on board on the night of the fifth of February when some of the people were sleeping in the boats and others on a level plane slightly elevated above the sea the earth rocked and suddenly a great mass was torn from the contiguous Mount Jachi and thrown down with a dreadful crash upon the plane immediately afterwards the sea rising more than 20 feet above the level of this low tract rolled foaming over it and swept away the multitude it then retreated but soon rushed back again with greater violence bringing with it some of the people and animals it had carried away at the same time every boat was sunk or dashed against the beach and some of them were swept far inland the aged prince with 1,430 of his people was destroyed state of Stromboli and Etna during the shocks the inhabitants of pizzo remarked that on the 5th of February 1783 when the first great shock afflicted Calabria the volcano of Stromboli which is in full view of that town and at the distance of about 50 miles smoked less and threw up a less quantity of inflamed matter than it had done for some years previously on the other hand the great crater of Etna is said to have given out a considerable quantity of vapor towards the beginning and Stromboli towards the close of the commotions but as no eruption happened from either of these great vents during the whole earthquake the sources of the Calabrian convulsions and of the volcanic fires of Etna and Stromboli appear to be very independent of each other unless indeed they have the same mutual relation as Vesuvius and the volcanoes of the Flegrian fields and Ischia a violent disturbance in one district serving as a safety valve to the other and both never being in full activity at once excavation of valleys it is impossible for the geologist to consider attentively the effect of this single earthquake of 1783 and to look forward to the alterations in the physical condition of the country to which a continued series of such movements will hear after give rise without perceiving that the formation of valleys by running water can never be understood if we consider the question independently of the agency of earthquakes it must not be imagined that rivers only begin to act when a country is already elevated far above the level of the sea for their action must of necessity be most powerful while land is rising and sinking by successive movements whether Calabria is now undergoing any considerable change of relative level in regard to the sea or is upon the whole nearly stationary is a question which our observations confined almost entirely to the last half century can possibly enable us to determine but we know that strata containing species of shells identical with those now living in the contiguous parts of the Mediterranean have been raised in that country as they have in Sicily to the height of several thousand feet now those geologists who grant that the present course of nature in the inanimate world has continued the same since the existing species of animals were in being will not feel surprised that the Calabrian streams and rivers have cut out of such comparatively modern strata a great system of valleys varying in depth from 50 to 600 feet and often several miles wide if they consider how numerous may have been the shocks which accompanied the uplifting of those recent marine strata to so prodigious a height some speculators indeed who disregard the analogy of existing nature and who are always ready to assume that her forces were more energetic in bygone ages may dispense with a long series of movements and suppose that Calabria rose like an exhalation from the deep after the manner of Milton's pandemonium but such a hypothesis would deprive them of that peculiar removing force required to form a regular system of deep and wide valleys for time which they are so unwilling to assume is essential to the operation time must be allowed in the intervals between distinct convulsions for running water to clear away the ruins caused by landslips otherwise the fallen masses will serve as buttresses and prevent the succeeding earthquake from exerting its full power the sides of the valley must be again cut away by the stream and made to form precipices and overhanging cliffs before the next shock can take effect in the same manner possibly the direction of the succeeding shock may not coincide with that of the valley a great extent of adjacent country being equally shaken still it will usually happen that no permanent geographical change will be produced except in valleys in them alone will occur landslips from the boundary cliffs and these will frequently divert the stream from its accustomed course causing the original ravine to become both wider and more tortuous in its direction if a single convulsion of extreme violence should agitate at once an entire hydrographical basin or if the shock should follow each other too rapidly the previously existing valleys would be annihilated instead of being modified and enlarged every stream might in that case be compelled to begin its operations anew and to shape out new channels instead of continuing to deepen and widen those already excavated but if the subterranean movements have been intermittent and if sufficient periods have always intervened between the severe shocks to allow the drainage of the country to be nearly restored to its original state then are both the kind and degree of force supplied by which running water may hollow out valleys of any depth or size consistent with the elevation above the sea which the districts drained by them may have attained when we read of the drying up and desertion of the channels of rivers the accounts most frequently refer to their deflection into some other part of the same alluvial plain perhaps several miles distant under certain circumstances a change of level may undoubtedly force the water to flow over into some distinct hydrographical basin but even then it will fall immediately into some other system of valleys already formed we learn from history that ever since the first Greek colonists settled in Calabria that region has been subject to devastation by earthquakes and for the last century and a half 10 years have seldom elapsed without a shock but the severe convulsions have not only been separated by intervals of 20 50 or 100 years but have not affected precisely the same points when they occurred thus the earthquake of 1783 although confined within the same geographical limits as that of 1638 and not very inferior in violence visited according to Grimaldi very different districts the points where the local intensity of the forces developed being thus perpetually varied more time is allowed for the removal of separate mountain masses thrown into river channels by each shock number of persons who perished during the earthquake the number of persons who perished during the earthquake in the two Calabrias in Sicily is estimated by Hamilton at about 40 000 and about 20 000 more died by epidemics which were caused by insufficient nourishment exposure to the atmosphere and malaria arising from the new stagnant lakes and pools by far the greater number were buried under the ruins of their houses but many were burnt to death in the conflagrations which almost invariably followed the shocks these fires raged the more violently in some cities such as opedo from the immense magazines of oil which were consumed many persons were engulfed in deep fissures especially the peasants when flying across the open country and their skeletons may perhaps be buried in the earth to this day at the depth of several hundred feet when Dolomue visited Messina after the shock of february 5th he describes the city as still presenting at least at a distance an imperfect image of its ancient splendor every house was injured but the walls were standing the whole population had taken refuge in wooden huts in the neighborhood and all was solitude and silence in the streets it seemed as if the city had been desolated by the plague and the impression made upon his feelings was that of melancholy and sadness but when i passed over to Calabria and first beheld palestina the scene of horror almost deprived me of my faculties my mind was filled with mingled compassion and terror nothing had escaped all was leveled with the dust not a single house or piece of wall remained on all sides were heaps of stone so destitute of form that they gave no conception of their ever having been at town on the spot the stench of the dead body still rose from the ruins i conversed with many persons who had been buried for three four and even for five days i questioned them respecting their sensations in so dreadful a situation and they agreed that of all the physical evils they endured thirst was the most intolerable and that their mental agony was increased by the idea that they were abandoned by their friends who might have rendered them assistance it is supposed that about a fourth part of the inhabitants of palestina and of some other towns were buried alive and might have been saved had there been no want of hands but in so general a calamity where each was occupied with his own misfortunes or those of his family and could rarely be obtained neither tears nor supplications nor promises of high rewards were listened to many acts of self devotion prompted by parental and conjugal tenderness or by friendship or the gratitude of faithful servants are recorded but individual exertions were for the most part ineffectual it frequently happened that persons in search of those most dear to them could hear their moans could recognize their voices were certain of the exact spot where they lay buried beneath their feet yet could afford them no sucker the piled mass resisted all their strength and rendered their efforts of no avail at terra nuova four augustan monks who had taken refuge in a vaulted sacristy the arch of which continued to support an immense pile of ruins made their cries heard for the space of four days only one of the brethren of the whole convent was saved and of what avail was his strength to remove the enormous weight of rubbish which had overwhelmed his companions he heard their voices die away gradually and when afterwards their four corpses were disinterred they were found clasped in each other's arms affecting narratives are preserved of mothers saved after the fifth sixth and even seventh day of their interment when their infants or children had perished with hunger it might have been imagined that the side of suffering such as these would have been sufficient to awaken sentiments of humanity and pity in the most savage breasts but while some acts of heroism are related nothing could exceed the general atrocity of conduct displayed by the Calabrian peasants they abandoned the farms and flocked in great numbers into the towns not to rescue their countrymen from a lingering death but to plunder they dashed through the streets fearless of danger amid tottering walls and clouds of dust trampling beneath their feet the bodies of the wounded and half buried and often stripping them while yet living of their clothes concluding remarks but to enter more fully into these details would be foreign to the purpose of the present work and several volumes would be required to give the reader a just idea of the sufferings which the inhabitants of many populous districts have undergone during the earthquakes of the last 150 years a bare mention of the loss of life as that 50 or a hundred thousand souls perished in one catastrophe conveys to the reader no idea of the extent of misery inflicted we must learn from the narratives of eyewitnesses the various forms in which death was encountered the numbers who escaped with loss of limbs or serious bodily injuries and the multitude who were suddenly reduced to penury and want it has often been remarked that the dread of earthquakes is strongest in the minds of those who have experienced them most frequently whereas in the case of almost every other danger familiarity with peril renders men intrepid the reason is obvious scarcely any part of the mischief apprehended in this instance is imaginary the first shock is often the most destructive and as it may occur in the dead of the night or if by day without giving the least warning of its approach no forethought can guard against it and when the convulsion has begun no skill or courage or presence of mind can point out the path of safety during the intervals of uncertain duration between the more fatal shocks slight tremors of the soil are not on frequent and as these sometimes proceed more violent convulsions they become a source of anxiety and alarm the terror arising from this cause alone is of itself no inconsiderable evil although sentiments of pure religion are frequently awakened by these awful visitations yet we more commonly find that an habitual state of fear a sense of helplessness and a belief in the futility of all human exertions prepare the minds of the vulgar for the influence of a demoralizing superstition where earthquakes are frequent there can never be perfect security of property under the best government industry cannot be assured of reaping the fruits of its labor and the most daring acts of outrage may occasionally be perpetrated with impunity when the arm of the law is paralyzed by the general consternation it is hardly necessary to add that the progress of civilization and national wealth must be retarded by convulsions which level cities to the ground destroy harbors render roads impassable and cause the most cultivated valley planes to be covered with lakes or the ruins of adjoining hills those geologists who imagined that at remote periods airman became a sojourner on earth the volcanic agency was more energetic than now should be careful to found their opinion on strict geological evidence and not permit themselves to be biased as they have often been by a notion that the disturbing force would probably be mitigated for the sake of man i shall endeavor to point out in the sequel that the general tendency of subterranean movements when their effects are considered for a sufficient lapse of ages is eminently beneficial and that they constitute an essential part of that mechanism by which the integrity of the habitable surface is preserved and the very existence and perpetuation of dry land secured why the working of this same machinery should be attended with so much evil is a mystery far beyond the reach of our philosophy and must probably remain so until we are permitted to investigate not our planet alone and its inhabitants but other parts of the moral and material universe with which they may be connected could our survey embrace other worlds and the events not of a few centuries only but if periods as indefinite as those with which geology renders us familiar some apparent contradictions might be reconciled and some difficulties would doubtless be cleared up but even then as our capacities are finite while the scheme of the universe may be infinite both in time and space it is presumptuous to suppose that all sources of doubt and perplexity would ever be removed on the contrary they might perhaps go on augmenting in number although our confidence in the wisdom of the plan of nature should increase at the same time for it has been justly said that the greater the circle of light the greater the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded end of chapter 28 part 2 recording by Jonathan Reed chapter 29 part 1 of principles of geology this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recording that in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org principles of geology by Charles Lyle section 70 chapter 29 earthquakes continued in the preceding chapters we have considered a small part only of those earthquakes which have occurred during the last 70 years of which accurate and authentic descriptions happen to have been recorded in examining those of earlier date we find their numbers so great that allusion can be made to a few only respecting which information of peculiar geological interest has been obtained java 1772 truncation of a lofty cone in the year 1772 Papanda Yang formerly one of the loftiest volcanoes in the islands of Java was in eruption before old inhabitants under the cleavities of the mountain could save themselves by flight the ground began to give way and a great part of the volcano fell in and disappeared it is estimated that an extent of ground of the mountain itself and its immediate environs 15 miles long and full six broad was by this commotion swallowed up in the bowels of the earth 40 villages were destroyed some being engulfed and some covered by the substances thrown out on this occasion and 2957 of the inhabitants perished a proportionate number of cattle were also killed and most of the plantations of cotton indigo and coffee in the adjacent districts were buried under the volcanic matter this catastrophe appears to have resembled although on a grander scale that of the ancient Vesuvius in the year 79 the cone was reduced in height from 9000 to about 5000 feet and as vapors still escape from the crater in its summit a new cone may one day rise out of the ruins of the ancient mountain as the modern Vesuvius has risen from the remains of Soma san domingo 1770 during a tremendous earthquake which destroyed a great part of san domingo innumerable features were caused throughout the islands from which mythic vapors emanated and produced an epidemic hot springs burst forth in many places where there had been no water before but after a time they ceased to flow in a previous earthquake in november 1751 a violent shock destroyed the capital portal prince and part of the coast 20 leagues in length sunk down and has ever since formed a bay of the sea hindustan 1762 the town of cittacong in bengal was violently shaken by an earthquake on the 2nd of april 1762 the earth opening in many places and throwing up water and mud of a sulfurous smell at a place called bardavan a large river was dried up and at bachar near the sea a tract of ground sunk down and 200 people with all their cattle were lost it is said that 60 square miles of the cittacong coast suddenly and permanently subsided during this earthquake and that cess lungton one of the mug mountains entirely disappeared and another sunk so low that its summit only remained visible four hills are also described as having been variously rental center leaving open chasms from 30 to 60 feet in width towns which subsided several cubits were overflowed with water among others deep gong which was submerged to a depth of seven cubits two volcanoes are said to have opened in the secta kunda hills the shock was also felt at calcata while the cittacong coast was sinking a corresponding rise of the ground took place at the islands of ramri and at ceduba lisbon 1755 in no part of the volcanic region of southern europe has so tremendous an earthquake occurred in modern times as that which began on the 1st of november 1755 at lisbon a sound of thunder was heard underground and immediately afterwards a violent shock threw down the greater part of that city in the course of about six minutes 60 000 persons perished the sea first retired and laid the bar dry it then rolled in rising 50 feet or more above its ordinary level the mountains of arabida estrella julio marvan and cintra being some of the largest in portugal were impetuously shaken as it were from their very foundations and some of them opened at their summits which were split and rent in a wonderful manner huge masses of them being thrown down into the subjacent valleys flames are related to have issued from these mountains which are supposed to have been electric they are also said to have smoked but vast clouds of dust may have given rise to this appearance the area over which this convulsion extended is very remarkable it has been computed says humbled that on the 1st of november 1755 a portion of the earth's surface four times greater than the extent of europe was simultaneously shaken the shock was felt in the alps and on the coast of sweden in small island lakes on the shores of the Baltic in thuringia and in the flat country of northern Germany the thermal springs of toplets dried up and again returned inundating everything with water discolored by ocha in the islands of antigua barbados and martinik in the west indies where the tide usually rises little more than two feet it suddenly rose above 20 feet the water being discolored and of an inky blackness the movement was also sensible in the great lakes of canada at algears and fares in the north of africa the agitation of the earth was as violent as in spain and portugal and at the distance of eight leagues from morocco a village with the inhabitants to the number of about 8 000 or 10 000 persons are said to have been swallowed up the earth soon afterwards closing over them subsidence of the key among other extraordinary events related to have occurred at least when during the catastrophe was the subsidence of a new key built entirely of marble at an immense expense a great concourse of people had collected there for safety as a spot where they might be beyond the reach of falling ruins but suddenly the key sank down with all the people on it and not one of the dead bodies ever floated to the surface a great number of boats and small vessels anchored near it all full of people were swallowed up as in a whirlpool no fragments of these wrecks ever rose again to the surface and the water in the place where the key had stood is stated in many accounts to be unfathomable but whiteburst says he ascertained it to be one hundred fathoms. Circumstantial as are the contemporary narratives i learned from a correspondent mr f freeman in 1841 that no part of the tagos was then more than 30 feet deep at high tide and an examination of the position of the new key and the memorials preserved of the time and manner in which it was built rendered a statement of so great a subsidence in 1755 quite unintelligible perhaps a deep narrow chasm such as was before described in calabria opened and closed again in the bed of the tangos after swallowing up some incumbent buildings and vessels we have already seen that such openings may collapse after the shock suddenly or in places where the strata are off as soft and yielding materials very gradually according to the observations made at lisbon in 1837 by mr shop the destroying effects of this earthquake were confined to the tertiary strata and were most violently on the blue clay on which the lower part of the city is constructed not a building he says on the secondary limestone or the basalt was injured shocks felt at sea the shock was felt at sea on the deck of a ship to the west of lisbon and produced very much the same sensation as on dry land of st lucar the captain of the ship nancy fell in his vessel so violently shaken that he thought he had struck the ground but on having the lead found a great depth of water captain clark from denia in latitude 36 degrees 24 minutes north between nine and 10 in the morning had his ships shaken and strained as if she had struck upon a rock so that the seams of the deck open and the compass was overturned in the binoculars another ship 40 leagues west of st vincent experienced so violent a concussion that the men were thrown a foot and a half perpendicularly up from the deck right at which the movement traveled the agitation of lakes rivers and springs in great britain was remarkable at loch lomond in scotland for example the water without the least apparent cause rose against its banks and then subsided below its usual level the greatest perpendicular height of this well was two feet four inches it is said that the movement of this earthquake was undulatory and that he traveled at the rate of 20 miles a minute its velocity being calculated by the intervals between the time when the first shock was felt at lisbon and its time of occurrence at other distant places great wave and retreat of the sea a great wave swept over the coast of spain and is said to have been 60 feet high at caddis a tund year in africa it rose and fell 18 times on the coast at funchali madea it rose full 15 feet perpendicular above high water mark although the tide which ebbs and flows there seven feet was then at half eb besides entering the city and committing great havoc it overflowed other seaports in the island at kinsale in island a body of water rushed into the harbor world round several vessels and poured into the marketplace it was before stated that the sea first retired at lisbon and this retreat of the ocean from the shore at the commencement of an earthquake and its subsequent return in a violent wave is a common occurrence in order to account for the phenomenon michelle imagined a subsidence at the bottom of the sea from the giving way of the roof of some cavity in consequence of a vacuum produced by the condensation of steam such condensation he observes might be the first effect of the introduction of a large body of water into fishers and cavities already filled with steam before there has been sufficient time for the heat of the incandescent lava to turn so large a supply of water into steam which being so accomplished causes a greater explosion another proposed explanation is the sudden rise of the land which would cause the sea to abandon immediately the ancient line of coast and if the shore after being thus hived up should fall again to its original level the ocean would return this theory however will not account for the facts observed during the lisbon earthquake for the retreat preceded the wave not only on the coast of portugal but also at the islands of madera and several other places if the upheaving of the coast of portugal had caused the retreat the motion of the waters when propagated to madera would have produced a wave previous to the retreat nor could the motion of the waters at madera have been caused by a different local earthquake for the shock traveled from lisbon to madera in two hours which agrees with the time which it required to reach other places equally distance the following is another solution of the problem which has been offered suppose a portion of the bed of the sea to be suddenly upheaved the first effect will be to raise over the elevated part of a body of water the momentum of which will carry it much above the level it will afterwards assume causing a drought or a receding of the water from the neighboring coasts followed immediately by the return of the displaced water which will also be impelled by its momentum much further and higher on the coast than its former level mr. darwin when alluding to similar waves on the coast of chili states his opinion that the whole phenomenon is due to a common undulation in the water proceeding from a line or point of disturbance some little way distant if the waves he says sent off from the paddles of a steam vessel be watched breaking on the sloping shore of a steel river the water will be seen first to retire two or three feet and then to return in little breakers precisely analogous to those consequent on an earthquake he also adds that the earthquake wave occurs some time after the shock the water at first retiring both from the shores of the mainland and of outlying islands and then returning and mountainous breakers their size is modified by the form of the neighboring coast for it is ascertained in South America that places situated at the head of shoaling bays have suffered most whereas towns like Valparaiso seated close on the border of a profound ocean have never been inundated those severely shaken by earthquakes more recently February 1846 Mr. Mallet in his memoir above cited has endeavored to bring to bear on this difficult subject the more advanced knowledge obtained of late years respecting the true theory of waves he conceives that when the origin of the shock is beneath the deep ocean one wave is propagated through the land and another moving within failure velocity is formed on the surface of the ocean these last rows in upon the land long after the earth wave has arrived and spent itself however irreconcilable it may be to our common notions of solid bodies to imagine them capable of transmitting with such extreme velocity motions analogous to tidal waves it seems nevertheless certain that such undulations are produced and it is supposed that when the shock passes a given point each particle of the solid earth describes an ellipse in space the facility with which all the particles of a solid mass can be made to vibrate may be illustrated says Gailusak by many familiar examples if we apply the year to one end of a long wooden beam and listen attentively when the other end is struck by a pin's head we hear the shock distinctly which shows that every fiber throughout the whole length has been made to vibrate the rattling of carriages on the pavement shakes the largest edifices and in the quarries underneath some quarters in paris it is found that the movement is communicated through a considerable thickness of rock the great sea wave originating directly over the center of disturbance is propagated as michel correctly stated in every direction like the circle upon a pond when a pebble is dropped into it the different rates at which it moves depending as he also suggested on variations in the depths of the water this wave of the sea says mr mallet is raised by the impulse of the shock immediately below it which in great earthquakes lifts up the ground two or three feet perpendicularly the velocity of the shock or earth wave is greater because it depends upon a function of the elasticity of the crust of the earth whereas the velocity of the sea wave depends upon a function of the depth of the sea although the shock in its passage under the deep ocean gives no trace of its progress it no sooner gets into soundings or shallow water than it gives rise to another and smaller wave of the sea it carries as it were upon its back these lesser aquas andolation a long narrow ridge of water which corresponds in form and velocity to itself being pushed up by the partial elevation of the bottom it is this small wave called technically the forced sea wave which communicates the earthquake shock to ships at sea as if they had struck upon a rock it breaks upon a coast at the same moment that the shock reaches it and sometimes it may cause an apparent slight recession from the shore followed by its flowing up somewhat higher than the usual tide mark this will happen where the beach is very sloping as is usual where the sea is shallow for then the velocity of the low flat earth wave is such that it slips as it were from under the andolation in the fluid above it does these at the moment of reaching the beach which it elevates by a vertical height equal to its own and as instantly let's drop again to its formal level while the shock propagated through the solid earth has thus traveled with extra rapidity to the land the great sea wave has been following at a slower pace though advancing at the rate of several miles a minute it consists in the deep ocean of a long low swell of enormous volume having an equal slope before and behind and that's so gentle that it might pass under a ship without being noticed but when it reaches the edge of soundings its front slope like that of a tidal wave under similar circumstances becomes short and steep while its rear slope is long and gentle if there be water of some depth close into shore this great wave may roll in long after the shock and do little damage but if the shore be shelving there will be first that retreat of the water and then the wave will break upon the beach and roll in far upon the land the various opinions which have been offered by michel and later writers respecting the remote causes of earthquake shocks in the interior of the earth will more properly be discussed in the 30 second chapter chili 1751 on the 24th of may 1751 the ancient town of conception otherwise called penco was totally destroyed by an earthquake and the sea rolled over it the ancient port was rendered entirely useless and the inhabitants built another town about 10 miles from the sea coast in order to be beyond the reach of similar inundations at the same time a colony recently settled on the seashore of Juan Fernandez was almost entirely overwhelmed by a wave which broke upon the shore it has been already stated that in 1835 or 84 years after the destruction of Penco the same coast was overwhelmed by a similar flood from the sea during an earthquake and it is also known that 21 years before or in 1730 a like wave rolled over these fated shores in which many of the inhabitants perished a series of similar catastrophes has also been tracked back as far as the year 1590 beyond which we have no memorial save those of oral tradition Molina who has recorded the customs and legends of the aborigines tells us that the Araucarian Indians a tribe inhabiting the country between the Andes and the pacific including the part now called chili had among them a tradition of a great deluge in which only a few persons were saved who took refuge upon a high mountain called tecteg the thundering which had three points whenever a violent earthquake occurs these people fly for safety to the mountains assigning as a reason that they are fearful after the shock that the sea will again return and eluge the world notwithstanding the tendency of writers in his day to refer all traditionary inundations to one remote period Molina remarks that this flood of the Araucarians was probably very different from that of Noah we have indeed no means of conjecturing how long this same tribe had flourished in chili but we can scarcely doubt that if its experience reached back even for three or four centuries several inroads of the oceans must have occurred within that period but the memory of a succession of physical events similar in kind or distinct in time can never be preserved by a people destitute of written annals before two or three generations have passed away all dates are forgotten and even the events themselves unless they have given origin to some customs or religious rites and ceremonies oftentimes the incidents of many different earthquakes and floods become blended together in the same narrative and in such cases the single catastrophe is described in terms so exaggerated or is so disguised by mythological fictions as to be utterly valueless to the antiquary or philosopher proofs of elevation of 24 feet during a late survey of conception bay captain beachy and sir e belcher discovered that the ancient harbor which formerly admitted all large merchant vessels which went around the cape is now occupied by a reef of sandstone certain points of which project above the sea at low water the greater part being very shallow a tract of a mile and a half in length but according to the report of the inhabitants the water was formerly four or five fathons deep is now a shore consisting as our hydrographers found of hard sandstone so that it cannot be supposed to have been formed by recent deposits of the river bio bio an arm of which carries down loose mucaceous sand into the same bay it is impossible at this distance of time to affirm that the bed of the sea was uplifted at once to the height of 24 feet during the single earthquake of 1751 because of other movements may have occurred subsequently but it is said that ever since the shock of 1751 no vessels have been able to approach within a mile and a half of the ancient port of panko in proof of the former elevation of the coast near panko our surveyors found above high water mark an enormous bed of shells of the same species as those now living in the bay filled with mucaceous sand like that which the bio bio now conveys to the bay these shells as well as others which cover the adjoining hills of mica schists to the height of several hundred feet have lately been examined by experienced concoologists in london and identified with those taken at the same time in a living state from the bay and its neighborhood uyova therefore was perfectly correct in his statement that at various heights above the sea between talcahuano and conception mines were found of various sorts of shells used for lima of the very same kinds as those found in the adjoining sea among them he mentions of the great muscle called soros and two other which he describes some of these he says are entire and others broken they occur at the bottom of the sea in four six 10 or 12 fathom water where they adhere to a sea plant called kochayuyo they are taken in dredges and have no resemblance to those found on the shore or in shallow water yet beds of them occur at various heights on the hills i was the more pleased with the sight he adds as it appeared to me a convincing proof of the universality of the deluge although i am not ignorant that some have attributed their position to other causes it has however been ascertained the foundation of the castle of panko was so low in 1835 or at so inconsiderable an elevation above the highest spring tides as to discontent us the idea of any permanent upheaval in modern times on the side of that ancient port but no exact measures or levellings appears as yet to have been made to determine this point which is the more worthy of investigation because it may throw some light on an opinion often promulgated of late years that there is a tendency in the chilean coast after each upheaval to sink gradually and return towards its former position end of part one chapter 29 of principles of geology this is a librivox recording or librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org principles of geology by child's lyre section 71 peru 1746 peru was visited on the 28th of october 1746 by a tremendous earthquake in the first 24 hours 200 shocks were experienced the ocean twice retired and returned impetuously upon the land lima was destroyed and part of the coast near kayao was converted into a bay four other harbors among which were kavaia and guanapé share the same fate there were 23 ships and vessels great and small in the harbor of kayao of which 19 were sunk and the other four among which was a frigate called saint firmin were carried by the force of the waves to a great distance up the country and left on dry ground at a considerable height above the sea the number of inhabitants in this city amounted to 4200 only escaped 22 of whom were saved on a small fragment of the fort of vera cruz which remained as the only memorial of the town after this dreadful inundation other portions of its site were completely covered with heaps of sand and gravel a volcano in lucanas burst forth the same night and such quantities of water descended from the corner that the whole country was overflowed and in the mountaineer pataz called conversion is a car marquilla three other volcanoes burst out and frightful torrents of water swept down their sides there are several records of prior convolutions in peru accompanied by similar inroads in the sea one of which happened 59 years before in 1687 when the ocean according to uyoa first retired and then returned in a mountainous wave overwhelming kayao and its environs with the miserable inhabitants the same wave according to lyonel wafer carried ships a league into the country and drowned men and beast for 50 leagues along the shore inundations of still earlier dates are carefully recorded by uyoa wafer a costa and various writers who describe them as having expended their chief fury someone one part of the coast and someone another but all authentic accounts sees when we ascend to the era of the conquest of peru by the spaniards the ancient peruvians although far removed from barbarism were without written annals and they are for unable to preserve a distinct recollection of a long series of natural events they had however according to antonio de herre who in the beginning of the 17th century investigated their antiquities a tradition that many years before the reign of the incas at a time when the country was very populous there happened a great flood the sea breaking beyond its bounds so that the land was covered with water and all the people perished to these the guacas inhabiting the veil of hauska and the natives of chiquito in the province of kayao add that some persons remained in the hollows and caves of the highest mountains who again people the land others of the mountain people affirmed that all perished in the deluge only six persons being saved on a float from whom descended all the inhabitants of that country on the mainland near lima and on the neighboring island of saint lorenzo mr darwin found proofs that the ancient bed of the sea had been raised to the height of more than 80 feet above water within the human epochs strata have been discovered at that altitude containing pieces of cotton thread and plated rush together with seaweed and marine shells the same author learned from mr gill a civil engineer that he discovered in the interior near lima between kasman huaras the dried up channel of a large river sometimes worn through solid rock which instead of continually ascending towards its source has in one place a steep downward slope in that direction for a ridge or a line of hills has been uplifted directly across the bed of the stream which is now arched by these changes the water has been turned into some other course and the district once fertile and still covered with ruins and bearing the marks of ancient cultivation has been converted into a desert java 1699 on the 5th of january 1699 a terrible earthquake visited java and no less than 208 considerable shocks were reckoned many houses in batavia were overturned and the flame and noise of a volcanic eruption were seen and heard in that city which were afterwards found to proceed from mount salek a volcano six days journey distant next morning the batavian river which has its rise from that mountain became very high and muddy and brought down abundance of bushes and trees half burned the channel of the river being stopped up the water overflowed the country around the gardens about the town and some of the streets so that the fishes lay dead in them all the fish in the river except the carps were killed by the mud and turbid water a great number of drowned buffaloes tigers rhinoceros deer leaps and other wild beasts were brought down by the current and the northwithstanding observes one of the writers that a crocodile is amphibious several of them were found dead among the rest it is stated that seven hills bounding the rivers sank down by which is merely meant as by similar expressions in the description of the calabrian earthquakes seven great landslips these hills descending some from one side of the valley and some from the other fuel the channel and the waters then finding their way under the mass flowed out thick and muddy the tangaran river was also themmed up by nine hills and in each channel were large quantities of drift trees seven of its tributaries are also said to have been covered up with earth a high track of forest land between the two great rivers before mentioned is described as having been changed into an open country destitute of trees the surface being spread over with fine red clay this part of the account may perhaps merely refer to the sliding down of woody tracks into the valleys as happened to so many extensive vineyards and olive grounds in calabria in 1783 the close packing of large trees in the batavian river is represented as very remarkable and it attests in a striking manner the destruction of soil bordering the valleys which had been caused by floods and landslips kitto 1698 in kitto on the 19th of july 1698 during an earthquake a great part of the crater and summit of the volcano guarguarajzo felin and a stream of water and mud issued from the broken sides of the hill sicily 1693 shocks of earthquakes spread over all sicily in 1693 and on the 11th of january the city of catania 49 other places were level to the ground and about 100 000 people killed the bottom of the seas as vichentino bonajutus sunk down considerably both in ports enclosed bays and open parts of the coast and water bubbled up along the shores numerous long fissures of various breaths were caused which threw out sulfurous water and one of them in the plain of catania the delta of the cemento at a distance of four miles from the sea sent forth water as salty as the sea the stone buildings of a street in the city of noto for the length of half a mile sunk into the ground and remained hanging on one side in another street an opening large enough to swallow a man and a horse appeared malakas 1693 the small isle of sorea which consists of one great volcano was in eruption in the year 1693 different parts of the cone fell one after the other into a deep crater until almost half the space of the island was converted into a fire lake most of the inhabitants fled to banda but great pieces of the mountain continue to fall down so that the lake of lava became wider and finally the whole population was compelled to emigrate it is stated that in proportion as the burning lake increased in size the earthquakes were less vehement jamaica 1692 in the year 1692 the island of jamaica was visited by a violent earthquake the ground swelled and heaved like a rolling sea and was traversed by numerous cracks two or three hundred of which were often seen at a time opening and then closing rapidly again many people were swallowed up in these rents some the earth caught by the middle and squeezed to death the heads of others only appeared above ground and some were first engulfed and then cast up again with great quantities of water such was the devastation that even in port royal then the capital where more houses are said to have been left standing that in the whole island besides three quarters of the buildings together with the ground they stood on sunk down with their inhabitants entirely underwater subsidence in the harbor the large storehouses on the harbour side subsided so as to be 24 36 and 48 underwater yet many of them appear to have remained standing for it is stated that after the earthquake the mast heads of several ships wrecked in the harbor together with the chimney tops of houses were just seen projecting above the waves a tract of land around the town about a thousand acres in extent sunk down in less than one minute during the first shock and the sea immediately rolled in the swan frigate which was repairing in the wharf was driven over the tops of many buildings and then thrown upon one of the roofs through which it broke the breath of one of the streets is said to have been doubled by the earthquake according to sir h de la bec the part of port royal described as having sunk was built upon newly formed land consisting of sand in which piles had been driven and the settlement of this loose sand charged with the weight of heavy houses may he suggests have given rise to the substance alluded to there have undoubtedly been instances in calabrian and elsewhere of slides of land on which the houses have still remained standing and it is possible that such may have been the case at port royal the fact at least of submergence is unquestionable for i was informed by the late admiral sir chiles hamilton that he frequently saw the submerged houses of port royal in the year 1780 in that part of the harbor which lies between the town and the usual anchorage of men of war brian edwards also says in his history of the west indies that in 1793 the ruins were visible in clear weather from the boats which sailed over them lastly lieutenant b jeffrey rn tells me that being engaged in a survey between the years 1824 and 1835 he repeatedly visited the sighting question where the depth of the water is from four to six fathoms and whenever there was but little wind perceived distinct traces of houses he saw these more clearly when he used the instrument called the divers eye which is let down below the ripple of the wave at several thousand places in jamaica the earth is related to have opened on the north of the island several plantations with their inhabitants were swallowed up on the lake appeared in their place covering above a thousand acres which afterwards dried up leaving nothing but sand and gravel without the least sign that there had ever been a house or a tree there several tenements at yellows were buried under landslips and one plantation was removed half a mile from its place the crops continuing to grow upon it and injured between spanish town and 16 mile walk the high and perpendicular cliffs bounding the river fell in stopped the passage of the river and flooded the latter place for nine days so that the people concluded it had been sunk as port royal was but the flood at length subsided for the river had found some new passage at a great distance mountains shattered the blue and other of the highest mountains are declared to have been strangely torn and rent they appeared shattered and half naked no longer affording a fine green prospect as before but stripped of their woods and natural verger the rivers on these mountains first ceased to flow for about 24 hours and then brought down into the sea at port royal and other places several hundred thousand tons of timber which looked like floating islands on the ocean the trees were in general barked most of their branches having been torn off in the descent it is particularly remarked in these as in the narratives of so many earthquakes that fish were taken in great numbers on the coast during the shocks the correspondence of sir hans loan which collected with care the accounts of eyewitnesses of the catastrophe refer constantly to substances and some suppose the whole of jamaica to have sunk down reflections on the amount of change in the last 160 years i have now only enumerated some few of the earthquakes of the last 160 years respecting which facts illustrative of geological inquiries are on record even if my limits permitted it would be an unprofitable task to examine all the obscure and ambiguous narratives of similar events of earlier epochs although if the places were now examined by geologists well practiced in the art of interpreting the monuments of physical changes many events which have happened within the historical era my doubtless be still determined with precision it must not be imagined that in the above sketch of the occurrences of a short period i have given an account of all or even the greater part of the mutations which the earth has undergone by the agency of subterranean movements thus for example the earthquake of aleppo in the present century and of syria in the middle of the 18th would doubtless have afforded numerous phenomena of great geological importance had those catastrophes been described by scientific observers the shocks in syria 1759 were protracted for three months throughout a space of 10 000 square leagues an area compared to which that of the calabria earthquake in 1783 was insignificant acons of fat by the back the muskled seed and triply and many other places were almost entirely level to the ground many thousands of the inhabitants perished in each and in the valley of balbek alone 20 000 men are said to have been victims of the convention in the absence of scientific accounts it would be as irrelevant to our present purpose to enter into a detailed account of such calamities as to follow the track of an invading army to enumerate the cities burned or razed the ground and reckon the number of individuals who perished by famine or the sword deficiency of historical records if such then be the amount of ascertained changes in the last 160 years notwithstanding the extreme deficiency of our records during that brief period how important must we presume the physical revolutions to have been in the course of 30 or 40 centuries during which some countries habitually convulsed by earthquakes have been peopled by civilized nations towns and gulfs during one earthquake may by repeated shocks have sunk to great depths beneath the surface while the ruins remain as imperishable as the hardest rocks in which they are enclosed buildings and cities submerged for a time beneath seas or lakes uncovered with sedimentary deposits must in some places have been re-elevated to considerable heights above the level of the ocean the signs of these events have probably being rendered visible by subsequent mutations as by the encroachments of the sea upon the coast by deep excavations made by torrents and rivers by the opening of new ravines and chasms and other effects of natural agents so active in districts agitated by subterranean movements if it be asked why if such wonderful monuments exist so few have hitherto been brought to light we reply because they have not been searched for in order to rescue from oblivion the memorials of former occurrences the inquirer must know what he may reasonably expect to discover and under what peculiar local circumstances he must be acquainted with the action and the effect of physical causes in order to recognize explain and describe correctly the phenomena when they present themselves the best known of the great volcanic regions of which the boundaries were sketched in the 22nd chapter is that which includes southern europe north and africa and central asia yet nearly the whole even of this region must be laid down in a geological map as terra incognita even calabria may be regarded as unexplored as also spain portugal the barber states the ionian isles asia minor cyprus syria and the countries between the caspian and black seas we are in truth beginning to obtain some insight into one small spot of that great zone of volcanic disturbance the districts around naples attract by no means remarkable for the violence of the earthquakes which have convulsed it if in this part of campania we are unable to establish that considerable changes in the relative level of land and sea have taken place since the christian era it is all that we could have expected and it is to the recent antiquarian and geological research not to history that we are principally indebted for the information i shall now proceed to lay before the reader some of the results of modern investigations in the bay of bayi and the adjoining coast temple of jupiter set up is this celebrated monument of antiquity a representation of which is given in the frontispiece a force in itself alone unequivocal evidence that the relative level of land and sea has changed twice at poods wally since the christian era and each movement both of elevation and subsidence has exceeded 20 feet before examining these proves i may observe that a geological examination of the coastal bayi both on the north and south of poods wally establishes in the most satisfactory manner an elevation at no remote period of more than 20 feet and at one point of more than 30 feet and evidence of this change would have been complete if even the temple head to this day remained undiscovered coast south of poods wally if we coast along the shore from naples to poods wally we find on approaching the latter place that the lofty and precipitous cliffs of ingerated tough resembling that of which naples is built retires lightly from the sea and that a low-level tract of fertile land of a very different aspect intervenes between the present sea beach and what was evidently the ancient line of coast the indon cliff may be seen opposite the small island of nissida about two miles and a half southeast of poods wally where at the height of 32 feet above the level of the sea mr barbaja observed an ancient mark such as might have been worn by the waves and upon further examination discovered that along that line the face of the perpendicular rock consisting of very hard tough was covered with barnacles balano sulcatus and drilled by boring testacia some of the hollows of the lithodomy contain the shells while others were filled with the valves of a species of area nearer to poods wally the england cliff is 80 feet high and as perpendicular as if it was still undermined by the waves at its base a new deposit constituting the fertile tract above alluded to attains a height of about 20 feet above the sea and since it is composed of regular sedimentary deposits contained marine shells its position proves that subsequently to its formation there has been a change of more than 20 feet in the relative level of land and sea the sea encroaches on these new incoherent strata and as the soil is valuable a wall has been built for its protection but when i visited the spot in 1828 the waves had swept away part of this rampart and exposed to view a regular series of strata of tough more or less argyllaceous alternating with beds of pumice and lapili and containing great abundance of marine shells of species now common on this coast and amongst them cardium rusticum austria edulis donax trunculus and others the strata vary from about a foot to a foot and a half in thickness and one of them contains abundantly remains of works of art tiles squares of mosaic pavement of different colors and small sculptured ornaments perfectly uninjured intermixed with these i collected some teeth of the pig and ox these fragments of building occur below as well as above strata containing marine shells. Pudzwolley itself stands chiefly on a promontory of the older tofecious formation which cuts off the new deposit although i detected a small patch of the latter in a garden under the town from the town the ruins of a mall called Caligula's bridge ran out into the sea this mall which is believed to be 18 centuries old consists of a number of piers and arches 13th of which are now standing and two others appear to have been overthrown mr brabash found on the sixth pier perforations of the lithodomy four feet above the level of the sea and near the termination of the mall on the last pier but one marks of the same 10 feet above the level of the sea together with great numbers of balani and flustra the depth of the sea at very small distance from most of the piers is from 30 to 50 feet end of section 71 chapter 29 of principles of geology this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org principles of geology by Charles Lyle section 72 coast to north of Pudzwolley if we then pass to the north of Pudzwolley and examine the coast between that town and Montenuovo we find a repetition of analogous phenomena the sloping sides of Monte Barbaro slant down within a short distance of the coast and terminate in an island cliff of moderate elevation to which the geologist perceives at once that the sea must at some former period have extended between this cliff and the sea is a low plain or terrace called La Starda corresponding to that before described on the southeast of the town and as the sea encroaches rapidly fresh sections of the strata may readily be obtained of which the next is an example first section of about one feet vegetable soil on a second section of about one feet and half horizontal beds of pumice and scurry with broken fragments of unrolled bricks bones of animals and marine shells the third section of about 10 feet beds of lapeli containing abundance of marine shells principally cardium rusticum donax trunculus austria edulis tritum cutacin and bucinum serratum broche the beds vary in thickness from one to 18 inches the fourth section of about one feet and a half adulation stuff containing bricks and fragments of buildings not rounded by attrition the thickness of many of these beds varies greatly as we trace them along the shore and sometimes the whole group rises to a greater height than at the point above described the surface of the tract which they compose appears to slope gently upwards towards the base of the old cliffs now if such appearances presented themselves on the coast of england a geologist might endeavor to seek an explanation in some local change in the set of the tides and currents but there are scarce any tides in the Mediterranean and to suppose the sea to have sunk generally from 20 to 25 feet since the shores of campania were covered with sumptuous buildings is an hypothesis obviously untenable the observations indeed made during modern surveys on the molds and coathons docks constructed by the ancients in various sports of the mediterranean have proved that there has been no sensible variation of level in that sea during the last 2000 years thus we arrive without the aid of the celebrated temple at the conclusion that the recent marine deposits up to swally was upraised in modern times above the level of the sea and that not only this change of position but the accumulation of the modern strata was posterior to the destruction of many edifices of which they contain the embedded remains if we next examine the evidence afforded by the temple itself it appears from the most authentic accounts that the three pillars now standing erect continue down to the middle of the last century almost buried in the new marine strata the upper part of each protruding several feet above the surface was concealed by bushes and had not attracted until the year 1749 the notice of antiquaries but when the soil was removed in 1750 they were seen to form part of the remains of a splendid edifice the pavement of which was still preserved and upon it lay a number of columns of african pressure and of granite the original plan of the building could be traced distinctly and it was of a quadrangular form 70 feet in diameter and the roof had been supported by 46 noble columns 24 of granite and the rest of marble the large court was surrounded by apartments supposed to have been used as bathing rooms for a thermal spring still used for medicinal purposes issues just behind the building and the water of this spring appears to have been originally conveyed by a marble duct still extant into the chambers and then across the pavement by a groove an inch or too deep to a conduit made of roman brickwork by which it gained the sea many antiquaries have entered into elaborate discussions as to the date to which this edifice was consecrated it is admitted that among other images found in excavating the ruins there was one of the god Serapis and at Puzgoli a marble column was dug up on which was carved an ancient inscription of the date of the building of Rome 648 or 105 before christ entitled Lex Pariete Facundo this inscription written in very obscure latin sets forth a contract between the municipality of the town and a company of builders who undertook to keep in repair certain public edifices the temple of Serapis being mentioned amongst the rest and described as being near or towards the sea Mare Vorsum Sir Edmund Head after studying in 1828 the topography and antiquities of this district and the greek roman and italian writers on the subject informed me that at alexandria on denial the chief seat of the worship of Serapis there was a Serapeo of the same form as this temple at Puzgoli and surrounded in like manner by chambers in which the devotees were accustomed to pass the night in the hope of receiving during sleep a revelation from the god as to the nature and cure of their diseases hence it was very natural that the priests of Serapis a pantheistic divinity who among other other patients had appropriated to himself the attributes of Esculapius should regard the hot springs as a suitable appendage to the temple although the original Serapeo of alexandria could boast no such medicinal waters. Senor Carelli and others in objecting to these views have insisted on the fact that the worship of Serapis which we know prevailed at Rome in the days of Cthulhu's in the first century before christ was prohibited by the roman senate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius but there is still little doubt that during the reigns of that emperor's successors the shrines of the egyptian god were again thronged by zealous votaries and in no place more so than at Puteoli now Puzgoli one of the principal marks for the produce of alexandria without entering further into an inquiry which is not strictly geological I shall designate this valuable relic of antiquity by its generally received name and proceed to consider the memorials of physical changes inscribed on the three standing columns in the most legible characters by the hand of nature these pillars which have been carved each out of a single block of marble are 43 inches and a half in height a horizontal fissure nearly intersects one of the columns the other two are entire they are slightly out of the perpendicular inclining somewhat to the southwest that is towards the sea their surface is smooth and uninjured to the height of about 12 feet above their pedestals above these is a zone about nine feet in height where the marble has been pierced by a species of marine perforating bevalve lithodermos the holes of these animals are pear shaped the external opening being mined and gradually increased downwards at the bottom of the cavities many shells are still found notwithstanding the great numbers that have been taken out by visitors in many of the valves a species of arca an animal which conceals itself in small hollows occur the perforations are so considerable in depth and size that they manifest a long continued abode of the lithodermy in the columns for as the inhabitant grows older and increases inside it bores a larger cavity to correspond with the increased magnitude of its shell we must consequently infer a long continued immersion of the pillars in seawater at a time when the lower part was covered up and protected by marine freshwater and volcanic strata afterwards to be described and by the rubbish of buildings the highest part at the same time projecting above the waters and being consequently weathered but not materially injured on the pavement of the temple lies some columns of marble which are also perforated in certain parts one for example to the length of eight feet while for the length of four feet it is uninjured several of these broken columns are eaten in two not only on the exterior but on the cross fracture and on some of them other marine animals serpule etc have fixed themselves all the granite pillars are untouched by lithodermy the platform of the temple which is not perfectly even was when i visited it in 1828 about one foot below high water mark for there are small tides in the Bay of Naples and the sea which was only 100 feet distant soaked through the intervening soil the upper part of the perforations therefore were at least 23 feet above high water mark and it is clear that the columns must have continued for a long time in an erect position immersed in salt water and then the submerged portion must have been upraised to the height of about 23 feet above the level of the sea by excavations carried on in 1828 below the marble pavement on which the columns stand another costly pavement of mosaic was found at the depth of about five feet below the upper one the existence of these two pavements at different levels clearly implies some subsidence previously to the building of the more modern temple which had rendered it necessary to construct the new floor at a higher level we have already seen that a temple of Serapis existed long before the Christian era the change of level just mentioned must have taken place sometime before the end of the second century for inscriptions have been found in the temple from which we learned that Septimal Severus adorned its walls with precious marbles between the years 194 and 211 of our era and the emperor Alexander Severus displayed the like munificence between the years 222 and 235 from that era there is an entire dearth of historical information for a period of more than 12 centuries except the significant fact that Alaric and his goths sucked Puzwoli in 456 and that Genseric did a like in 545 yet we have fortunately a series of natural archives self-registered during the dark ages by which many events which occurred in and about the temple are revealed to us these natural records consist partly of deposits which envelop the pillars below the zone of lethotomous preparations and partially of those which surround the outer walls of the temple Mr Babaj after a minute examination of these has shown that incrustations on the walls of the exterior chambers and on the floor of the building demonstrate that the pavement did not sink down suddenly but was depressed by a gradual movement the sea first entered the court or atrium and mingled its waters partially with those of the hot spring from this brackish medium a dark calcareous precipitate was thrown down which became in the course of time more than two feet thick including some serpule in it the presence of these analysts teaches us that the water was salt or brackish after this period the temple was filled up with an irregular mass of volcanic taff probably derived from an eruption of the neighboring crater of the sol fatar to the height of from five to nine feet above the pavement over these again a purely fresh water deposit of carbonate of lime accumulated with an uneven bottom since it necessarily accommodated itself to the irregular outline of the upper surface of the volcanic shower before thrown down to the top of the same deposit a freshwater limestone was perfectly even and flat bespeaking an ancient water level it is suggested by Mr Babaj that this freshwater lake may have been caused by the fall of ashes which choked up the channel previously communicating with the sea so that the hot spring threw down calcareous matter in the atrium without any marine intermixure to the freshwater limestone succeeded another irregular mass of volcanic ashes and rubbish some of it perhaps washed in by the waves of the sea during a storm its surface rising to 10 or 11 feet above the pavement and thus we arrive at the period of greatest depression expressed in the accompanying diagram when the lower half of the pillars were enveloped in the deposits above enumerated and the uppermost 20 feet were exposed in the atmosphere the remaining or middle portion about nine feet long being for years immersed in saltwater and reeled by perforating bevels after this period other strata consisting of showers of volcanic ashes and materials washed in during storms covered up the pillars to the height of some places of 35 feet above the pavement the exact time when these enveloping masses were whipped up and how much of them were formed during submergence and how much after the re-elevation of the temple cannot be made out with certainty the period of deep submergence was certainly antecedent to the close of the 15th century professor james forbes has reminded us of a passage in an old italian writer lofredo who says that in 1530 or 50 years before he wrote which was in 1580 the sea washed to the base of the hills which rise from the flat land called lastarda so that to quote his words a person might then have fished from the site of those ruins which are now called the stadium but we know from another evidence that the upward movement had begun before 1530 for the canonical andrea di giorio cites two authentic documents in illustration of this point the first dated october 1503 is a deed written in italian by which ferdinand and isabella grant to the university of puswoli a portion of land where the sea is drying up the second a document in italian dated may 23rd 1511 or nearly 80 years after by which ferdinand grants to the city a certain territory around puswoli where the ground is dried up from the sea the principal elevation however of the low tract and questionably took place at the time of the great eruption of montenuovo in 1538 that event and the earthquakes which preceded it have been already described and we have seen that two of the eyewitnesses of the convulsion falconi and giacomodito ledo agree in declaring that the sea abandoned a considerable tract of the shore so that fish were taken by the inhabitants and among other things falconi mentions that he saw two springs in the newly discovered ruins the flat land which first upraised must have been more extensive than now for the sea encroaches somewhat rapidly both to the north and southeast of puswoli the coast had when i examined it in 1828 given way more than a foot in a 12 month and i was assured by fishermen in the bay that it has lost ground near puswoli to the extent of 30 feet within their memory it is moreover very probable that the land rose to a greater height at first before it ceased to move upwards than the level at which it was observed to stand when the temple was rediscovered in 1749 for we learn from a memoir of nicolini published in 1838 that since the beginning of the 19th century the temple of serapis has subsided more than two feet that learned architect visited the ruins frequently for the sake of making drawings in the beginning of the year 1807 and was in the habit of remaining there throughout the day yet never saw the pavement overflowed by the sea except occasionally when the south wind blew violently on his return 16 years after to suffer intend some excavations ordered by the king of naples he found the pavement covered up by seawater twice every day at high tide so that he was obliged to place a line of stones to stand upon this induced him to make a series of observations from october 1822 to july 1838 by which means he ascertained that the ground had been and was sinking at the average rate of about seven millimeters a year or about one inch in four years so that in 1838 fish were caught every day on that part of the pavement where in 1807 there was never a drop of water in calm weather on inquiring still more recently as to the condition of the temple and the continuance of the sinking of the ground I learned from senor sake in a letter dated june 1852 that the downward movement has ceased for several years or has at least become almost inappreciable during an examination undertaken by him at my request in the summer of that year 1852 he observed that the rising tide spread first over the seawater side of the flat surface of the pedestals of each column confirming the fact previously noticed by others that they are out of the perpendicular and he also remarked that the water gained unequally on the base of each pillar in such a manner as to prove that they have neither the same amount of inclination nor lean precisely in the same direction from what was said before we saw that the marine shells in the strata form in the plain called la starza considered separately established the fact of an upheaval of the ground to the height of 23 feet and upwards the temple proves much more because it could not have been built originally underwater and must therefore have sunk down 20 feet at least below the waves to be afterwards restored to its original position yet if such was the order of events we ought to meet with other independent signs of a like substance around the margin of a bay one so studied with buildings as the bay of bayi accordingly memorials of such sub-mergeants are not wanting about a mile northwest of the temple of syrapes and about 500 feet from the shore are the ruins of a temple of neptune and others of a temple of the nymphs now underwater the columns of the former edifice stand erect in five feet of water there are proportions just rising to the surface of the sea the pedestals are doubtless buried in a sand or mud so that if this part of the bottom of the bay should hereafter be elevated the exhumation of these temples might take place after the manner of that of syrapes both these buildings probably participated in the movement which raised the starza but either they were deeper underwater than the temple of syrapes or they were not raised up again to so great a height there are also two roman roads underwater in the bay one reaching from Puzoali to the lucrine and lake which may still be seen and the other near the castle of bayi the ancient mole too of Puzoali before alluded to has the water up to a considerable height of the arches whereas grizzlak just observes it is next to certain that the peers must formally have reached the surface before the springing of the arches so that although the phenomena before described proved that this mole has been uplifted 10 feet above the level at which it once stood it is still evident that it has not yet been restored to its original position a modern writer also reminds us that these effects are not so local as some would have us to believe for on the opposite side of the bay of Naples on the Sorrentine coast which as well as Puzoali is subject to earthquakes a road with some fragments of roman buildings is covered to some depth by the sea in the island of Capri also which is situated some way out at sea in the opening of the bay of Naples one of the palaces of Tiberius is now covered with water that buildings should have been submerged and afterwards upbeat without being entirely reduced to a heap of ruins will appear no anomaly when we recollect that in the year 1819 when the delta of the indus sunk down the houses within the fort of Sindre subsided beneath the waves without being overthrown in like manner in the year 1692 the buildings around the harbor of port royal in Jamaica descended suddenly to the depth of between 30 and 50 feet under the sea without falling even on small portions of land transported to a distance of a mile down an eclivity tenements like those near Mileto in Calabria were carried entire at Valparaiso buildings were left standing in 1822 when their foundations together with a long tract of the Chilean coast were permanently upraised to the height of several feet it is still more easy to conceive that an edifice may escape falling during the upheaval or subsidence of land if the walls are supported on the exterior and interior with a deposit like that which surrounded and filled to the height of 10 or 11 feet the temple of Serapis all the time it was singing and which enveloped it toward and twice that height when it was rising again to its original level we can scarcely avoid the conclusion as Mr Babaj has hinted that action of heat is in some way or other the cause of the phenomena of the change of level of the temple its own hot spring its immediate contiguity to the sol fatara its nearness to the mountainuabo the hot spring at the baths of Nero on the opposite side of the bay of Baí the boiling springs and ancient volcanoes of Ischia on one side and Vesuvius on the other are the most prominent of a multitude of facts which point to that conclusion and when we reflect on the dates of the principal oscillations of level and the volcanic history of the country before described we seem to discover a connection between each area of an upheaval and a local development of volcanic heat and again between each area of depression and the local quiescence or dormant conditions of the subterranean igneous causes thus for example before the Christian era when so many vents were in frequent eruption in Ischia and when Avernus and other points in the flagrant fields were celebrated for their volcanic aspect and character the ground on which the temple stood was several feet above water Vesuvius was then regarded as a spent volcano but when after the Christian era the fires of that mountain were rekindle scarcely a single outburst was ever witnessed in Ischia or around the bay of Baí then the temple was sinking Vesuvius at that subsequent period became nearly dormant for five centuries preceding the great outbreak of 1631 and in that interval the Sol fatara was an eruption 1198 Ischia in 1302 and Montenua was formed in 1538 then the foundations on which the temples stood were rising again lastly Vesuvius once more became a most active vent and has been so ever since and during the same laps of time the area of the temple so far as we know anything of its history has been subsiding this phenomena would agree well with the hypothesis that when the subterranean heat is on the increase and when lava is forming without obtaining an easy vent like that afforded by a great habitual chimney such as Vesuvius the incubant surface is uplifted but when the heated rocks below are cooling and contracting the sheets of lava are slowly consolidating and diminishing in volume then the incubant land subsides Signore Niccolini when he ascertained in 1838 that the relative levels of the floor of the temple and of the sea were slowly changing from ear to ear embraced the opinion that it was the sea which was rising but Signore Capocci successfully controverted his view appealing to many appearances which attest the local character of the movements of the adjoining country besides the historical fact that in 1538 when the sea retired permanently 200 yards from the ancient shore at Pujwoli there was no simultaneous retreat of the waters from Naples Castelmari and Ischia permanence of the oceans level in concluding this subject I may observe that the interminable controversies to each the phenomena of the Bay of Baye give rise have sprung from an extreme reluctance to admit that the land rather than the sea is subject alternately to rise and fall had it been assumed that the level of the ocean was invariable on the ground that no fluctuations have yet been clearly established and that on the other hand the continents are inconstant in their level as has been demonstrated by the most unequivocal proofs again and again from the time of struggle to our own times the appearances of the temple at Pujwoli could never have been regarded as enigmatic even if contemporary accounts had not distinctly attested the uprising of the coast this explanation should have been proposed in the first instance as the most natural instead of being now adopted unwillingly when all others have failed to the strong prejudices still existing in regard to the mobility of the land we may attribute the rarity of such discoveries as have been recently brought to light in the Bay of Baye and the Bay of Conception a false theory it is well known may render us blind to facts which are opposed to our prepossessions or may conceal from us their true import when we behold them but it is time that the geologist should in some degree overcome those first unnatural impressions which induce the poets of all to select the rock as the emblem of firmness the sea as the image of inconstancy our modern poet in a more philosophical spirit saw in the sea the image of eternity and has finally contrasted the fleeting existence of the successive empires which have flourished and fallen on the borders of the ocean with its own unchanged stability their decay has dried up realms to deserts not so thou unchangeable save to thy wild waves play time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow such as creations don't be held thou role is now child harrowed can't of four end of chapter 29 and section 72