Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Other
Branch, Less Accessible And More Neglected, Comprehends The
Physical Relations Which Link Volcanoes Together, The Influence Of
One Volcanic System On Another, The Connection Existing Between The
Action Of Burning Mountains And The Commotions Which Agitate The
Earth At Great Distances, And During Long Intervals, In The Same
Direction.
This study cannot progress till the various epochs of
simultaneous action, the direction, the extent, and the force of
The convulsions are carefully noted; till we have attentively
observed their progressive advance to regions which they had not
previously reached; and the coincidence between distant volcanic
eruptions and those noises which the inhabitants of the Andes very
expressively term subterraneous thunders, or roarings.* (* Bramidos
y truenos subterraneos.) All these objects are comprehended in the
domain of the history of nature.
Though the narrow circle within which all certain traditions are
confined, does not present any of those general revolutions which
have heaved up the Cordilleras and buried myriads of pelagian
animals; yet Nature, acting under our eyes, nevertheless exhibits
violent though partial changes, the study of which may throw light
on the most remote epochs. In the interior of the earth those
mysterious powers exist, the effects of which are manifested at the
surface by the production of vapours, of incandescent scoriae, of
new volcanic rocks and thermal springs, by the appearance of new
islands and mountains, by commotions propagated with the rapidity
of an electric shock, finally by those subterranean thunders,*
heard during whole months, without shaking the earth, in regions
far distant from active volcanoes.
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