| CHAPTER I. |
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| GEOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS. |
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| The Eternal Strife between Water and Fire—Strata of Aqueous Origin—Tabular View of their Chronological Succession—Enormous Time required for their Formation—Igneous Action—Metamorphic Rocks—Upheaval and Depression—-Fossils—Uninterrupted Succession of Organic Life | Page 1 |
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| CHAPTER II. |
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| FOSSILS. |
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| General Remarks—Eozoon Canadense—Trilobites—Brachiopods—Pterichthys Milleri—Oldest Reptiles—Wonderful Preservation of Colour in Petrified Shells—PrimÆval Corals and Sponges—Sea-lilies—Orthoceratites and Ammonites—-Belemnites—Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus—Pterodactyli—Iguanodon—Tertiary Quadrupeds—Dinotherium—Colossochelys Atlas—Megatherium—Mylodon—Glyptodon—Mammoth—Mastodon—Sivatherium Giganteum—Fossil Ripple-marks, Rain-drops, and Footprints—Harmony has reigned from the beginning | 8 |
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| CHAPTER III. |
| SUBTERRANEAN HEAT. |
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| Zone of invariable Temperature—Increasing Temperature of the Earth at a greater Depth—Proofs found in Mines and Artesian Wells, in Hot Springs and Volcanic Eruptions—The whole Earth probably at one time a fluid mass | 31 |
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| CHAPTER IV. |
| SUBTERRANEAN UPHEAVALS AND DEPRESSIONS. |
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| Oscillations of the Earth’s Surface taking place in the present day—First ascertained in Sweden—Examples of Contemporaneous Upheaval and Depression in France and England—Probable Causes of the Phenomenon | 34 |
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| CHAPTER V. |
| SUBTERRANEAN WATERS AND ARTESIAN WELLS. |
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| Subterranean Distribution of the Waters—Admirable Provisions of Nature—Hydrostatic Laws regulating the Flow of Springs—Thermal Springs—Intermittent Springs—The Geysir—Bunsen’s Theory—Artesian Wells—Le Puits de Grenelle—Deep Borings—Various Uses of Artesian Wells—Artesian Wells in Venice and in the Desert of Sahara | 39 |
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| CHAPTER VI. |
| VOLCANOES. |
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| Volcanic Mountains—Extinct and active Craters—Their Size—Dangerous Crater-explorations—Dr. Judd in the Kilauea Pit—Extinct Craters—Their Beauty—The Crater of Mount Vultur in Apulia—Volcanoes still constantly forming—Jorullo and Isalco—Submarine Volcanoes—Sabrina and Graham’s Island—Santorin—Number of Volcanoes—Their Distribution—Volcanoes in a constant state of eruption—Stromboli—Fumaroles—The Lava-lakes of Kilauea—Volcanic Paroxysms—Column of Smoke and Ashes—Detonations—Explosion of Cones—Disastrous Effects of Showers of Ashes and Lapilli—Mud Streams—Fish disgorged from Volcanic Caverns—Eruptions of Lava—Parasitic Cones—Phenomena attending the Flow of a Lava Stream—Baron Papalardo—Meeting of Lava and Water—ScoriÆ—Lava and Ice—Vast Dimensions of several Lava Streams—Scenes of Desolation—Volcanoes considered as Safety-valves—Probable Causes of Volcanoes | 53 |
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| CHAPTER VII. |
| DESTRUCTION OF HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII. |
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| State of Vesuvius before the eruption in the year 79 A.C.—Spartacus—Premonitory Earthquakes—Letter of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus, relating the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder—Benevolence of the Emperor Titus—Herculaneum and Pompeii buried under a muddy alluvium—Herculaneum first discovered in 1713 | 81 |
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| CHAPTER VIII. |
| GAS SPRINGS AND MUD VOLCANOES. |
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| Carbonic-acid Springs—Grotto del Cane—The Valley of Death in Java—Exaggerated Descriptions—Carburetted Hydrogen Springs—The Holy Fires of Baku—Description of the Temple—Mud Volcanoes—The Macaluba in Sicily—Crimean Mud Volcanoes—Volcanic Origin of Mud Volcanoes | 88 |
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| CHAPTER IX. |
| EARTHQUAKES. |
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| Extent of Misery inflicted by great Earthquakes—Earthquake Regions—Earthquakes in England—Great Number of Earthquakes—Vertical and Undulatory Shocks—Warnings of Earthquakes—Sounds attending Earthquakes—Remarkable Displacements of Objects—Extent and Force of Seismic Wave Motion—Effects of Earthquakes on the Sea—Enormous Waves on Coasts—Oscillations of the Ocean—Fissures, Landslips, and shattering Falls of Rock caused by Earthquakes—Causes of Earthquakes—Probable Depth of Focus—Opinions of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Poulett Scrope—Impressions produced on Man and Animals by Earthquakes | 97 |
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| CHAPTER X. |
| THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF LISBON. |
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| A dreadful All Saints’ Day—The Victims of a Minute—Report of an Eye-witness—Conflagration—Banditti—Pombal brings Chaos into Order—Intrigues of the Jesuits—Damages caused by the Earthquake in other places; at Cadiz; in Barbary—Widespread Alarm—Remarks of Goethe on the Earthquake | 114 |
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| CHAPTER XI. |
| LANDSLIPS. |
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| Igneous and Aqueous Causes of Landslips—Fall of the Diablerets in 1714 and 1749—Escape of a Peasant from his living Tomb—Vitaliano Donati on the Fall of a Mountain near Sallenches—The Destruction of Goldau in 1806—Wonderful Preservation of a Child—Burial of Velleja and Tauretunum, of PlÜrs and Scilano—
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