xii., s. 607; Leop. von Buch, 'Descr. des Iles Canaries', p. 424-426. The
eruptions of argillaceous mud at Carguairazo, when that volcano was
destroyed in 1698, the Lodazales of Igualata, and the Moya of Pelileo -- all
on the table-land of Quito -- are volcanic phenomena of a similar nature.
I have endeavored in the above remarks to furnish a general description of
volcanoes -- comprising one of the most important sections of the history of
terrestrial activity -- and I have based my statements partly on my own
observations, but more in their general bearing on the results yielded by
the labors of my old friend, Leopold von Buch, the greatest geognosist of
our own age, and the first who recognized the intimate connection of
volcanic phenomena, and their mutual dependence upon one another, considered
with reference to their relations in space.
Volcanic action, or the reaction of the interior of a planet on its external
crust and surface, was long regarded only as an isolated phenomenon, and was
considered solely with respect to the disturbing action of the subterranean
force; and it is only in recent times that -- greatly to the advantage of
geognostical views based on physical analogies -- volcanic forces have been
regarded as 'forming new rocks, and transforming those that already
existed'.
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