- i -
THE ANCIENT VOLCANOES OF GREAT BRITAIN
- ii -
- iii -
THE
ANCIENT VOLCANOES
OF
GREAT BRITAIN
BY
SIR ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, F.R.S.
D.C.L. Oxf., D. Sc. Camb., Dubl.; LL.D. St. And., Edinb.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND;CORRESPONDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE;OF THE ACADEMIES OF BERLIN, VIENNA, MUNICH, TURIN, BELGIUM, STOCKHOLM, GÖTTINGEN, NEW YORK; OF THEIMPERIAL MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY AND SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS, ST. PETERSBURG; NATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY, MOSCOW; SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, CHRISTIANIA; AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; OF THEGEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON, FRANCE, BELGIUM, STOCKHOLM, ETC.
WITH SEVEN MAPS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
1897
All rights reserved
- iv -
- v -
TO
M. Ferdinand Fouqué
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE
PROFESSOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF INORGANIC BODIES
IN THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE
AND
M. Auguste Michel-Lévy
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE
DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FRANCE
DISTINGUISHED REPRESENTATIVES
OF THAT FRENCH SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY
WHICH BY THE HANDS OF DESMAREST FOUNDED THE
STUDY OF ANCIENT VOLCANOES
AND HAS SINCE DONE SO MUCH TO
PROMOTE ITS PROGRESS
THESE VOLUMES ARE INSCRIBED
WITH THE HIGHEST ADMIRATION AND
ESTEEM
- vi -
- vii -
PREFACE
In no department of science is the slow and chequered progress of investigationmore conspicuous than in that branch of Geology which treats ofvolcanoes. Although from the earliest dawn of history, men had beenfamiliar with the stupendous events of volcanic eruptions, they weresingularly slow in recognizing these phenomena as definite and importantparts of the natural history of the earth. Even within the present century,the dominant geological school in Europe taught that volcanoes were mereaccidents, due to the combustion of subterranean beds of coal casually seton fire by lightning, or by the decomposition of pyrites. Burning mountains,as they were called, were believed to be only local and fortuitous appearances,depending on the position of the coal-fields, and having no essential connectionwith the internal structure and past condition of our planet. So longas such fantastic conceptions prevailed, it was impossible that any solidprogress could be made in this branch of science. A juster appreciation ofthe nature of the earth's interior was needed before men