it is but an arbitrary hypothesis to assert, that a tremor or shaking of the soil is a certain and necessary indication or attendant of subterraneous and volcanic agency. The truth is, that the element by which the globe is to be dissolved-presuming that the authority of the Book from which the statement is taken is unquestioned, and the result of no modern speculative notion is to invalidate its testimony in any one single point-is in action at the present moment, in some places below the bed of the sea, from which islands are oftentimes upheaved, and in other parts nearer to the surface, and embedded within the cavities or chambers of the earth; but in all places, more or less, the agency is in continued activity, and he must possess the pride and arrogance of science, falsely so called, and the conceit and presumption of some fanatical theorist-for fanaticism is not the spawn of one particular cast or sect, but as prolific in the brain of an infidel historian or poet, as in the vision of some high-steamed enthusiast or bigot-to decide what influences electricity, which pervades more or less all the realms of nature, shall produce, and is even now producing in our planet at the present moment. It was the opinion of some of the ancient philosophers-among others, Epicurus-that these convulsions of the land, and these phenomena of nature, were occasioned by the agency of subterraneous fires heating the rarified steam of waters; and this explanation has been adopted by Des Cartes, Kircher, Du Hamel, Mason Goode, and other well-known writers among the moderns; and Fabri, in particular, gave it as his judgment, that earthquakes were produced by certain inflammable substances, such as bitumen, nitre, sulphur, &c. which rarified the springs of water within the cavities of the earth. These combustible exhalations, according to this theory-for, after all, every explanation on the subject amounts to nothing but theory since nothing is known for certain-are supposed to be kindled by some active subterraneous flames gliding through a narrow fissure from without, or by the fermentation of some mixture, by which pulses, tremors, chasms, and fissures, are created on the surface of the earth, to the extent, and in an exact ratio to the quantity, pressure, and activity of the inflammable agents. The following is the suggestion of Dr. Woodward :-He supposes that "the subterraneous heat or fire, which is continually elevating water out of the abyss which occupies the centre of the earth, to furnish rain, dew, springs, rivers, may be stopped in some particular part. When this obstruction happens, the heat causes a great swelling and commotion in the water of the abyss; and, at the same time, making the like efforts against the superincumbent earth, thus the agitation and concussion of it are occasioned, which we call an earthquake." Dr. Stukely, on the other hand, thinks these phenomena are not to be accounted for by the agency of subterraneous heats or fires, or fermentations generated in the bowels of the earth, but are solely to be accredited to electrical effects; and he illustrates his hypothesis by the earthquake which took place in London, in March, 1745, which was accompanied neither by fire, vapour, smoke, smell, nor by any eruption of any kind. He adduces some ingenious, but per

haps alike satisfactory, reasons in support of his theory, and in proof of all tremors and convulsions of the earth being occasioned by the agency of electricity alone. Dr. Priestley entertained nearly the same opinion.-(See Dr. Woodward's Nat. Hist. and Dr. Priestley's Hist. of Electricity).

With respect to the convulsion near Lyme, there is one striking fact which has not hitherto been noticed, and which would seem to fortify the opinion of those who ascribe it to volcanic agency. Not only has a considerable portion of land slipped from its late position, and been precipitated to the depth above mentioned, but several rifts and chasms have been created in land and on rocks at some distance from the slip on which a similar phenomenon occurred probably some centuries since-at all events, out of the memory of man. These rifts and chasms could not have been occasioned by the influence of land-springs; for the strata of the soil are here different; and, unlike the land on which the slip occurred, (the upper stratum of which consists of chalk and flint, and the under stratum of loose, sandy, fox-mould or marl, and blue lias and clay) have become indurated by time, are as compact as the solid rock, and are impervious to the action of water. In order to account for the rents and fissures here exhibited, it may be said that they were created by the subsidence and precipitation of such a vast mass of superincumbent strata from their former bed or position, forcing a passage underneath the rocks into the bed of the sea, and thus causing the rents and desruptions now to be seen in most of these projecting rocks. It may be so; but then it should be remembered that no small portion of these rifts and chasms is out of the line of the great landslip, and that a high hill, upon which at present the convulsion has had no perceptible influence, forms an intervening barrier.

It is not improbable that this may be quite sufficient to account for the fissures and rents in the road leading to and in the orchard below; because this orchard lies in a direct parallel line with the great slip, and the pressure of such a vast accumulation of fallen earth may have undermined its position, and caused the rents which impede one's path in different parts of the ground, and have rendered the road leading to the orchard quite impracticable for waggons and carriages to pass. The orchard itself, however, does not appear to have been materially affected, nor has its former level been at all changed; and it is not improbable that the trees with which it abounds, and which form a lovely and picturesque object in contrast with the wild desolation around will, in due season, bear a luxurious crop to the owner, so little in general have they been injured by this grand and mighty convulsion. Had the superincumbent earth from the slip forced or precipitated a passage underneath, the probability is, that the orchard would have sustained a greater dislocation and damage, from its proximity to the slip, than the rocks, which are at a greater distance, but in the same parallel line. There are two cottages in the hollow, or undercliffs-these have been rendered uninhabitable-a portion of one has been nearly levelled to the

earth, and sunk in on one side; and the other, through the lower and upper apartments of which I passed, has suffered considerably from the fissures in the soil, and from the rents in the walls. I observed, however, that not a pane of glass was broken in either of the windows. To each of these cottages are attached small gardens, in which potatoes and other vegetables had been grown; and the produce of the last year's crop of potatoes lies embedded among the ruins of the cottage which has suffered the most from this convulsion. The gardens, like the orchard and its trees, have not sustained much injury, and might easily be brought into cultivation again if required.

With respect to the causes, to which the whole of this stupendous dislocation of land, and this fearful phenomenon of nature, are to be ascribed, it would be presumption on my part to advance a decided opinion. Like other men, I have a right to form my own judgment, and putting the premises together, to draw my own inference from them: but, perhaps, it is impossible for any man to say for certain how the convulsion has been occasioned. The probability is, for it amounts to little more, that it originated in a combination of causes; or, in other words, that it has been produced as well by the action of subterraneous springs, much augmented in their course and volume by the continued rains with which the soil there and elsewhere was saturated for many months preceding (and, more or less, since the great thunder storm in last June-the most awful one ever remembered in the neighbourhood of Lyme: the graphic language of the Psalmist is almost a literal description of it: the air thundered; the voice of the thunder was heard round about; the lightnings shone upon the ground," and were, indeed, one continued flare for hours together)—as also by some slight shock of an earthquake, by which the strata were disturbed, an impulse was given, and the dislocation was accelerated: and such is the view, towards which are the bearing and inclination of my own mind, after a minute examination of every part, and a careful consideration of every account or hypothesis which I have heard from others. It has been reported, indeed-I know not with what accuracy, and I hope with no truth-that one of the itinerant geological illuminati of the present day has pronounced it to be an act of insanity to combine the latter with the former, as one of the productive causes of this phenomenon. One of the greatest literary luminaries of the day has, on the contrary, written to me, that nothing is more probable than that an earthquake-shock may have given the sliding mass an impulse, and that it is well known that along the south coast of England, there are extensive fractures indicating, even from the "beginning," volcanic action. I perfectly, however, concur in the opinion, that the mere fact of a slide of land does not necessarily imply or require an earthquake to occasion it. It is only from putting facts together, that a legitimate inference can be drawn,

It happened that this day my old friend Sir G. B. Robinson, Bart. dined at my house. Both Sir George and Lady R. declared that in China and Macao, where they have resided for several years, they had never heard or seen any thing like it.

D

and something approximating to truth can be deduced. Be this, however, as it may, without any arbitrary decision on the point, or saying my view is right and denouncing that of others to be wrong, I may be permitted to add, that the whole line of this coast, between Beer and Weymouth (including the whole of the Dorset hills on the west), and the south coast as far as Chichester, and beyond, has been from time immemorial, subject to volcanic agency, and (especially at the last mentioned place) exhibited fearful proofs of its existence a few years since. The Batwing-cliff on one of the hills not far from Weymouth affords occular demonstration of the fact of subterraneous fires. I have visited it more than once, have felt its heat, and witnessed its ravages in some of the contiguous fields, on which no grass now grows, and no cultivation can be bestowed; and it never would at any time surprise me to hear, that even the spot from which I am now writing should feel the influence, though it never, I trust, will experience the awful and desolating effects of what, according to Dr. Young,

Lyme-Regis.

"Nero-like, can slay,

And spread an ample desart in a day."

FRAUDS ON THE LABOURING CLASSES.

THOSE articles of food, the chief support of the labouring classes of this country, from the competition among retail dealers, which the immensity of the demand occasions, and the difficulty of detecting any deleterious infusions, even by a scientific person, are daily being subjected to the most dangerous and hurtful adulterations. Poverty and cheap shops render the poor the especial victims of this system of slow but sure poisoning. And, therefore, it is that we are sure that it will be far from uninteresting to the mass of our readers, none of whom will deny the claims which the poor have on their more fortunate brethren, to be made sufficiently acquainted with those frauds, to warn those who are continuously exposed to their effects.

Some little time since, a so-called respectable baker, laid a charge against his apprentice, of having through his carelessness and neglect so completely spoiled a batch of bread, as to render it not only entirely unsaleable among his customers, but also unwholesome. During the examination, the magistrate asked the master, whether he should loose the entire batch: "Oh dear, no sir!" replied the man of loaves, "I shall send it to the cheap shops in the Tothill-fields and Whitechapel, and they'll soon get rid of it to the poor." By such means as this, assisted by a most extended system of adulteration, these kind of shops exist, and the proprietors contrive to live. For never let it be credited that the mere not delivering the bread, and thereby saving the wages of a man, and the wear and tear of a cart, will ever compensate for so serious a difference in price as existsa difference of at least one-fourth-between the high price and low price bakers.

The obnoxious adulterations take place in the flour, and therefore cannot be detected save by the baker himself, such as rye, peas,

beans, and potatoes, which from their containing less fecula than wheaten flour, render the bread less nutritive, and are therefore a fraud on the consumer, though in no way hurtful or unwholesome. When the flour in this adulterated state has come into the hands of the baker, he proceeds to incorporate with it such ingredients as are in themselves noxious, and by repeated action become injurious. These are alum, sulphate of copper, and zinc, chalk, plaister-ofparis, and bone dust. "It is a very serious thing (says Dr. Ure) for a lady or gentleman of sedentary habits, to have their digestive powers daily vitiated by damaged flour, whitened with one hundred and ninety-seven grains of alum per quartern loaf." Not only does indigestion result, but even the most serious and painful diseases, such as admit of no remedy but the knife of the operator. When, in addition to this admixture of alum, the other noxious adulterations are added, the case of the poor man becomes most frightful; he suffers much to obtain his daily bread, converted by adulteration to his daily poison. For every one of these ingredients, that able chemist, Mr. Charles Watt, has given, in his "Monthly Manual of Chemistry," a sure and, to the chemist, easy test. But as it is absolutely necessary to meet the daily increasing evil, by such a plain and easy test as every one may use, we shall not here quote his various recipes, but rather refer our readers to his excellent paper, thanking him for having called the attention of his profession to the subject, and cordially agreeing with him in condemning the negligence of the government of our country in never having, among all their numerous commissions, instituted one to examine the various articles of life, and especially of food, to condemn every thing bad, and so fine those who for the sake of filthy lucre violate the just laws and every duty of humanity. Happily there are three tests by which bad bread may be detected in a moment: the colour, the crust, and the weight. Pure bread should be delicately white, but not dry, dryness being the effect of alum; the crust should be flakey, and not hard and compact; easily broken and not like baked india rubber; when toasted it should be so light as hardly to admit of being buttered; whilst warm, ready to break with the slightest pressure; and when suffered to become cold should be hard and not leathery. Any one who has remarked a poor person returning from a cheap baker's with a loaf of stale bread, must have been struck with the very large pieces of roll and other kinds of bread given to make up the weight. The reason of this is the adulteration of the bread. Weigh a new loaf of pure bread against a stale one, and the difference will be very little, merely the weight of the moisture contained in the loaf; but between a new loaf of bad bread and a stale one of the same kind, the difference is sometimes enormous, always very great, and varies in proportion with the quantity of adulteration: the nature of the ingredients being to give it a false weight when new by a greater absorption of moisture. By this test, though it cannot be determined what the exact ingredients are, it may be proved that the bread is so adulterated as to be noxious, if not highly injurious, to the health of the consumer.