There have been several Earthquakes lately, and they are still attributed to volcanic action. As the Quarterly Review of 1st January, 1869, tells us, the most popular notion regarding these phenomena “is the hypothesis of contraction of the mass of this globe by radiation of heat into space.” If we examine this sentence by geological reasoning, confining ourselves to those things, and actions, which are visible, and tangible, we find two causes of objection to it. We ask, whence is the heat to radiate into space? and where is the mass capable of contraction? There are certain laws which rule atoms, and worlds; we have only to understand these laws, and their effects, to enable us to comprehend every phenomena upon earth; man has not been able to do this, but has sought interpretations from his own imagination, till he has been led into innumerable difficulties.