Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/43

Rh forces (whether volcanic or otherwise) are in action, whose throbbings are made known to us by the earthquake, and thus to make one great and reliable step towards a knowledge of the nature of these forces themselves; and this is the great and hopeful aspect in which seismology must be viewed and chiefly valued. It affords, if not the only, certainly, in the existing state of knowledge, the best means by which we can entertain a well-founded expectation of ultimately obtaining clear and certain ideas as to the material and state of the internal mass of our planet, and comprehending the true nature and relations of volcanic energy.

By the second order of inquiry we seek to determine the modifying and moulding power of earthquake upon the surface of our world as we now find it; to trace its effects and estimate their power and extent upon man's habitation and upon himself. The first order of inquiry must be pursued by methods, chiefly mechanical, physical, or mathematical. The second by these, combined with the observational tact and largeness of a disciplined imagination and eye that are amongst the accomplishments of the physical field-geologist. Thus finally uniting our knowledge derived from both directions, ultimately to form a clear conception of what is the function of the earthquake in the Cosmos, and to recognize the connection, fitness, order, and beauty, even of the volcano and the earthquake, as parts of the machinery of a wondrous and perfect creation. Like every aspect of nature, that we obtain with the more enlarged and undimmed eye of truth, it will prove to us that even here the great Author of all, is a God of order, not of confusion.