My paper will be published immediately in the "Geological Transactions,"
and I will do myself the pleasure of sending you a copy in the course of
(as I hope) a week or ten days. A large part of it is theoretical, and
will be of little interest to you; but the account of the Concepcion shock
of 1835 will, I think, be worth your perusal. I have understood from Mr.
Lyell that you believe in some connection between the state of the weather
and earthquakes. Under the very peculiar climate of Northern Chile, the
belief of the inhabitants in such connection can hardly, in my opinion, be
founded in error. It must possibly be worth your while to turn to pages
430-433 in my "Journal of Researches during the Voyage of the 'Beagle',"
where I have stated this circumstance. (479/3. "Journal of Researches
into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the
Voyage of H.M.S. 'Beagle' round the World." London, 1870, page 351.) On
the hypothesis of the crust of the earth resting on fluid matter, would the
influence of the moon (as indexed by the tides) affect the periods of the
shocks, when the force which causes them is just balanced by the resistance
of the solid crust? The fact you mention of the coincidence between the
earthquakes of Calabria and Scotland appears most curious. Your paper will
possess a high degree of interest to all geologists. I fancied that such
uniformity of action, as seems here indicated, was probably confined to
large continents, such as the Americas. How interesting a record of
volcanic phenomena in Iceland would be, now that you are collecting
accounts of every slight trembling in Scotland. I am astonished at their
frequency in that quiet country, as any one would have called it. I wish
it had been in my power to have contributed in any way to your researches
on this most interesting subject.


LETTER 480. TO L. HORNER.
Down, August 29th [1844].