arrative" (Volume IV., page 36, English Translation),
seems to consider the elevation of Sabrina off the Azores as connected
with S. American subterranean activity: this connection appears to be
exceedingly vague. I have during the past year seen it stated that a
severe shock in the northern parts of S. America coincided with one
in Kamstchatka. Believing, then, that such coincidences are purely
accidental, I neglected to take a note of the reference; but I
believe the statement was somewhere in "L'Institut" for 1839. (479/2.
"L'Institut, Journal General des Societes et Travaux Scientifiques de la
France et de l'Etranger," Tome VIII. page 412, Paris, 1840. In a note
on some earthquakes in the province Maurienne it is stated that they
occurred during a change in the weather, and at times when a south wind
followed a north wind, etc.) I was myself anxious to see the list of the
1200 shocks alluded to by you, but I have not been able to find out that
the list has been published. With respect to any coincidences you may
discover between shocks in S. America and Europe, let me venture to
suggest to you that it is probably a quite accurate statement that
scarcely one hour in the year elapses in S. America without an
accompanying shock in some part of that large continent. There are many
regions in which earthquakes take place every three and four days; and
after the severer shocks the ground trembles almost half-hourly for
months. If, therefore, you had a list of the earthquakes of two or
three of these districts, it is almost certain that some of them would
coincide with those in Scotland, without any other connection than mere
chance.

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 i