198 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [CHAP.

were produced by its passing through a process of drying, after
having previously been saturated with moisture1. The other was
that of Anaxagoras, who believed that they were
naxagoras, the fiery element of the aether, which

had penetrated into the interior of the earth, and was struggling
to escape thence2. It will be seen that the view of Anaximenes
excluded the idea of any connexion between earthquakes and
volcanic agency, whereas that of Anaxagoras naturally suggested
it. In the hands of Aristotle this connexion became

and Aristotle. .. r . , ,. . f .

the leading feature in the discussion of the question.
According to him both of them were due to the action of winds,
which were confined beneath the surface of the earth, and were
endeavouring to find a vent. These winds— perhaps at the present
day we should rather describe them as gases — were developed by
the heat of the earth acting on the moisture which penetrates into
it. The element of fire which appears in volcanic action was due
to the vapours becoming rarified and so igniting8. This theory
subsequently met with general acceptance : we find it adopted by
Ovid in his description of the upheaval of the promontory of
Methana near Troezen in the Argolic peninsula, which happened
about the year 282 B.C — in which passage he compares the process
to what happens in the inflation of a bladder: —

Near Troezen stands a hill, exposed in air
To winter winds, of leafy shadows bare :
This once was level ground ; but (strange to tell)
Th' included vapours that in caverns dwell,
Lab'ring with colic pangs, and close confined,
In vain sought issue for the rumbling wind:
Yet still they heaved for vent, and, heaving still,
Enlarged the concave, and shot up the hill;
As breath extends a bladder, or the skins
Of goats are blown t* inclose the hoarded winds :
The mountain yet retains a mountain's face,
And gathered rubbish heals the hollow space4.

1 Ar. MeteoroL) a. 7. 6.
8 IW.> 2. 7. a.
* Ar. Metcorol.i a. 8.
4 Ov. Met., 15.295—306 (translation by Dryden and others).