Section 82. The Necessity of⁠ Volcanoes

The⁠ remarkable proofs which modern geology has presented of vast accumulations of heated⁠ and melted matter⁠ beneath the earth’s crust⁠, make it evident that (S. 3, N. 2) volcanoes are essential⁠ to the preservation of the globe. If (App. § 36) there⁠ were no safety-valves through⁠ the crust, such vast accumulations of heat would rend asunder⁠ even⁠ a whole continent. Volcanoes are⁠ those safety-valves⁠, more than two hundred of which are scattered⁠ over the earth’s surface. But if no such passages⁠ existed (see S. 27, N. 8), nothing could prevent the⁠ pent-up gases from accumulating till they had (Impf. Subj.) gained strength⁠ enough to rend a whole continent, and⁠ perhaps the whole globe, into fragments.—Rev. Prof. Hitchcock.

Use the gen. of the def. art.

Use the attributive construction explained in S. 48, N. 6, and say ‘The by (von, followed by the def. art.) modern geology presented (auf´stellen) remarkable proofs of (von) a vast accumulation’, etc.

erhitzt.

matter = masses.

Erdrinde, f.

essential = necessary; to = for.

‘There is’ and ‘there are’, used in a general sense, are generally rendered by the impers. v. ‘es giebt’.

Say ‘in the earth’s crust’.

auseinan´derreißen.

sogar.

are = form.

Here follow the words ‘of which’.

verteilen.

passages = openings.

the — accumulating = the accumulation of the pent-up (ein´sperren) gases.

Kraft, f.; enough, hinreichend, adj., to be placed before the noun ‘strength’.

‘and’ here ja. The verb ‘to rend into fragments’ (auseinan´derreißen, of which form the Supine, S. 1, N. 2) must of course be placed at the end of the whole passage.