Then for the purposes of our inquiry we have to ascertain how these active vents of eruption compare, as regards the magnitude of their operations, with those of the pre-historic and later Tertiary times. But before entering into this question it maybe observed, in the first place, that a large number of the vents of eruption, even along the chain of the earth's volcanic girdle, are dormant or extinct. This observation applies to many of the great cones and domes of the Andes, including Chimborazo and other colossal mountains in Ecuador, Columbia, Chili, Peru, and Mexico. The region between the eastern Rocky Mountains and the western coast of North America was, as we have seen, one over which volcanic eruptions took place on a vast scale in later Tertiary times; but one in which only the after-effects of volcanic action are at present in operation. We have also seen that the chain of volcanoes of Japan and of the Kurile Islands are only active to a slight extent as compared with former times, and the same observation applies to those of New Zealand. Out of 130 volcanoes in the Japanese islands, only 48 are now believed to be active. Again, if we turn to other districts we have been considering, we find that in the Indian Peninsula, in Arabia, in Syria and the Holy Land, in Persia, in Abyssinia and Asia Minor--regions where volcanic operations were exhibited on a grand scale throughout the Tertiary period, and in some cases almost down into recent times--we are met by similar evidences either of decaying volcanic energy, or of an energy which, as far as surface phenomena are concerned, is a thing of the past. Lastly, turning our attention to the European area, notwithstanding the still active condition of Etna, Vesuvius, and a few adjoining islands, we see in all directions throughout Southern Italy evidences of volcanic operations of a past time,--such as extinct crater-cones, lakes occupying the craters of former volcanoes, and extensive deposits of tuff or streams of lava--all concurring in giving evidence of a period now past, when vulcanicity was widespread over regions where its presence is now never felt except when some earthquake shock, like that of the Riviera, brings home to our minds the fact that the motive force is still beneath our feet, though under restrained conditions as compared with a former period.