The Express.
London, England, 1863-10-08 00:00:00

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T/113 Emma. 11;11361CY DilliiTAL Dr. W. Pitmen.—
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111LETANIIIA.
limp Emma, PRCEBR RIMEL Mrs. Eatonl4.—THE
GREAT OROnT ErYlter. —Rleiliat by Mr. Randall, Mr. Pane?.
and Mme. Ileon.—And LADY AUDILEY'S SECRET. Mewl.
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MGR WAITER AT LONDON ESIDOR.
nap Day —Koala& 10h. Ma.. ..Atltetama. Ilh. Um.
Taatosamr—Moreilai. Ilk SM. . .Afternoaa. uh.

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER &

EARTHQUAKES are not absolutely unknown in
England, but it may safely be affirmed that the
oldest inhabitant remembers nothing of their oc-
currence ; so rare, and slight, and doubtful were
the shocks which no physical geographer has taken
the trouble to record. Yet, to judge from the
letters published yesterday, the phenomena of
shaken houses, and cracking wainscots, andagitated
crockery, and stopped family clocks, and deranged
four-posters, are not unprecedented in quiet
country totem, where strong winds, and convivial
habits, and a dearth of conversational topics and
curtain lectures may be supposed to prevail. In
the neighbourhood of London, whether because sub-
urban people kc ep later hours or are more simple-
minded, the tremor of last Monday night is more
easily accepted as • gratifying novelty. There
is some reason to apprehend that the miscella-
neous reports from the districts over which the
vibration ranged will constitute a very small pro-
portion of mere fact to a large supply of farcical
and fussy excitement. Funny concoctors for the
stage will be the richer for some hints, but science,
we fear, will have gained nothing. Probably we
may owe more accurate data to the eminent observers
who outwatch the stars, and who may have something
to tell us about the condition of the sun's face,
and (according to • theory mentioned by Hun-
DOLDT) the influence exercised by the attraction of
the moon and sun. But, in truth, there is no
forecasting these subterranean tides and tempests ;
their causes are conjectural, and their analogies
are splendid efforts of imagination.
Many of our readers must have remarked
within the last few months the singular tendency
of social smalltalk towards imposing theories of
great comical revolutions. Who has not heard,
we will not say between the figures of, a quadrille,
but between sips of tea and tattle, some tremen-
dous scandal about the irregularities of "the Gulf
" Stream," and the consequent change of our
British temperature ? The Gulf Stream is a
terrible offender. It is going to abolish winter
in these islands and make us tropical once
more. It is even darkly suggested that the great
Southern basin of salt water is running over, and
that our time is almost due for going to the bottom
in a lump again. All this and much more is the
enlightened twaddle of fashionable society, which
in the pauses of religious dissipation and charitable
dancing amuses its ennui with cheap and popular
science, and talks of electricity as familiarly as
maidens do of puppy dogs. An earthquake will
hardly surprise such people ; it will confirm their
previsions, and by combining their information they
will explain it as the first of • series of movements
which are to end in the great globe itself turning
topsy-turvy, and earth and ocean changing places.
It is upon ordinary minds, which cannot grasp the
immensity of the Unknown, that a trembling of
the earth will always leave • serious impres-
sion. " I do not think," writes Hun-
BOLD; "that this impression is produced by
" the recollection at the moment of the dreadful
" images of destruction which historic relations of
" past catastrophes have presented to onr imagi-
" nations : it is rather occasioned by the circum-
" stance that our innate confidence in the immo-
" bility of the ground beneath us is at once
" shaken. From our earliest childhood we are
" accustomed to contrast the mobility of the water
" with the immobility of the earth ; all the evi-
" dances of our senses have confirmed this be-
"lie[; and when suddenly the ground itasil!
" shakes beneath us, a natural force of which we
" had no previous experience presents itself as a
" strange and mysterious agency. A single in.
" stunt annihilates the illusion of oar whole pre-
" vious fife ; we feel the imagined repose of
" nature vanish, and that we are ourselves i.llOl-
- ported into the realm of unknown destructive
" forces. Every sound affects us—our attention
" is strained to catch even the faintest movement
"of the air—we no longer treat the ground
" beneath our feet. . . . . To man
"the earthquake conveys a sense of danger
"of which he knows not the extent or limit.
" The eruption of a volcano, the flowing stream of
" lava threatening his habitation, can be fled
" from ; but in the earthquake, turn where be
" will, danger and destruction are around h n and
" beneath his feet." And yet Huneourr had
spent years in countries where, es he says, "at
" particular periods the inhabitants no more count
" the earthquake shocks than we in Europe count
" the number of showers of rain." If this great and
humble student of Nature,who had more than ono%
as he rode through the South American forests, felt
the earth trembling continuously beneath his mule's
feet foe fifteen or eighteen minutes, could feel so
profoundly and describe so eloquently the terrors
of an earthquake, the population of an English
country town may well plead guilty of consternation
at the sudden and unaccountable shal:ng of their
walls and stopping of their clocks last Monday
night

Comparing the various reports already received
from the districts over which the wave of agitation
travelled, we gather that the shocks were as nearly
as possible simultaneous from Milford Haven to
Burton-upon-Trent, and from the Mersey to Ply-
mouth. The sky appears to have been clear and the
air @tin, an observation quite consistent with the
experience of travellers in countries where earth-
quakes are moat frequent and violent. The shocks
were in many if not in most places unaccom-
panied by any subterranean noise, which would
have aggravated the alarm, though not the
danger. Many destructive earthquakes have been
entirely noiseless ; and. we may add, have hap-
pened in nnvolcanic districts. Looking at the mar,
we should be disposed to call this a " circular "
earthquake, were it not that physical geographers
consider " circular " earthquakes to be the most
dangerous and the most rare. If the move-
ment was really in cross directions, it must
have been considerably slighter than the load
witnesses report, or their houses must have suf-
fered rams. We must wait for further and more
exact evidence, consoling our readers meanwhile
with the reflection that, according to the highest
authorities, the surface of the Earth is always

MU.I.VrI4{CFN me .AI 101
shaking somewhere.
MUM