Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1855-07-14
THE EARTHQUAKE.

| 1t Will be seen by reference TO our local de
partuent that this city and vicinity were Wis
tied about twenty minutes past II o'clocl
yesterday morning, with an unmistakabl
earthquake, doing no damage, we believe, eX
cept to the nerves Of those who were full
awake throughout the period Of the phenom
ena. This phenomena has been spoken b,
some as of an atmospheric character, but j
is evident from the concurrent testimony o
all who experienced the shock, that it coul,
not have proceeded from external or atmos
pheric causes, but was undoubtedly shaking
of the earth's surface, a hcaving of the grount
from within, produced by causes not perceiv
able by our senses. From the Physical AT
las of Natural Phenomena" by Alexander
Keith Johnston, we extract the following in
teresting description of the sounds and sen.
sations which accompany an earthquake.
"The sounds which accompany earthquakes
have been compared to the roll of thunder
and rafting of heavy wagons the clanking o
chains, the discharge of cannon, or the hollow
sound Of exploding mine--sometimes abrupt
like the thunder clap and sometimes clear
and ringing, as if immense masses were shat
| tered in the subterranean cavities Of the
earth. These sounds, however, by no means
! increase in proportion to the strength of the
vibrations; sometimes the shock is felt to q
great extent without being accompanied with
any sound, and ut other times there are sub
terranean dctonations unaccompaned by any
trembling of the ground. The great earth
quake of Riobamba, in 1897, one of the most
| frightful phenomena in the physical history of
our globe, was unaccompanied by any noise
and the phenomena known highlands of Mex
leo as the subterranean roaring and thunder
ing of GuanaXuato is most remarkable in
stance Of noise without any appearance Of an
earthquake. The noise began on the 10Th of
January, 1884, at midnight, and lasted for
more than month; occasionally the sound
was as il heavy storms ragged under the feet
of the inhabitants, in which slow rolling thun-
der alternated with short thunder-claps, whilst
neither at the surface, or in the mines 900
feet deep could the slightest movement of the
earth be perceived. The noise is sometimes
heard as distinctly at a great distance from
the scene Of an eruption as in its immediate
vicinity, and that, too, at precisely the same
moment of time. In the province of Caracas,
in the grassy plains Of Calabosa, and on the
banks Of the Rio Apure, which falls into the
Oronoco there was heard on the Both of
April 1872, over a distance of about $500
square miles, sound resembling a loud peal
OF thunder without any appearance of an
| earthquake, at a moment when, at a distance
of 700 miles to the northeast. the volcano of
st Vincent discharged from its crater an I'M
mense stream Of lava"
The exactness of this description, cores
ponding so nearly with the sensation produced
in this vicinity, suggests the probability Of
the phenomenon having been the effect of
volcanic eruption in some distant portion of
! the globe.
The earthquake of Guadaloupc on the Sth
of February, in 1912, in which the cities of
Point-a- Pitre Mule, and Joinville, were de-
stroyed with many thousands of their inhabi-
! tants, extended TO Charleston, 5. c., where a
vibration Of the earth was distinctly felt at
that time, accompanied BY noise similar to
that experienced here on Thursday morning.
Whether any similar disaster has happened,
simultaneous with the phenomenon so gener-
ally observed here, time alone can disclose.
Those who were fully awake on Thursday
morning, can8idy confess having experienced
a feeling of trepidation and awe which could
not be overcome. Won humboldt thus
touchingly describes the impressive and pecu-
liar effect which the experience Of a earth
quake for the first time produce upon an OBJ
server -
From our earliest childhood we are accus-
| toned to contrast the mobile element of wa
ter with the immobility of the soil on which
we stand. All the evidences of our senses
have confirmed this belief: but when sudden
! y the solid earth begins to shake beneath us
An unknown, mysterious, natural power, of
| which we have no previous conception, pre-
sents itself to the mind, and in moment the
illusion Of our early days-of our whole pre-
vious life-is annihilated we feel the imagin-
ed repose of nature vanish, and that we are
ourselves transported into the realm of un.
known destructive forces. TO man, the earth.
quake conveys a sense of danger. Of which he
knows not the extent or limit. The eruption
of Il volcano, the flowing stream Of lava threa
tening his habitation can be fled from; but il
the earthquake, turn where he will, danger
and destruction are around him, and beneatl
his feet"
This description of the feeling produced OF
the mind by the shock Of an earthquake will
be fully confirmed as most truthful by all VIII,
experienced the first substantial movemen
Of mother earth in this quarter of the globe