American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-01-13
VOLUME l.
nuE AMMRTCAN CrTTzEN.
THE GOD OF EARTHQUAKES,

r, L
Tho recent eartbouaEe at Manila had.
like almost all earthauakes. a very str;k-
ipo RELIGIONS ASPECT. There is no other
natural phenomenon which strikes the
masses Of ignorant men as so exclusively
supernarlraI. Mr.. Buckle, as is well
known considered them one Of the great
s,nrccs Of sn,nisb superstition. and as
s,,,nino Inv tboir imaginative terrors the
chain IF ciyflizotion, Even the Greeks.
Ly no means amt to take the characters
tic ottribptos Of their rods from the more
terrible Of earthly events, gave to thoirgoi
ftbo ocean poseidon. the epithct of the
E,,th.hokor. while the Jews. possessed
~, o t,r,o,. irsririion. smoke Of Godas the
root oraIl that was most fixed and cndur-
rirg-tbc Rock Of Aqes who had made
.tbo ronnI earth so fast that it caunotb
,,,vcdo EIii,h was exnrc,,lytaughtthat
nGod w,s NOT in the earthauakc." and
,bo,ob tbo psalnist. fcmenrly oscribc
a., tn,h1ira IF tIc nqr.h and fhe falling
c,u,d,.;,r Of nbo hin. to His c.uocfal
,.,.,1, ,.ot tIe,. po,.cr fail to conclude the
,.;,.nr,' ,r .4,,,o ,,J chaos nv onesfpoaro
AND l.Ivor,noo and ike Elijah see the
o,r,bor,to nos.ir~ away before the tram
anil ,.,ico ofdiyiuo nron,iso. But tbis. ag
Mr. RnctIo warns ns has not prevented
u,o o1,so,sgoc;,,I,n ortbe o,rthorakewfth
divine rowor in tbe Cbri.tainaoes, That
tbcro i something in this phenomenon
which moro tbon onvotbcr cvnrcsseswitb
o,rf,,I roror tbo coIIorso and notHiponcss
orbrm,n thiuos is obyious epourb, Even
tbo lower animal creation perceive its an
rro,ch PC some Of them have been said to
discern and quail before disembodied spir-
IFS or ot tbo an6roach of death. In the
c,rtbuako ot NapIes. in 1905. the sheen
and ooats ,7,.bod in di.moy ooaiDst their
rolds before any human being had felt a
shock tbe does howled. the horses became
rnrious in thair stalls the cats hair hrist-
led with terror rabbits and moles rushed
from tboir holes. the birds rose scared into
thc air tbo fish crowded to the shore. the
ants abandoned their ant-hills. the locusts
crent through the streets toward the sea
and all tbis before the danger became
sensible to anv obsavcr. But even men
Lecome sensible Of horror before they be-
co,no ecpsihIc of d,nnar A gentleman of
Conionogrofo toCaptain Basil Hall: "Bc-
fore we hear the sound. or. at least. are
r,u,, corscious IF beqtino, II wn are made
scpsiIIe 7 do NOT know how. that some
tbino uncommon is going to happen: ev-
orvtLiro sooms to chance color. our tho'ts
are chained immovoblv down the whole
world onnears to be in disorder; asnature
looks different to wbot It was wont to do.
and we feelouite slbdued and oyerwhclm-
cd bv some invisible mower Then comes
tbc torr;blc sound distinctly hoard and
Immediately the solid earth is all in mo-
tion waving toapd fro like the surface Of
the sea Denend upon it. n severe earth
ouako is sufficient 10 shake the frmest
mind.o And no dopbt its phenomena
orc more annorontl,. nrote,notnr,I than
tbosa Of onv otbor b,,,o, o,-on+ Tho
cropnd assumes tbo a. or,,oororco of rrrri mo
,v,tor ipdood z,.. tr,ry,,;t +;loI ,r.,os
,s DISTINCTLY os tboocc,p ;tsolf N,+ orlv
,ro rolIovs oxoItod ord bius ,oodo Low.
but not,,rc onnoars TO he workinr ont on
IN awful and tr,gic scale tbo wonders Of ,
nantomime After tbo oreat eartbouakc o
ofOnito in 17o7 many whom the eortb-
cralo surnrised in tbe town Of Riobamba
wora ron,d 10 cornses on tbo ton Of = hin
seporated bv a river from the place. and
several foot biobor tbo, tbo s;,o IF the
town Tbo nlseo ,,os sl,,,yn 70 uumholdt