The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-10

'he CRUST was COOlluB ana iOrmiDg, the most 1
tremendous convulsiobs REQUIRED freuuentlv |
creating the vast chains Of mountains and the |
depths of the sea- Il was nOt till after the sur
face was cooled and became solid and some |
thing like the present atmosphere was formed. |
that anything could live upon the earth. An |
this snterior period, or succession of periods,
we're what is meant probably by the six days
Of Creation mentioned in the Scriptures
Many animals existed before man was able to
live on the earth, and, therefore, as the
Mosaic account properly says, man was
created last.
The earliest account we have of any great
copvulsiOn of nature since the creation of man
was the deluge In the time of Noah when s'the
fountains OF the great deep were brolken rp +"
This was probably only the Asiatio deluge, for
though it is said in Scripture the whole world
was covered with water, we know that the
Old Testament writers speak generally of Asia
as all the world. There have been, no doubt,
other deluges in other parts of the globe, for
geOlOgists inform us 80. After NOah's delugo
followed the destruction of the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah. This, most likely, was an
earthquake with great volcanic action; for it
Grained fire and brimstone,' and these cities
sunk far below the level of the sea. The water
of the lake which now covers the spot, and the
whole region around about indicate there was
fearful volcanic action.
In profane history, among the earliest ac-
counts of remarkable commissions of the globe
is that which destroyed Herculaneum and
Pompeii in the year A. D. SO. Sixteen years
after these cities were buried in the ashes from
Vesuvius. Some countries are frequently
visited by earthquakes. Calabria, the south
ern extremity of Italy, and the neighboring
island of Sicily, are examples. From February,
1888, to the end of 1856, less than four years,
this country was in a continual disturbed
state, when nearly thousand shocks were
felt, and most of them Of great violence. An
cient Antioch, in Syria, was visited several
times by earthquakes, and in A. d. 526 the
most disastrous one occurred of which there is
any record. Gibbon states that $50, 900
people persisted at that time. In more
modern times that of Lisbon in 1855, of Java
| in l772, and in Chilli in 1922, are the most
noted. In six minutes sixty thousand persons
peiished at Lisbon. Humboldt estimated that
the extent of the earth's surface shaken by
| that earthquake was equal to four times the
area of Europe. At the Java earthquake one
of the loltiest volcanoes, with an area fifteen
miles long and six broad sunk down and
carried forty villages with it. We might
enumerate many other such remarkable dis
| turbances of the earth's surface, but these are
sufficient to show that its crust is constantly
subject to unknown forces, both within and
| without. 1t is now generally believed by
geologists that the solid part of the earth is
| only about as thick to the whole mass as the
! rind of an orange is to the pulp, and that the
interior is liquid fire. We need not be sur
prised, then, at the terrible convulsions and
| e,uptions which have occurred lately, and
which we have referred to as occurring il
former times.
We do not know what effect the outside
pressure of planets or masses of meteors may
have in producing earthquakes, hurricanes
and volcanic eruptions, but doubtless they
have an influence. We know, however, thai
the gases with which petroleum and othe
substances are intimately associated are con-
nected with these phenomena. The Caribbean
coast of Venezuela is known to be highly
volcanic, and is frequently subject to earth
quakes. Near this, in Trinidad, is the
famous flake of bitumen or petroleum. A
one spot along the Gulf of Cariaeo, Mr.. Hum
boldt found a petroleum spring bubbline
through the water of the sea. The atmo
sphere was filed with the peculiar smell for
great distance around, and after finding tn
place from which it came, he waded Il
the salt water to examine the phenomenon
Perhaps it may be some. comfort to ou
people that great deal of this material AM
its gases have been set free lately by the vas
number of petroleum wells sunk in tn
United States. We recommend all with SUI
plus cash to employ it in letting out the petro
leum and other gases in the bowels of tn
earth, and thus save us perhaps from earth
quakes and such like terrible catastrophes
Above all, we call upon the people and poll
ticians to cease from wickedness and seotiona
strife, for when ''the times are out of joint
we may expect the forces of nature to wa
| again at no