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

States.
Signs and Wonders In tho Heavens
Above and I'm the Earth Beneath,
From the ". Y. Herald.
Since the beginning of October we have had
TO chronicle a succession of hurricanes and |
earthquakes that did immense damage in the |
West Indies and on the Gulf Coast. First |
we had to record the tornado at Galveston, !
Brownsville, and Matamoras on October 3; |
next came the destructive gales at Martinique
and st. Vincent Islands on October T. followed |
by the still more disastrous hurricane that
tore all before it in st. Thamas on October 20,
and in Porto Rico, st. Domingo, and at Cape
Haytien on the following day. All the steam
ers plying in the Gulf of Mexico reported tenn
pestuous weather in the beginning of the first
and second weeks of October and November,
and the United States steamer Wilderness,
with ex-Mnister Romero on board, had a
rough experience of the gale atthe beginning
of November.
Succeeding each of these hurricanes were
shocks of earthquake, following the same
course traversed by the tornadoes, and CORES
pOnding in violence to the preceding gale.
The most violent of these convulsions were
felt at st Bartholomew, st. Martin, st. CroiX,
st. Thomas, and Saba Islands, at Mayaguez,
in Porto Rico and St. Domingo city, on the
afternoon and night of November Is and 10.
The observations made at Mayaguez establish
the fact that the course of this tremendous
earthquake was from east to west. AT that
place water spouted out of the earth, while
| the earthquake caused such an upheaving
in the Virgin Islands that some of the smaller
ones are reported now as totally destroyed.
The island of St. Crox, where it was most
violent, is sixty-fve miles east southeast from
Porto Rico, and is the largest and southern
most of the Virgin gronp. With st. Thomas
and St. John it forms the Danish possessions
in the West Indies. 1t is twenty miles long
by five miles wide, and has population OF
25, 600 inhabitants. Its surface is level, and
| earthquakes are frequent. st. Bartholomew
is about one hundred and twenty five miles
to the eastward of st. Croix. Its area is
thirty-fve square miles, and its population
| $4,000. Its conformation is similar to st.
Croix, but the inhabitants have to rely upon
rain for their supply Of fresh water. 1t has
fine harbor-the Carenage-on the west side,
and is the only Swedish possession in
America. st. Martin is about one hundred
miles northeast of st. Croix, and has an area
of about thirty square miles, with popula-
tion of 5000 inhabitants. The surface Of the
leland is hilly and not fertile. About two
thirds--the northern-of this island belongs
to the French, the balance to the Dutch.
We do not pretend to have the gift of pro-
Phecy, nor have we any desire to alarm people
stated, it is our duty to call attention to the
shaky condition of our globe at the present
, time. Almost every day tor some time past
we have published startling accounts of terri
, BILE earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions from
old craters and from new clefts in the crust of
, the globe; of the sinking down of islands
beneath the ocean; of the rising of the sea fifty
r feet above its ordinary level of tornadoes such
{ as have hardly been known since the Flood;
| of showers of meteors, and of general dis
; turbance in the heavens above and in the
} earth beneath. What all these things portend
,, we do not pretend to say, but they are omi-
l nous. The first question that arises is, Has
the world become so wicked that the vials of
: | wrath spoken of in the Apocalypse are now
D being poured down upon it And here we
Q think the writers on prophecy, the expounders
: of Daniel and of st. John the Evangelist, are
q at fault and behind the times. Where too,
! are the Millerites and those wonderful modern
0 Spiritualists, who can see through milestone
easier than ordinary mortals can through
glass People who have clear view of what
is passing in the seventh heaven and all other
/ heavens by merely closing their eyes and
I calling the disembodied spirits to their aid,
I ought to be able to throw light on the subject.
: The prophets and revealers of prophecy and
a the penetrating mediums being unable to
g satisfy us, we must ask what are men of science
S doing to explain the startling phenomenon
9 They, too, seem to be ignorant. But our sci
q SntluC men, as lar as we nave n6afu, appear
Q not TO have any knowledge of the matter. M.
n Dellisier, French savant, it seems actually
a predicted the earthquake and hurricane at St.
n Thomas and other parts of the West Indies.
\ He even gave the date, the 18th of November
!. and it was on the night of the 18th that the
n commissions of nature commenced, or were
If preceded by 'terrible display of electrical
"a lightn From that time to the 9th, Jamaica
r. st. Thomas and large portion OF the Wes
, Indies were in fearfully oonvulsed state
r NJ. Delliser, it is said made his calculations
/, from astronomical observations and from the
n influence of planets on the surface of th'
a earth. 1t is reported he is preparing wOrl
Il on the subject to be read to the Academy o
10 Sciences at Paris. This work will be looked
% for with great interest, and when we get it thu
a religious and spiritual prophets may be helped
\, out of their dilemma. We may then know
" whether the spheres of the universe are goinl
q TO iostle against each other and bring tn
q world to an end. But where is philosOphe
n Loomis and all our other savans just now
- The earthquakes and hurricanes have bewil
a dered them as much as the meteors did.
is evident that If we must have information
:, about such phenomena, 80 as to be able I
q ''sleep o. nights" without fear Of the cart
~ being smashed up, we shall have to find NOR
watcbful and abler astronomers at home.
AZ Under this state of things 1t deVolves upo
81 MS TO allay the fears of quiet, respectable pee
a pie; but at the same time we have no wish I
n lesson the apprehensiOns OF the wicked an
AZ oonscience-stricken. Biologists tell us tina
MI before the crust Of the earth was well iorme
m there were continual fiery storms OF the mos
M terrible nature, such as, in fact, we eau fOrl
VI no idea Of and that for a long period, viii