The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-15

Hitherto earthquakes have shaken own
cities or swallowed them and devstated
neighboring districts for many miles Sut the
recent earthquake in South Amerio Is per-
haps the first recorded one whose DISASTROUS
influence has been felt nearly trough the
extent of whole continent. from the
equator to Patagonia the peoPof the west
coast of South America have suffered from
this visitation, and the effect 81 the disturb
ance as conveyed by the 81 along the coast
has been felt at Southern Ciifornia, In North
America, giving upwardfd seven thousand
miles as the extreme pit, 80 iar as now
known, on one line of trperceptible influence
of this tremendous diArbance OF the earth's
crust. We certainly ave not yet heard the
whole story From 1t in the Pacific we hear
of the disturbanceat Honolulu, and for
months to come weshan hear of calamities in
the innumerable and groups Of the South
Pacific due to r. loss of equilibrium. We
should not be sshished to learn that mariners,
on their way and from that volcanic world,
had encountesd newly thrown up continents
in their cur.
The ealit definite date of the disturbance
is four ties past five on the 18th of August,
when tn hook was first felt at Arequipa, a
citv in bout the eighteenth degree of south
latitu0 ying between the Andes and the sea,
and le hundred miles from the sea. At
Iouye, city two degrees further south on
tbeoast, the shock was first felt somewhat
la-at seventeen minutes past five. Posi-
differences in timepieces might make these
sultaneous. At Callao, sixteen degrees
nth of Arequipa, and still on the coast, the
Iock was first felt at ten p M. At africa and
Ilrequipa the disturbance did not end with the
hin of the cities. Those who climbed to the
hills above these places counted the shocks all
night, and they were still felt ON the 10th, and
at one place as late as the 22d. At points
high up in the Andes on line with Arequipa
the convulsion was felt but no harm was done.
From the cities in Ecuador Immediately under
the equator our accounts are as yet less def
mite than those from Peru. Disturbances were
felt there on the 18th, but greater ones on the
10th, and these latter did much damage
with the disturbance at africa
the sea rose, and, rushing inward overwhelmed
the land, and a tidal wave, the result of this
reached Talcahuana, on the coast
of South America, thirty-six degrees south of
the equator, on the 18th, the Sandwich Islands
on the same day and Southern California on
the 18th. Shocks of earthquake were also felt
in the Sandwich Islands ON the 14th.
At the point where the shock was first felt
say from Arequipa to Arica-it is on the Coast
line and the sea that all the commotiOn appears,
and the Andes are at rest. They felt jar
ring impulse, but apparently even the volcanic
members did no worse than respond in mud.
The blow came from another direction, and
probably the first disturbance was under the
sea, far out between the continental coast and
the volcanic groups. There volcano arose
that may have pushed its head above the sur
face or may still be submarine mystery but
that it emitted enormous quantities of sulphur
Gus other gases and heat is probable from
the appearances on the water and the change
in its temperature reported from the Chincha
Islands and from the ship Guayqui lying at
Talcahuana At Arequipa the first movement
Of the earth was distinctly lateral, as it might
be with the force applied to the edge of the
crust. This first blow was felt by communica-
ton as far north az the equator on the 18th;
but the later shocks in that region were per-
haps secondary, the results of that disturb
ancc in the equilibrium caused by the
disaster of the 18th. II may not be
impossible in the future to determine
the exact point of original eruption by calcula-
lion of the time at which the tidal wave reached
different points and comparison of the dis
lance. II was perhaps eq,jdistant from Lower
California and Honolulu, and much nearer
for though it reached Talcahuana
and Honolulu on the same day, it had twelve
times as much force at the former place.
From remote ages men have believed these
phenomena had an influence on the destines
Of the human race, and modern science admits
hat this is not an idle superstition. Mind has
It's influence over matter. but matter far greater
influence over mind. Mans growth depends
1pon where he grows, and the extent and way
IN which he grows affects ultimately what he
loes. Any poison may be vaporized and borne
On the air, and the gases set free by earth
luakes are only vaporized poison and may
nnct illimtable calamity. If there may be
poison, why not also vaporized
stimulus, driving nations, az if with epidemic
to such furies Of crime as the
reign Of terror But perhaps we have little
10 fear in the present case. If, as we suppose,
the main disturbance was submarine, the gases
given forth are mostly held in solution by the
Pacific Ocean and this, while all the better for
common humanity, may be all the worse for the
whales and those Interested in the whale
fishery.