Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1868-10-23
OLD SERIES.

In paper as profound in its views As il
IS luminous in its statement, Sir John Her.
schel has indicated the philosophy of these
divulsions and upheavas. and we cannot do
better here than epitomize his statement.
The land, as has been seen, is perpetually
wearing down, and the materials are being
carried on, to sea thinning toward the
sea. Wba; must happen? Ifthe continents
DC lghtencd. they will rise il the bed of the
sea receive additional weigh, it will sink.
IL Is impossible but that this increase of pres
sure in some places, and relief in others
must be very unequal in their bearings; so
that at some place or other this lid floating
crust must be brought into state of strain,
and !; there be weak ora soft place. crack
will a, last take place. When his happens.
down goes he land on the heavy side, and
up on The light side. This Is exactly what
happens in earthquakes. We should natu-
raliy expect that such cracks and outbreaks
would occur along these lines where the re-
lief OF pressure is the greatest. aad also it's
increase on the seaside that is to say, along
or in the neighborhood OF the sea coast,
where the destruction Of the land is going
on With most activity. Now. it is remark.
able fact IN the history OF volcan oes that
there is hardly an instance Of any aetire vol.
cano at any considerable distance from the
sea coast while it is to be observed that the
favori'e sporting places OF earthquakes are
the regions covered by the great chains OF
volcanic cones
That earthquakes operate to raise the land
masses IS not mere matter of speculation,
but n fact ofrepeated observation. In 1922,
in single night, (Nov. l6,) the whole
coast line of Chilli for hundred miles about
Valparaiso, with the mighty chains of the
Andes, was hoisted at one shock from two
TO seven feet above MS former level, leaving
the beach jeiole the old low water mark high
and dry. In 1919, IN an earthquake in In
dia, in the district of Clutch, border ing on
the Indus. a tract ofcountry more than fifty
miles long and sixteen broad. was suddenly
raised ten feet above its former level And
again, IN 1888. in the convulsIou which
threw up the Monte Nuovo. the whole coast
OF Pozzuoh, near Naples, was raised twenty
feet above its former level and remains so
permanently upheavsd to this day. There
are hundreds oitbe like instances on record
and no doubt when we come to get full
scientific accounts OF the late ,onvulson, it
will be found that parts OF the coast OF South
America have been raised above their form
er level
/ Such is the way in which earthquakes do
their work, and they arc al,cays at work.
According TO Humboldt. there is not a DAY
/ in which the earth IS not shaken BY these
commotions; so that the state Of perpetual
movement is the normal condition OF the
surface OF our globe, and il we had appara-
tus sufficiently sensitive We shou d doubtless
detect this constant movement And in
deed, already astronomers complain that
their instruments betray by inexplicable per-
turbations the instability OF the crust that
supports them.
IL is true that over by far the larger part
OF the globe these agi,a,ons are either slight
or else absolutely impcrceptable, so that we
cJNsldei 'he greater portlon OF the tafth as
motionles, but there are other countries
that have again and again been ,udcly sha.
ken 10y violent and destructive convulsicns.
These are the true regions Of the earthquake
aud volcano, modern physical geography
has made such progrcss As to mark of
certain number OF extensive districts or
zones ia which the shocks are simultaneous
Among these may be mentioned the At
antic District, that Of Central Asia and
that OF The Pacific Ocean