Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-01-31
The Theory y and Frequency Of Earth
81 i .91E0inag- Quak0E. Ie sUeah9Dd


do stroke of lightning in the rolling
thunder. To those who have not Civ
en- the subject oflgeology much study,
a few words ON the subject of earth
quakes and their supposed course
may serve to dispel their erroneous
views. 'ili1 'Db a
The recent earthquake in the Car
ribean sea, of which our young friend
Dempster, gave so vivid an account
in his letter from st. Thomas, and our
own smaller one, has awakened so
general an interest in the subject that
we improve the occasion to popular
ize the subject. 3J -eW @ ru3g0 1
The shock we felt here the other
night was real earthquake, not a.
severe one it is true, in which the
crust of the earth is broken into great
assures, houses tumbled down and
vast damage done, but nevertheless, a
real earthquake. 1t may have been
more awe-surprising in some other
sections, but probably not, or we
should have heard from it by this
time. h-@ ist0q +
The more rational theory of these
commissions is that the earth's interior
or much of it is made up of a molten
mass of melted rocks and iron, and
other heavy fusible substances on
which the earth rests, and by which,
when it is disturbed or thrown into
motion, the crust of the earth is NOV
ed, rising as billow of this mol
ten mass passes along beneath it, and
falling again after it has passed
Earthquakes are much more common
and much more vigorous in volcanic
countries than here. In Central and
South America, along the line OF the
Andes, where volcanoes are numer-
Gus, these earth shakings are very
common, hardly month passes but
what they are visited by one. 7I q
q JCalabria, the southern extremity of
Italy, the Island of Sicily, have been
repeate lily devastated by earthquakes,
there have occurred some of the most
appalling ones on record. Hercula-
neum and Pompeii, in the year So,
and sixteen years before they were
bu ried by an eruption from
Vesuvius, were greatly shattered by
an earthquake. These shocks are
sometimes Of vast extent, affecting
half a hemisphere at nearly the same
moment of time. The ground is
shaken and lifted upward, as by the
passage OF an irresistible wave be
meath it. The shocks are sometimes
repeated in quick succession; the
movements may be so great as to
lrend the earth into chasms, and they
may open and shut again or remain
IN assures Of the width of few feet
or yards, and extending to unknown
depths; smoke and flames arc occa
sionally sent forth from them during
the continuance of an earthquake
Torrents of water, too, are sometimes
elected from these chasms. A sec
tion of country is sometimes elevated
permanently or depressed by earth
quakes. This was the case in Chill
in 1922. The whole country between
the Andes and the Pacific coast was
permanently raised from two to seve,
feet, and embracing 100000 square
miles of territory.
The bed of the ocean is sometimes
lifted high enough to come to the sur
face and form an island. Depres
sions of large sections of land are
also common. A catastrophe of the
kind happened in 1772 on the island
Of Java, when one of the loftiest vol
canoes of this region was in action
an area suddenly sank down, n,includine
the mountain fifteen miles long ant
six miles broad, carrying with it forty
villages, and destroying three thou
sand inhabitants. In the great earth
quake of Lisbon in 1865, sixty thou
sand people are estimated to have
lperished. In that case, as recently a
St. Thomas, the sea retired, leaving
the harbor dry, and then returned il
a great wave fifty feet high and swep
everything before it.
| The mountains around were shak
en- with great violence. A marbI,
quay, then recently built, sunk will
thousands of people who had gather
i ed upon it for safety, with the ship
moored at it, and none ever reappear
ed. The supposition is that the crus
| of the earth opened in a wide chasn
Into which these dropped, and that i
again closed over them, preventing
them from rising again to the surface
/ Over the spot the water stood eigh
hundred feet deep, and beneath this
locked in the assured rocks, in
lchasm Of unknown depth, lie the rel
les of what was the life and wealth
J of that portion of the earth's s surface
| The shock, of the earthquake was ifel
over space three times the size of
! Europe. The waters of Lake Onta
rio here in America were strangely
4 lagitated, and the shock was sensibly
felt along the coast of Massachusetts
Sailors On the ocean felt their ship,
rise and sink as by the passage Of /
huge, unseen wave beneath the ocean
Q The most remarkable earthquak,
;. in the United States was ine181I I
most severely felt at New Madrid ii
Missouri. Over on extent of country
4 900 milnc in Ionrth from 4ho voo,,tI