Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-12-24
ppsu1rs on aAaTHouAKEs.

The eArth'B INTERNAL iorCes nov
Gently given some terrible evidences OF
their powers. Cities have been de-
s.royed and Thousands Of human beings
killed. In this their power would seem
to DO only that Of producing calamity
but a writer in MamJers' Journal, in
recording some of the Investigations OF
science, has undertaken to show not
enly that earthquakes may result in
good, but that If mono had occurred,
man might not now be living upon the
face Of the Garth. The g~eslegists tell
Us that at one remote period OF the
earth, history, NO land was visible, the
ocean submergiug the entire surface Of
the globe. Judging from the natural
laws with which We are now conVsrsant,
the changes which then produced conti'
nsnts and islands, must have been
brought about by similar internal con-
vulsions to those We now 80 much dread.
The sea, by its great power when in
motion, 10 all the time e~ncrosehing on
tho land, Though the process is 80 'lo"
~ often to DO impercsptibls, except afser
long intervals. A marked instance OIL
this 10 found in the Sandwich Isles,
which, though composed Of granite and
other forms of the hardest rock, are
undergoing changes. 10 great as to DO
noted even within historical times. Sir
Charles Lysll has described steep elif'
~ having been followed out into deep
caves aad lofty arches, the rocks at the
end of each p%romontory forming elus.
tsrs of columns, ~pinnaeles and obslisks.
Stormy winters will sometimes hurl
large blocks Of stone frsm their native
beds to great distances. In 1902, q mass
Of some 3l4 cubic feet Of rock vas thus
dislodged and carried away. Ia other
parts Of these islands where the shores
are less solid, the action Of the sea 10
still more marked, c%ayernous aperturss
two hundred and City feet long having
been followed out. The coast line Of
Great Britain In many parts exhibits sim
liar proof, Of the power of the sea many
ancient towns and villages marksdin the
old maps of Yorkshire and other places
being now only sand banks, without 3
trace Of their former greatness. At ono
point on the shores Of Norfolk, in a Pc
Rod of fifty years, a cliff fifty feet high
with houses upon it was replaced BY 9
depth of water sufficient to float . frig-
ate. Similar inroads upon the land are
going on around the shores Of every
country on tho globe. Another cause
Of the wearing away Of the land il
found, not on the shores, but in the in
terror, and is sscribsd BY biologists to
the fall Of rain upon the land. A strik-
ing illustration of this may be found
in the recent destruction Of a mining
city (Almo, in Mexico, by a tremendous
raiustcrm, in October last. The whole
vicinity was denuded of earth, and the
city utterly destroyed. In Spain, also,
there is q district Of undulatiug ground,
Of sandstone, entirely bare of heritage,
and tho roots Of the trees exposed, by =
food. A violent thunderstorm ia Au-
gust presented this whole district, TO
the hills, streaming with mud, while
the visible effects Of The torrents plain
~ accounted for the previous appear
anes Of tho country.
The double effect OF the seas action
on the shores, and the influence Of the
rain on the interior, each continually
gaining increasing power, would, I'M
less some so~untsractiug force were at
work, destroy, in the course Of time,
every vestige Of land. This eountsraet-
ing power exists in those internal forces
Of the earth which originally upheaved
the mountains, and which now produce
earthquakes. The fsrces of upheavsl
are found 10 be more powerful under
continents, especially under their shore
lines, while those Of depression act
moro strongly under the ocean. or
course, IN u~pheaval in one part pro-
duees either at once or gradually q cor
responding depression in another, and
the forces Of uphssval are usually found
near the sea, where they are most
effective in resisting its iuroads. Ma
ture has provided against the iuroads Of
the ocean, BY placing the restorative
power just where most needed. In 1922
q destructive earthquake 10 Chile was
followed by the dssertion Of the sea
alsng mere than a hundred miles Of
coast; and 10 1919, after . terrific
earthquake, the estuary Of the Indus,
which had been only foot in depth,
was despslsd to 10 feet at low water,
the village Of Sindrss being wholly sub.
merged. Slower processes Of uphsarsl
and depression, such a. may DO noticed
in the gradual uprising Of Sweden, the
sinking Of Greenland, the uprising Of
Nova Scotia and the shores of Hudson
Bay, are equally remarkable, and sug.
gsstivs OF the wonderful and eountsraet-
ing powers Of nature.
A REBEL sheet in Texas puts the fol-
IL --it