Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-11-20
Harthouakes and Tidal Waves.


Later and fuller details are every day
increasing the interest with which ecien-
ti6o observers regard the recent earth
onakes and tidal Disturbances, and con-
frminr our FIST impression that these
conyulsiops of nature would prove TO be
among the most remarkable and extern
sive Of which there Is any written record
They have been experienced at short 10.
tervals during the last three months, and
there is no reason TO suppose that we
have yet felt the last Of them, the latest
having been reported only week ago
The shocks have followed no particular
direction, and been confined TO no par
ticular quarter Of the earth Beginning
in the middle Of the Pacific ocean, they
seem to have affected all its eastern
shores and its southern and western
islands, and then, skipping the whole
breadth ofiho North American Continent
and the Atlantic ocean, TO have broken
out In ireland. We may yet learn that
the remo,er countries Of Asia have like
wise been shaken. The first Of this
great series of convulsions, so far as our
intelligence now extends, occurred in
the Sandwich Islands, eleven days be-
fore the terrible disaster in Peru. Vio-
lent shocks we're felt in different parts Of
the group from the I'd to the 9th Of
August, accompanied with heavy storms
of thunder and lightning. The western
coast of South America was devastated
by awful earthquakes from the 18th to
the 10th of August, aud at the same time
the shocks were felt again in the Sand
wch Islands, though ess severely than
before. On the 18th there we're shocks
in New Zealand. About the middle Of
September shocks were felt by vessels in
the Eastern Pacific On or about the
LIST of October they we're experienced
again in the Sandwich Islands. In Cali
fornia they we're felt from the 2lst to the
25th, with considerable severity, and
were repeated slightly up To the 9th of
November. On the 231 of October we
hear of earthquakes in Ireland. On the
4th of November there was one as Van
couver Island.
The tidal waves which have accompa-
MED all the most serious Of those convul-
sions are peculiarly interesting subjects
of study. 1t has been remarked, as an |
evidence of the rapidity with which they |
travel, that they reached the California |
coast as early as the morning of the l4th |
of August, having moved over distance |
of four thousand miles in little more
than fourteen hours; but it now appears
that their speed is even greater than this,
for they were felt in the Sandwich Is
lands, nearly on equal distance, on the
evening of The 18Th, only four hours after
the earthquake in Peru, lasting through
the night, and obtaining their greatest
force the next morning, almost simulta-
neously with their appearance on the op-
posite California coast This would give
them velocity of about thousand
miles an hour. They seem, however, not
to have been driven in more than one d.
rection at a time. The Sandwich Is-
lands lie northwest of the place of dis
turbance in Peru. Toward the west
end southwest we have no record of
tidal phenomena earlier than the 18th of
August, when the waters of Japan and
Australia were simultaneously agitated
in the same manner. These waves may
have been either propsgated by fresh
commissions on the South American
coast, or reyulsious from the disturb
ances at the Sandwich Islands. We
have no sufficient data as yet for deter
mining IN Wnat OlrectlOu tue waves tTaF'
eled, or what was their size or their We
locity. We trust that the attention of
competent observers may have been
drawn to these points; for by means of
them it would be possible to determine
the depth of the Pacific Ocean, the size
and velocity of waves bearing, as is well
known, fixed ratio to the depth of the
water.
A great tidal wave fell upon Hawaii,
one of the Sandwich Islands, on the 18th
of October, destroying a great many
houses and other property. Accepting
the generally received theory that these
phenomena are caused by earthquakes,
we may expect intelligence of another
great calawity about that date in some
country bordering on the Pacific, from
which we have yet received no advices.
But the disturbance may have arisen in
the bed of the ocean, in which case, un-
lees stray sailing vessel CHANGED to be
within reach of it, no account Of the phe-
nomenou may ever come to us-New
= York Tribune.