Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-07-28
New Earthquake Theory.

vdnce0 new lHeoiy III i0ioS'oh " sS'iNo
tial disturbances, and, in his estimation,
exploded the old schismic superstition, as
he characterizes it, and established the fact
hat earthquakes have cosmical basis,
and do not spring from earth, but from the
atmosphere, and are electrical in their orr
gin, and he advances several facts to eStab-
lish his view. He referred to an earthquake
that occurred at Schemnitz, Hungary,
juno %, 1868, as being produc, d by An
| electrical current close TO the earth, when
two shocks were felt at the surface and
none at the bottom of the mines, but were
only indicated to the miners by magnet
suddenly dropping a piece of iron that
was attached to it. This earthquake, not
| felt below in the mines, did great damage
in Comorn and Pesth, and extended as far
as Dresden and Leipzig; and also referred
to another that occurred at Stockholm
November "a, 1928 No shock was felt
in the mines, but was perceptible through
out Norway, and at the city of Stockholm
was attended by dull, heavy sound, which
seemed to come down from the clouds and
was followed by violent tempest. The
Professor cites the earthquake that occur
red at Riobamba in 1897, which, as if by a
sudden impulse, sent objects on the sur
face flying hundred feet into the air, thus
indicating that this disturbance could not
have originated very far below; and he
thinks his theory satisfactorily accounts
for the peculiar rotary or whirling motion
often observed, and also for the atInosphcr-
ic phenomena frequently preceding, accom-
panying or succeeding many earthquakes.
He refers to the currents of electricity con-
tnually circulating in and around the earth,
and to the fact that some strata of rocks
are better conductors than others, and to
the influence of the heavenly bodies, and
particularly that of the sun, as often sur.
charging our planet with this fluid in suf-
ficient quantities as to produce those per-
turbations commonly called earthquakes.
This new schis,nic theory is somewhat DIFF
ferent from that of Alexis P4rry, who
thinks that the chief causes of the earth
quakes are lunar influences. Both the
theories referred to may and doubtless do
have some influence IN producing these
phenomena. Our opinion has been that
the electricity that is in the earth served
the purpose Of match to touch off the
vast amount of inhamable vapor and gas
that is seething and rolling in the exterior
of the earth, and thus draw it to the sur
face in producing volcanoes and shaking
| the earth. We doubt whether there could
| exist those terrific quakings of the earth
and rolings and trembings seen upon its
surface simply from electrical impulse
pressed down from above. 1t is the sseth-
ing cauldron below that is the cause aud
the mighty force that projects out the vol
umes of smoke and fire and streams OF
lava. We cannot conceive how the surface
of the earth should hare become SO cor
rugated without the action of this power
unless we suppose that it was produced by
miracle, when there was a separation be
tween the sea and the solid land. In our
view, when the dry land appeared, an un.
seen hand, by electricity, or some other
agency, touched the volcanic forces in the
! interior of the earth and the little hills
skipped up like lambs, and the lofty noun
tains reared their heads on high and be
held the waters rushing into the troughs
and vallies of the earth to form the oceans
and the rivers, and that this same volcanic
agency that then existed has occasioned
| all terrestrial disturbance and fed the fires
of the occasional and perpetual volcanoes
The favorite theory always has been that
| the center of the earth was in melted
| state. The ancients believed this. This
melted matter was the pyriphlegethon OF
Plato, into which flowed streams of water,
thus causing boiling water, mud and fire,
to be elected. There is tangibility about
the theory Of Plato, and it is probably
as correct as many others advanced. 1t is
difficult for us to conceive that those
mighty BOOKINGS Of the earth, and those
vast tidal waves that roll from shore t.
shore, through the broad expanse of the
oceans, could be wholly produced by sim
pie electrical agency upon the surface
without drawing upon the vast volume o.
reserved forces below, rolling and tumb
ling, and waiting sor representations
| kee Sentinel.