The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-09

The Terrible EaHhauake at Antioch,
syria, and tao Late California Earth.
auaIkes.
Dispatches from Conslantinopls bring US
the intelligence of terrible earthquake at
Antioch, Syria, involving the destruction of
haif the city and the loss of fifteen hundred
hves Out OF population estimated at ten
thousand this is fearful loss; but the killed
and wounded together may number half the
Inhabitants. The bed of the river Orontes
which flows by the city walls, was lifted up
and the food swept over the lower portions of
the city; the old and strong stone bridges
over the river were, Of course, tumbled into
ruins, and portions of the city walls were
thrown down. From calamity so heavy the
city will probably never attempt to recover,
but rapidly sink into place of ruins. Yet
this Antioch has famous historical record as
the foremost nursery of Christianity; for it
| was here that the followers of the Saviour
were first given the name of Christians. The
city, founded some two thousand years ago, Is
young compared with Damascus the origin Of
which is lost in the twilight of tradition, or
compared with Jerusalem, the capital of the
Jebusites in the time of Moses and Joshua
but from the time OF ST. Paul to the epoch of
the Crusades, inclusive, Antioch has more
famous record in the building up of Chris
tianity, excepting the conversion of Paul, than
Damascus or Jerusalem, and has been
greater city than either, rising under the
Romans to population of four hundred
thousand
But of all known cities Antioch has Suffered
most severely from earthquakes. In A. D. ll5
it was almost destroyed by an earthquake,
and from time to time it suffered severely from
similar vsitatons till tho year $50, when, ac-
cording to Gibbon, there was CONFUSION
from which 100000 of the city's population
persisted. At frequent intervals since that
time the city has suffered from lighter shak-
ings, the last remarkable one before this OF
1872 being that of 1922, from which the place
has never rallied, but has been gradually
sinking to the insignificant figure of an inland
Turkish town Of some ten thousand squatters
among the mighty ruins Of one of the great
cities OF imperial Rome. Aud here, in these
frequent earthquakes at Antioch, the fact is
established, we think, that the city is built
over place where the earth's crust ia excep-
tionally thin. The whole OF Syria down TO
the Dead Sea may have been shaken more or
less by this earthquake; but no place in the
whole volcanic basin of the Mediterranean has
suffered so much from earthquakes as Antioch.
Just there, then, the shell Of the earth must
be exceedingly thin, and hence these destruc-
tive trembleme7ets from the rolling sea of
liquid fire below.
But can 1t be possible that this earthquake
at Antioch, on the western border of Asia,
was connected with the recent shakings
in California? We think it possible; for
what is the bulk Of our planet compared with
those mysterious and stupendous forces of the
sun and of our atmosphere, and Of that cleo
triciiy which fills the universe-forccs which
may be SO combined or brought into conflict as
to shake this earth into a secthing mass of
jelly in ten seconds. Simultaneously with the
reports of these California earthquakes came
the report that the volcano Of Colima, in Mex
leo, was in state of violent eruption. This
means that along the volcanic backbone of
our Continent, from Mexico into California,
there was an electrical rapport between the
atmosphere and the rolling sea of fire within
the earth which produced these agita!ions
on the surface. Volcanoes are the escape
pipes of this surplus steam, as it may
be called, and hence places remote from vol
canoes in a volcanic region suffer much more
heavily from earthquakes than places near by.
Uniformly, too, the air preceding the visitation
of an earthquake is hazy, heavy and SUM-
berous, indicating close connection and
strong attraction between the electrical forces
without and within the earth. Perturbations
in the pressure Of the atmosphere we think
are less among the causes than the conse-
quences of these volcanic disturbances. But
whether this earthquake at Antioch and these
earthquakes in California may or may not be
connected as one and the same, 1t is the season
of the year when especially north of the
Equator we may look, in the volcanic districts
i'll both hemispheres, for more manifestations
of the terrible power OF these mysterious
phenomena. WHAT field of investigation is
here for the learned men of our weather Sig
nal Service Bureau!