The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-08-18
4 YEAR'S
Their Auerage Time of Occarrence-1he
Record of 1912.

Their 4Uerage Time of Occ'srrence-1he
Record of 1912.
Manifestation of internal force beneath
the earth's crust, in the shape of either
earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, occur
on an average three times a week in
greater OF less intensity ill some part of
the globe. Such, at least, is the conclu-
sion to be arrived at from the compila-
ton of all the recorded phenomena Of
this kind in the year 1875, lately pre-
pared BY Fuchs, and printed in a
German scientific journal. Out of the
three hundred ard sixty-fve days of that
year one hundrdd were marked by ter
restial disturbances, of which authentic
records exist, while there must have been
many shocks of more or less violence in
unfrequented portions of the globe where
volcanic forces are known to exist. The
most serious of these observed phenom-
ena occurred at Cucuta, New Grenada,
on the 10th, 18th, and 18th, of May,
when several towns land villages were
destroyed at San Cristobal and Guada.
laxera, in Mexico, on Feb. II at Lifu
island. in the. North Pacific, on March
%; at Lahore, in the Punjaub, and at
Porto Rico, on the 18th and 21st Of De-
cember. All these places, it will be OBJ
served, are in the torrid zone, with the
exception of Lahore, which is only a
short distance north of the tropic Of
Cancer. It is estimated that no fewer
than twenty thousand persons lost their
lives during the destruction caused by
these earthquakes while the damage to
property was enormous. In these dis
tricts which are liable to disturbances of
this nature the buildings are usually and
ON purpose of a very frail nature, but
the losses occasioned are nevertheless
very severe, especially as when in the
case of the earthquakes of Feb, II and of
the 10Th and 18th of May the shocks are
felt wei a far wider expanse than is in
Dictated by the central outbreak. These
disturbances, which threw San Cristobal
and Guadalaxera and Cucuta and many
neighboring villages into ruins, were felt
over a considerable portion of Central
America and the adjoining parts of the
northern and southern continents. Be-
sides the earthquakes which are felt by
the inhabitants of the land, there are
many disturbances in the depth of the
ocean which are probably never observed
and V recorded and similar manifes-
tations of volcanic forces exert them
selves beneath the sea, such a. that re-
Gently observed near Hawaii. The great
centres of volcanic phenomena are Italy,
iceland, New Zealand, Java, Mexico, the
Northern Pacific, and Greece, and all
these localities exhibited signs of activity
the year of 1875. The most i'm
portant outbreaks occurred in Iceland,
where, though no great calamity like
those to which Vesuvius has given rise
occurred, there were several outbursts on
one occasion, viz, in March, the ashes
emitted by Vetina were carried on as far
Norway and Sweden, and so dense
were the clouds of dust that the sun was
obscured and wide districts thrown into
darkness. Loud reports and severe
shakings accompanied this display, and
were felt throughout the island. On six
occasions huge streams of lava were
poured forth from the different craters
opened, lasting, in some instances, for
many weeks-notably on the occasion of
the eruption of Vetina, on Jan. 2, when
the red-hot matter continued to flow till
the end of February. In April several
eruptions occurred, during one of which
matter was elected to an enormous
height, and streams of lava, a mile and a
half wide and fifteen miles long, flowed
in alldirections. Vesuvius and Etna were
nos nearly so full of life during that year.
The Sicilian mountain only gave three
or four signs of activity, which were un-
accompanied, save with two slight ex-
ceptions, by any outward manifestations,
though in January some damage was
done by sharp shocks of inward labor.
These phenomena occurred in January
and December, and were accompanied by
simultaneous earthquakes and subterra-
mean noises in the sister volcano, Vesu-
vius, which gave forth clouds of smoke
at intervals. In Java there was a serious
eruption Of Kloet at the beginning of
1876, whereby the settlement of Bilkar
was destroyed and other damage done.
The New Zealand geysers, or springs of
boiling water, similar to the celebrated
fountain of Iceland, were unusually &C
tive, and toward the end of the year the
v~olcanoe of Tongariro was in eruption,
eieeting lava and stones, and about the
same time an outbreak of Mauna Loa
occurred in the Sandwich islands. This
locality has since shown frequent signs
of considerable commotion. Perhaps the
most interesting of volcanic phenomena
was the sudden eruption of C~eborueo, in
Mexico, on the 18th of February, at the
same time as the earthquakes referred to
above at San Christobal and Gauda.
laxera. This mountain had been thought
to be extinct, no eruption having been
recorded since the discovery of America
till, in 1870, it awoke from its long sleep.