The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-11-02
Earthquakes and RruptiOps.

The year 1878 has already seen more
than Its fair share of disastrous earth
quakes and similar phenomeaa IT,.
are slight tren'6temeIats de ferre in one mart
or another Of the earth's surface abont
once In three days, but it is only occosion.
any that serious outbursts oeeur which
overwhelm cities, swallow up whole islands
or raise up the bed of the sea from = f,,b
omless depth to a dangerous shoal Dur.
ing the first half of the present wear boH,-
ever, the intensity of the shocks &c oar,L
quake and OF volcanic eruptions has un.
doubtedly been on the increase. and If
TINS continues the thousandth annivers,rv
ot the destruction of Herculaneum and
Pompeii, which viii occur next wear will
DC celebrated in an appropriate, If an nm
desirable, manner, By the forces of patnra
itself. This activity has deyeloned ;,sale
since June, 1877. In the whole of 1877
there occurred, according to the compila-
tons OF Prof. Fuchs, log recorded earth
quakes, though, from our own observation
we believe the number to have been some
what larger In the three months of .Tnno
July and August there were only II earth,
quakes; while 81 occurred in September
october and November, and the rest in
the previous six months back to December
l, 1916. As usual, the most violent of
these Phenomena were those OCCURRING in
south America. The damage done TO
lquIque, Valparaiso, Lima and other cities
by the outbreak of May 8, 1877. was enor-
NOUS, the vibrations recurring with start.
ling rapidity and lasting over several days
4 few days later submarine volcanic
eruption occurred off the coast Of Peru.
which also did great damage to shippino
1he effects OF these disturbances were fsJ,
IN all parts of the Pacific. Durino the
year several minor earthquakes. though of
unusual intensity for the part Of the world
IN which they we're felt, occurred in Eu-
rope. Those of April 4, May 2 ami Oc-
tober in Switzerland, and of November
| and 4 aud December % at Lisbon. were
the most alarming. Fortunately. little or
no serious damage was done. The volca.
noes OF Europe were unusually inactive
during the year, but in South America
In Japan and in the Pacific generally. the
year was marked by several very violent
volcanic explosions. The frequency with
which outbreaks of this nature were oh
served In the open sea was a peculiaritv
of the year Thus in February yery
remarkable eruption occurred in the sea
surrounding the Sandwich Islands. ten
days after violent outburst of the crater
OF Mauna Loa, on the mainland of the
group, and few weeks before another
most remarkable outflow of lava from the
celebrated lava lake of Kilauea. Here
vast jets of liquid lava were elected to
great height through the hard crust of the
sollditying lava of the lake, which had lain
undisturbed for many years. Much more
serious was the eruption of Mount Coto-
paxi, in June, accompanied by terrible
showers of ashes, dust and mud. which
were carried by the wind far and wide
over the country, devastating the fair lands
and destroying hundreds Of lives. The
insuiar volcano of Ooshima, in Japan.
broke out in flames and burning lava on
January 4, aud continued in violent action
till the first week in February, causing, in
combination with the earthquakes which
accompanied it, disastrous loss of life.
Among the more noteworthy events of the
year was the eruption of new volcano in
a district hitherto supposed to be free
from volcanic disturbances-namely, on
june IL, in new crater near Colorado
river, California. About the same time
an earthquake was felt in Canada. The
submergence of several islands in the great
lying between the Malay Pen.
insula and Australia, the upheaval of new
lands in the same district, and the obser-
vance of the effects of volcanic phenomena
in the deep waters Of the South Atlantic,
and where the sea is some 10000 feet
deep, would have been sufficient of them
selves to mark the past year as an uncom-
mon period Of strange volcanic phenomena.
As already limited, however, we believe
that the current twelve months will, unless
a sudden cessation of activity occurs, prove
to be even more prolific Of such events
than any of its recent predecessors.