Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-12
EARTHQUAKES Is.

AuC NAoN ACNSAAy ~4NNoA"
down the TOW rs on the island OF Ischia
in ruins and destroyed 500 to 5000
lives, reminds US of our profound ignor-
ance Of the cause OF these awful phe-
nomena and our utter helplessness in the
presence Of them. All that We know
of earthquakes can DO told in few
words. They are popularity connected
with volcanoes, and regions remote
from these smoking earth-vents are
supposed to De free from their vista
ton. But there were a hundred earth
quakes in the vicinity of New Madrid
attended by strange and awful changes
in the configuratiOn Of the country in
1911, without volcano nearer than
1900 miles; and the great earthquake
Of the last century, which submerged
the quay at Lisbon five fathoms deep,
causing $1,000 persons to perish, was
not proceeded or followed by any vol
canic eruption in the vicinity. Earth
tTemors Of an alarming character occur
frequently in the Mississippi valley and
in Canada; and twelve years ago series
of vibrations, accompanied by the
bursting of flames from the ground and
the cracking Of walls of high buildings
spread dismay through large section
of California, although there is not a
live volcano nearer than seven hun
bred miles. There are between three
and four hundred volcanoes known
upon the earth, in addition to an I'M
known number in the ocean, and three
fourth Of these are in islands, while the
greater proportion of those on CONT.
nents are near the sea-a fact which
seems 10 show connection between
the ocean waters and the great subter-
ranean laboratories where the earth
lhroes are produc ii. Volcanoes observe
a certain order which is observed with
out being cOmprehended; they are rang
ed in meridional lines from north TO
south, with spurs projecting east aud
west. One of these ranges runs from
Behring's straits through Eastern Asia
and the Pacific islands towards the
South pole; another runs along the
Pacific coast of North and South Amer.
lea and a third includes a submarine
elevation in the Atlantic ocean, the
island of Iceland, the Azores, the
Caparies and some of the West Indies.
The mighty workings Of the bowels of
the earth which produce volcanoes
may, and probably DO, produce the
tremors, vibrations and falllngs Of the
surface which We call earthquakes; but
these awful movements and the tidal
waves which sometimes attend them
often occur at places far distant from
live volcanoes. The mystery enclosed
beneath the crust of the earth OF which
we walk has hitherto batfled all efforts
to solve it. The geological theory of
forty years ago which held the interior
of the globe to be a fiery molten mass
has been well nigh abandoned, ana
new one is now suggested that the
earth is mainly solid, cold mass OF
matter to its centre, with occasional
cavities and reservoirs where the chem
cal forces find field for action. Some
hold that earth throbs are caused by
lurches Of melted matter, or steam ex-
plosions in these reservoirs; others that
they are the effect of those chemical
combinations on large scale which,
even in students laboratory, are at
tended by explosions and shocks; while
others still find an explanation of all
subterranean tumults in electrical &C.
ton. Whatever be the cause, there is
no Disgusting the terror and dismsy
they invariably inspire, alike in the
minds Of the wise and the foolish, the
learned and the ignorant.