Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-10

The ssLines Of Weakness Manifested
To SeismOlOgists.
From the London Times.

Prom the London Times
The moon Is dead. 1t has not life enough left
10 oOZe forth the iniest mud volcano squirt out
the feeblest geySer No throb ever reaches its
..Tiace, and not the faintest rumble Is ever
echoed from it's jagged mountain sides. No
earthquake wave can ever sweep Its Island
shores for earthquakes there are things of the
almost infinite past, and the last drop of water
quilted the surface of the planet aOns ago. Its
very atmosphere has deserted it. and If. indeed
there were a imam in the moon. he could never
hear the sound of his own voice. But if by some
means this mythical man could have witnessed
the Ischia disaster and the Java catastrophe.
how he would have lOnged that any such mani
festatiOns of lie were possible on his lifeless
planet. That occurrences like these referred to
are calamties every one must admit and some
may be apt To maintain that mans arrival in his
earthly home has been premature and that
Providence would have acted more wisely and
humanely had it postponed mans advent on the
scene until the Internal fires had exhausted
themselves. But when that happens, ge0lJgiStS
Tell Us. we may look upon 1t as the beginning OF
the end Not even the 600 degrees heat OF the
SUM- which beats upon every part of the moon
for fortnight Mt time, is able to rouse within
its bosom the faintest sign OF life. There is
evidence enough to show that at one period its
volcanic activity must have been of the most
s.upendous kind, far exceeding anything ever
that has gone, with its water and
Its atmosphere, and taken with it the
possibility of life. We are told that our exist
Ing volcanoes and geysers and mudholes are
but the dying remains of what at the time
must have been a volcanic activity almost uni
yersal Instead of spaSmodic eruptions at
Few Isolated spots We had constant OutpOur
OF volcanic matter from wide assures extend
Ing across the earti:'s surface for many miles
That the raith has not yet. however entirely
- tfo To-
which is the most stupendous phenomenon of
the Kind on record. SO long as the old earth
Is equal to efforts of this kind We need not
mind it's latter end When the blood leaves
the cold extremties and the heart has not
vgOr enough to send it to the surface, the end
is not far off; and when volcanic and earthquake
manifestations cease from off the face of the
earth the end may be within almost measurable
distance. Much of its ocean water will have
been absorbed by the underlying rocks and the
atmosphere Nay be rarer and less life giving
than it is now; by and by. with the last ray of
Internal heat, the last drop of water and last
particle of air, all life will have vanished. and
dead earth will shine upon dead moon. So
long. then. as the mother of us all has any vigOr
left We must expect her to manifest it OCCASION
ally as she has done recently at Ischia and Java;
20 that. lamentable AMI regretablc as has been
the loss of life at these places, the catastrO-
Plies are not entirely without their bright side.
Only when the earth is as dead as the moon will
such cafastrOphes become impossible.
Biologists and seismOlO9iSts know pretty well
the lines along which these manifestations of the
earths vigOr are likely to occur: lines of weak
ness they call them, but, in view of the above
consideration. we might call them, rather. lines
Of vigOr- Perhaps when they know still more
they may be able to tell their fellows what
places to avoid in planting their settlements and
building their houses. But it is doubtful if such
telling would be of much avail. After the most
destructive Outbursts of Etna and Vesuvius the
decimated inhabitants have crept back to their
old locations. rebuilt their hutS and planted
their vines. needless of the terrible lesson. AL
ready has building begun again even i'm shat
tered lschia. and if the proper kind of wooden
houses be used possibly the next shaking the
island gets may lead to fewer calamties.
TIE JAVA OUTBURsT.
We have said that the Java Outburst is the
most stupendous on record. An island has been
shattered and sunk, and sixteen others have
raised their heads above the surrounding waters
Some hundred thousand people have been sac
rlnced to their mothers anger buried beneath
volcanic debris. or swept Off the face of the land
by the volcanic wave. The floor OF the ocean
over a wide area to the southeast OF Sumatra
has been raised into a plain above the waters.
and the effects of the general upheaval have
been felt as tar as the American coast Of the
Pacific.
There can be little doubt that the wave which
was felt along the west coast of North America
was propagated across the Pacific from the Java
outbreak. All underneath the island we know,
must be the seat of the most energetic volcanic
activity. and there can be little doubt that the
ocean floor must have been subject to sudden
upheava. over many miles. giving rise to an
oceanic disturbance that has spread across the
Pacific and was doubtless felt all around Aus
frala and New Zealand As we have already
pointed out, the last great manifestation of this
kind. on May 10. 1877, had its origin on the Pc
ruvian coast whence wave was prOpagated to
the Sandwich Islands on one side and to New
Zealand and Australia on the other. Still more
dreadful and widespread were the results
OF the earth thrOe in the nelghborhood
Of the Pacific coast on August 13 and a.
1868. On that OCCASION twenty minutes after
IN earthquake shock was felt i'm AFRICA Peru an
enormous wave, fifty feet high swept in over
the shore. This wave travelled southwark sweep
Ing the coast as far as VaIdivia which it reached
In five hours NOrthward it Travelled also and
some hours later reached San Pedro. in Lower
California. as wave siXty-three feet i'm height
Before that, seven hours, indeed, after it was
1eit at AREA, the wave touched the Sandwich
Islands, and rose and fell in such o manner
all round the islands. that it seemed as if they
themselves were actually in motion About the
same time the Marquesas Islands felt the force
of the shock, and later still Yokohama in
Japan. was reached by the roll of waters 1t
TOOK the wave ten hours to make New Zealand
and at intervals for hours the shores of the
colony were charged by successive sweeps.
While it was nearly fourteen hours before if
was first detected on the Australian coast Not
less potent can have been the upheaval in the
waters around Java: and when full details
reach US II will be found that its Influences
have been not less widespread. Volcanic de-
bris have been found all over the bed of the
ocean; and although some of it, doubtless, has
been contributed by the volcanoes of the land.
much OF il may come from volcanic outlets
deep down below the waters. The earth. Mr..
George Darwin tells US is never at rest: it is
In constant state Of tremor and absolute
steadiness is unattainabie. There can be little
doubt also, that there are volcanic Outbursts and
earthquake upheayals which are either never
known TO us at all or only by their remote re-
suits in such form as earthquake waves prOpa-
gated over the ocean Professor Milne of Japan.
we believe. goes even further than Mr. George
Darwin. and maintains that in the west Pacific
at least. the earth below the surface is honey
combed with cavities. and that earthquakes are
oil almost momentary occurrence. A delicate
seismometer is agitated when to human sensa-
tlon not the smallest sign of earthquake is evil
dent
All these are signs that old as our earth is
sne sun full of vigor; though 100 coo lives are
ateriioie price to pay for the assurance that she
u sun alive. 1t is some 400 years since any
equally powerful evidence of the forces of ma
ture was Afforded in Europe, when. in the fl