The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-13
SCIENTIFIC COMMENT.
What the Washington Savants Say
of the Earthquake.
A Possible solution of the Mormon
Questionable American Earth.
quake SeetIon--A Supple-
mentary CULVER.

WASHINGTON CITY, Aug. 13.-There is
great deal of scientific guessing going on
here among the knowing chaps about the
earthquake. Professor Taylor, of the Smith
sonian institute, said: ut is held by many
and l fancy the theory is correct--that the
earthquake is simply the relief from tension
in the earth crust in the process of shrinkage.
At some point the tension will be so
great that the crust viii give
away. Earthquakes are much more
common than is supposed 1t it not right to
say that they are increasing in frequency.
The fact is that since the telegraph and
newspaper have been in existence the infor-
nation concerning earthquakes is more
promptly collected. If people in this city
felt slight shock they might set it down to
an explosion or some local cause, but when
they learned that a similar shock was felt
simultaneously in other cities they attribute
the disturbance at once to an earthquake. 1t
is probable that many earthquakes in former
times were mrecorded-"
Maj. J. w. Lowell, of the geological sur
vey, said: Earthquakes in the eastern por-
ton of the United States have been compare
lively infrequent and mild. The most I'M
portant was that in the Mississippi valley,
known as the New Madrid A late earth
quake in western Nevada made a fracture
about 30 miles long, and the displacement
varied from five to seventy feet. The west
ern portion of the United States from the
farther border If the plains to the
Pacific, is Il region of many and
great earthquakes 1t has also been in
very recent geologic times region of great
volcanic activity. Thousands of now dead
volcanoes are scattered over the country and
vast lava fields cover large areas OF the land
Salt Lake City stands on the margin OF an
earthquake fracture, and biologists have
more than once prOphesled that it will be de-
stroyed by an earthquake. Biologists have
concluded from consideration OF a great
variety of facts, that thu interior
of the earth is in a fluid condi-
| ton, due to the pressure and great
heat. We penetrate from the surface toward
the interior of the earth by mines and by
boring for artesian wells and other purposes.
| The temperature is found to increase at such
rate that a degree of heat would soon be
reached at which all known rocks would
melt Secondly, a vast number of volcanoes
exist, distributed widely over the earth.
through the vents of which enormous
| quantities of molten rock are poured out
on the surface of the earth, showing that
vast reservoir of molten matter exists be,
meath the crust. Thirdly, it is known ex-
perimentally that all rocks would be crushed
and caused to flow by the pressure of few
| feet of superintendent rock. Now, to un-
derstand the cause of an earthquake, We must
| appreciate that comparatively thin crust
rests upon a vast fluid The next thing to be
considered is that all the land portion of the
earth is rapidly being transported to
the sea by rains and rivers. Thus the
land areas are being unloaded, and oceaI
borders are weighted down. This loading OF
sea borders and unloading of land areas upon
crust which rests upon fluid sets up enor
nous strains; but the crust, by reason of its
solidity, does not yield at once to the strain
but they accumulate until at last sufficient
stress is established to cause fracture and dis
placement through the miles of solid crust
When such a rupture occurs, an earthquake
| is the result"