St. Paul daily globe., 1884-08-31
this opportunity to give the old mugwump an
opportunity to visit Europe on a pleasure va
cation at the public expense.
THE oUAKING EsRTH.

olently shook UP several Of the eastern states,
and so greatly alarmed the people, has served
to turn attention largely to the strange and
startling events. AS to the causes of these
terrestrial disturbances there is no settled
agreement. Various theories exist, the most
common of which is that the earth consists
only ola mparatively thin crust and that the
interior is molten mass of incandescent
material There are certain localities where
earthquakes are most frequent. They create
no surprise in the vicinity Of volcanoes, and
are more frequent in the tropics than in the
more northern, frigid zones. South Ameri-
ca, and the Pacific coast are more subject to
their vistations than more northern lati-
tudes, but the late severe earthquake in the
Northeastern states admonish that there
is no locality atEording a sure exemption.
The immense and terrible forces pro-
ducing these manifestations, from
whatever cause, show that the
earths foundations are not inyulnerable
or beyond the reach Of destructive forces, land
that the great globe itself, in process of time,
may be hurled into desolate ruins. The fate
of Mr. Donnelly's lost Atlantis was unqucs-
tionably due to some terrestrial convulsion,
and when another like catastrophe shall
whelm continents and seas in
in inconccivable ruin, is dark
" concealed in the book of time. That the
earth's surface has been changed, and it may
be many times, by such convulsions, there is
+fN AaIi 1rl,a
may again be. All things earthly are fleet
ing and changeable, and the very earth itself
has no stable anchorage, and no sure ex-
emption from awful and sudden destruction
1t is the theory of many that planetary in
fuences are the source of great physical pheno-
mena onthe earth 1t is belief that planetary
perihelia exert 8. great and disorganizing in
fuence upon the earth, and it has beeen a
belief long in duigcd that Saturn's influence
is the most deleteriOus of all the planets. A
correspondent in a communication in q
New York journal Of a recent date says
'Saturn in the next twelve months will have
its fullest disturbing power in conjunction
with the near approach of the other three
Uranus, Neptune and Jupiterl and it will
not be surprising to find some startling phys
ical phenomena during the approaching Win
ter. Says this writer ''If one will calmly
review the position OF the planets as far
back as recorded events, it will be seen that
in 2O66 before Carist there was perfhclion OF
Jupiter and Urauus; In 206S Neptune had
been in perihelon, and in 2063 came Sat
urn's. According to the Biblical chronolo-
gists the year 2G64 Witnessed the elimination
of the worlds witkcdness, and Sodom and
many other cities were destroyed ';by brim-
stonc and fire from heayen'-a physical
phenomena coinciding with tne planetary
approach"
A careful examination dating from 1906
before Christ to the present time, records
between six and seven thousand earthquakes
in different paris Of the world. Earthquakes
have been terribly destructive TO human life.
It is estimated that since the earliest records
30, 900, 900 human lives have been lost
by earthquakes. An earthquake in the
city of Antioch, A. D. 526 destroyed
$50, ,000 lives. In the same re-
gion of the world, few years later an
earthquake destroyed 80, 900 lives. The great
and terrible earthquake which occurred lit
tlc over a century ago, in the city Of Lisbon,
in Portugal, ,can never be forgotten. The whole
city, with its inhabitants 60, 600 in number
was wiped out Of existence. The water in
the harbor rolled backward, leaving the bot
tom OF the sea bare, and the refluent wave
returned sixty feet high sweeping over the
city, leaving in utter ruin what the ponder
Gus shock of IL few seconds had left.
The record of earthquakes in the world
history is of the most startling and distress
ING character. taking into account the destruc
ton Of life and property. A terrific earth
quake cOnyulsion occurred in the Mississippi
valley in 1911. From the mouth of the Ohio,
distance of two hundred miles, southward,
the earth rose and fell in great wave-likc un-
dulations the ground opened in many places,
and the waters Of the Mississippi river were
turned backwards. At that time the popula-
ton was small, and no loss Of life was re-
ported.
Record is made OF numerous and destruc-
tive earthquakes in South America. One in
Caracas in 1872, destroyed the city and II :
wv HNCS' III quito III ltdi, 4U,UUU ptOplt
lost their lives by an earthquake. In Chill
in 1922, between the Andes mountains and
the sea, an area of land equal to
100, 600 square miles was permanently raised
by an earthquake CONFUSION from two tc
seven feet. In 1877 in Callao, $50, coo. .00O
In property ana 600 lives were destroyed by
an earthquake. An earthquake in the An
des in 1875, destroyed eight cities, and de-
stroyed or left homeless 35, 600 people But
enough ; we will pursue recorded details no
further. What lessons of human instahil-
ity are taught by this brief rec
ord. If the ''solid earth" itself
is not sure and permanent, if it can be con-
vulsed aud torn, and given up to destrue-
tiou and ruin by forces we know not Of,
where can reliance be placed! Great are the
mysteries of creation. Suns and systems
wheel their ceascless courses in the bound
less ether; the planets OF our system recede
from or advance to the central sun, exertjng
mutual influence it is supposed on each
other, aud our quaking earth rolls on TO its
destiny, none knowing what day may
bring forth
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