National Republican., 1884-08-12
ABOUT EARTHQUAKES.
The Most Notable shNle-Ups That
Hsvo Disturbed the Earth i'm Recent
Years-TerrIbio valuations.

lhnVo Dtaturbed inc sshrtu th heCenA
Years-TerrIbio visItations.
Netg York Journal
Sixty thousand persons woro killed in
the earthquake that overthrow Lisbon in
1855, and 100000 In the Calabrian earth
quake Of 1888. 'The Earthquake Cata-
loguo of tho British association" very
complete record, embraces between 5000
and 1000 earthquakes between tho years
1906 Il. G. and A. ID. 1si2, in which II is
estimated that t3.000,00O have porishod.
Tho phenomena attendant upon earth
quakes arc as various as their extent is
broad. Appearances in the heavens or
changes in tho atmosphere, Irregularities
In tho seasons, sudden gusts OF wind, in
terrupted by sudden calms, violent rains
ut unusual seasons, and roddening of tho
suns disk have all been described as in.
cidontal occurrences, but 1t is doubtful, in
the absence of any good reason to the
contrary. IL they havo any real connection
with the earthquake. Not so with under.
| ground noises, which nearly always pro-
oede accompany, or follow q shock. In
some earthquakes they are likenod to
chains being pulled about, increasing to
thunder tones; in others the sound Ia like
the rumbling Of carriages, gradually
growing louder, until 1t equals tho loud
est artillery, or like heavy wagons rolling
on road, or distant thunder, or like the
Kissing produced by the quenching of
masses of hot iron in water, or like the
rush Of wind underground.
In severe earthquakes thore Ia almost
invariably trembling, then pronounced
shock, and then o trembling again, which
gradually grows iinperceptible. Tho
whole area of the surface affected 10 not
moved at once, but by an earth wave or
true uudulation of tho solid crust of tho
earth. The influence of this earth wave
is often communicated to the sea whom
the earthquake is near tho shore. Tho
scs swolls and retircs slightly from tho
beach, and then great wave rolls in
upon tho shore. At tho Lisbon earth
quake this wave roso to height Of sixty
feot at Cadiz.
The phenomena Of these uphoavals and
OF volcanoes arc most intimately con.
nocted. Although tho earth must be
mainly solid, IL is believed to DO honey
combod structure, and that tho cavities
contain in many places lakes of molten
rock, between which and valcanoos arc
oritioes of communication. Into these
cavities water, sinking down through
crevices from the ocean or tho land, must
be constantly finding its way. and the
steam thus generated oxcrts such onor-
nous pressure as to force tho molten
matter to tho surface, itself mingling and
escaping with 1t. When mass Of water
is suddenly precipitatcd into a hot cavern
the explosion of steam will cause an Garth
quake concussion, and whore there ID nj
. vent may bo sufficient to convulso and
rond the suborincumbont strata.
: No part of the earth's surface is free
| ha, Nnr e.yi, oil tat ~ Ia
, ocean itself is not FREQ from thom. On
Y Oct. TO- 1870, occurred the most consider
. able shock that has been observed in ou
middle and eastern states during thu
. present century. The source OF this dis
. turbance has been traced, with somt
" probability, to tho volcanic region flft,
D to one hundred miles northeast OF Que
beo. From this region tho shock spreat
to st. Johns, N. b., and thence was fol
. westward to Chicago and southwark tC
E New York. The velocity'of the wavo o.
s shock was about 1l,0O0 feet per second
. Tho occurrence Of tho shock folt at Que
" bee was telographed to Montreal in tim
8 to call the attention Of the operators il
g tho latter city to the phenomona abou
y y thirty seconds before tho shock reached
them.
Tho most severe earthquake that ha
|
statos was that of Nov. 49, 1855. 1t wa
!. probably promulgated from the same con
:. = ter as that which destroyed Lisbon tw
:. weeks before. In Massachusetts, 1t beyal
" with roaring noise like thunder, an
then came o swell of the oarth like thl
v of long rolling sea--a swoll so great thi
'' men In the open fields ran to seize som,
thing by which to hold on lost they shoul
" be thrown down. In Boston many builC
-. ings and chimneys wero destroyed, an
:. in the country new springs Of water ap
i. peared and tho stone fences were d.
molished.
L. In 1911 occurred tho famous earthquak
" Of New Madrid. Miss., which created th
so-called sunk country" in the valley
: the Mississippi, while California has fr,
v quently suffered. Tho earthquake
!, March 26, 1872. was the most severe thl
4 has occurred there In many years, as in
50 monso damage was dono in San Fral
cisco by the cracking Of the walls Of fin
e. buildings. In Mexico and South Ameri(
u earthquakes arc almost as frequent
" revolutions.