Smyrna times., 1885-06-24
ABOUT EARTHQUAKES.

Sixty thousand persons were killed in
the earthquake that overthrew Lisbon
in 1855, and one hundred thousand in
the Calabrian earthquake of 1918. 1.-THE
earthquake catalogue of the British as
sOciation," a very complete record, en-
braces between six and seven thousand
earthquakes between the years 1901 B.
G. and A. D. 1912, in which it is esti-
mated that thirteen millions have per-
ished. The phenomena attendant upon
earthquakes are as various as their extent
is broad. Appearances in the heaven or
changes in theatmOsphere Irregularities
in the season, violent rains at unusual
seasons, and reddening Of the suns disk,
have all been described as incidental oc-
cuITences, but it is doubtful if they have
any real connection with the earthquake.
Not SO with the underground noises,
which nearly always precede, accompany
or follow shock. In some earthquakes
they are hkened to chains being dragged
about, increasing to thunder tones; in
others the sound is like the rumbling of
carriages, growing louder until it equals
the lOudest artillery.
In severe earthquakes there is almost
invariably trembling, then O. pro-
nounced shock, and then a trembling
again, which gradually grows impercep-
tible. The whole area of the surface
affected is not moved at once, but by an
earth wave or true undulation of the solid
crust of the earth. The influence of this
earth wave is often communicated to the
sea when the earthquake is near the
shore The sea swells and retires slightly
from the beach, and then u great wave
rolls in upon the shore. The phenomena
OF these upheavals end of volcanoes are
most intimately connected Although
the earth must be mainly solid, it is be-
ieved to be a honeycombed structure,
and that the cavities contain in many
places lakes of molten rock, between
which and volcanoes are orifices Of COM
munication. Into these cavities water,
sinking down through crevices from the
ocean or the land, must be constantly
finding us way, and the steam thus gen
Grated eXerts such enormous pressure as
to force the molten matter to the surface,
itself mingling and escaping with it.
When a mass of water is suddenly pre-
/ cipitated into a hot cavern the explosion
of steam will cause an earthquake con-
cussion, and where there is no vent may
be sufficient to convulse and render the
superintendent strata.
No part of the earth's surface IL free
from these terrifying visitations, and the
ocean itself is not free from them On
the nineteenth of October, 1870, occurred
the most considerable shock that has
been observed i'll our middle and eastern
states during the present century. The
source Of this disturbance has been
traced, with some probability, to the
volcanic region fifty to one hundred
miles northeast of Quebec. From this
region the shock spread to st. John
New BrunswlcK, and thence was fel
westward to Chicago and southwark t.
New York. The velocity Of the wave 0.
shock was about fom,e cen thousand fee
per minute.
The most severe earthquake that ha
occurred in the Middle States was that o
the eighteenth OF November, 1856. /
was probably promulgated from th'
same center rs that which destroyed Lis
bon two weeks before. In Massachusett
it began with a roaring noise like thuu
der, followed by Il swell of the earth ik
that of a long rolling sea- In 1871 OC
CURED the famous earthquake of Ne7
Madrid, Mississippi, which created tn
so-called "sunk country in the vale
of the Mississippi, while California ha
frequently suffered. The earthquake {
the twenty-sixth of March, 1872, was til
most severe that has occurred there /
r many years, as immense damage wa
, done in San Francisco by the craGkin
of the walls of fine buildings. In MexiC
and South America earthquakes are a
I most as frequent as revolutions.