Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-12
TEMBLoRs AND TERREOIOTos.
A Second Letter from Mr.. Horace


MIR. Horace n. Fisher 30 DR.. William 81.
Elliott, OF this city, giving valuable and
interesting Information respecting earth
quakes In South America. The first let
ter was published in Saturdays MORN
ING NEWS:
Boston, Sept. 7, 1885.
DR.. VIM. II. Elliott, 70 Br0ughton street,
Savannah, Ca:
DEAR ELLIOTT-ln my yesterdays let
letter | described the Phenomena OF
"Temblors and TerremotOs." as the South
Americans classify the two kinds OF earth
quakes, and expressed the opinion that,
from the reports received, the Charleston
earthquake belonged to the Tepblor class.
IL am right, the real danger Is passed,
although subterranean noises with slight
tremOrs may be expected at increasing
intervals until the forces at work are ex-
pended. There is, however, no more dan
ger in these underground thunderstorms
than in our ordinary spring thupaer-
storms. Some facts were also stated
from my personal experience and oOser-
walton in earthquake countries for the
purpose Of allaying undue anxiety natu-
raj IN such mysterious occurrences.
Last night l referred to Humooldts
Cosmos. vol. l., PIP. 1923, in which he
states mis- experience and observation,
and / find that my observation is con-
firmed by Humboldt. He gives the We
locity of earthquakes at 20 to IS miles per
minute. and attributes the velocity of the
subterranean noises to the varying char
acter of the earth's surface.
For example, burnt clay transmits
sound ten or twelve times faster than the
air, say two miles a minute. Hence,
when one hears the earthquakes thunder
the danger has passed-twenty miles be-
yopd you then--jnst as the Zip" OF the
rifle ball scares after the ball has passed.
The man hit never hears the zip"
The earthquake countries of America
are, generally speaking, west OF the Great
Cordillera in region where for three
quarters of the year there is no rain-Cal-
itornia, Mexican coast of the Pacific,
Peru, Bolivia and Chilli. In those cOun-
tries earthquakes are as frequent as
thunder storms with us. In Peru an
average OF fOrty-fve shocks may be count
ed in year. They generally occur in the
dry months from November to May. The
same rule holds good Ia Chilli, though they
are less frequent and severe because Chill
has considerable rainfall in May, June
and July. In Peru, however, rain is said
never to have fallen on the coast since
PizarrO conquered the lncas. In fact for
=
America west of the Andes, rain does not
fall at any season, and a thunderstorm
would terrify the Inhabitants as much as
an earthquake does here. But the earth
quakes are almost always mere TEN olors,
noisy but harmless,as my yesterdays let
ter indicated, unless accompanied by a
tidal wave.
With regard to the vibra ton and move
ment in the Illapel earthquake OF 1880,
spoken of yesterday, | carefully exam
ined the effects caused in my hosts
house near PIacilla. In his library on
the second floor was a bronze statuette
holding a clock. 1t was firmly fastened
to the wall by wire loop round the neck.
The earthquake mad turned it 80 degrees
from facing east to facing south, follow
ing the path of the earthquake. In the
chamber beneath the library an empty
wardrobe was moved by the earth
quake towards the centre Of the room
and left facing the west instead
OF the east wall of the chamber. Similar
results were noticed in regard to chairs
and other light furniture. Pieces of the
cornice were found southwest of their
original positions. All of which things
indicated that the vibration was rotary
from east to south. 1t may be liKened to
an underground cyclone. Nevertheless.
marble statues in the porticO were not
moved at all, from which | inferred that
the duration of the vibration was too
short TO overcome the inertia of their
weight.
According to observations made imme-
diately after this earthquake, its path
seemed to be about half a mile wide and
to describe an ellipse with IlIapel and
Santiago as foci with linear length OF
curve about 200 miles long. The thunder
of the earthquake passed my position at
PlacIlla some considerable time perhaps
two or three minutes-betore L observed
the trees began to wave in the Ligua
meadows. The noiso was that of a thun.
der roll, followed by rush Of wind. al
though the SKY was cloudless and
the air perfectly still on that
Sunday morning. Presently the poplars
began to wave violently with
a circular motion from east to south. as
though tornado was passing, thus
afiording a fine opportunity to observe
the width of the disturbance and the
speed OF the vibration. l estimated the
speed OF the tree motion at about a mile a
minute, say minute to cross meadows a
mile wide. An examination of the path
of this earthquake for many miles showed
that the width was quite uniform, about
half a mile, and that outside OF this zone
OF vibration nothing had been disturbed
so far as we could observe.
At Illapel most Of the buildings were
badly shattered and some thrown down.
At QuillOta the tower of the principal
church was overthrow and some of the
buildings cracked. lllapel was about one
hundred miles northeast Of Placilla, and
Quillota fifty miles south OF Placilla. In
Santiago. one hundred miles from Placilla,
the chimnevs and cOrnices OF houses alone
suffered. Yet this earthquake, one of The
not kill or seriously hurt any one.
On account OF the earthquakes the
Chilians do not build houses of more than
one story, unless they take extra precau-
lions to prevent The walls from falling
outward. My friends house at Pullalli,
near Placilla, to which | have just re-
ferred, is q brick house 80 feet square,
with two stories and q basement. From
the top OF the cornice to the ground it is
about 30 feet. 1t is built with pOrtico
recessed in the centre front and rear, to
furnish addition al strength at the corners.
Under the roof is a network OF IRON
rods copining the house together
from side to side and corner to
corner. This is the general system
hacIendas plantations where the houses
are large and high, and it seems well
suited 10 resist earthquakes.
In Santiago many OF the modern resi-
dences are quite palatial and high. The
latest pr0caution against earthquakes
there adopted is to build the lower story
with bricks two feet long, one foot wide
and two inches thick--like the old Roman
. nA 81 I'D