The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-09-09

| "Well, talkins dry work and I've been
doin' power Of IT; sup would go well
now, but if you'll excuse me, / won't
take it. Ten minutes will bring me to
where they're all waitin' for me, aud I'd
rather not kiss Mary and the babies with
the Taste touch of it on my lips"
In ten minutes we stopped at station,
the ould sergeant stepped from the cars,
aud as we moved off he was still in the
center of beautiful, loving group.-Col
Duke Baillie in Ne,o York Mercury.
| Savannah News.J
| EAR rHQUAK ES AND THEIR
| CAUSE.
The night Of August 81, 1886, will long
be memorable event to the people Of
| this section of the country. The series
| Of earthquake shocks of the past thirty.
| elk hours were begun by the greatest dis
turbance on record within the present
limits of the United States since the dis
covery Of America by Columbus. 1t was
certainly the greatest earthquake in our
history, when measured by the standard
of the loss of life and injury to persons
and damage to property. Never before,
perhaps, has there been such widespread
alarm in the Union on account of great
disturbance of nature. 1t is gratifying to
be able to state that there are apparently
| good grounds to believe, from the history
of past earthquakes in this part of the
world, that if the series of shocks is not
already ended, they will gradually grow
feebler until they cease altogether. AT
any rate there is no occasion for undue
alarm. There can be little doubt that
the probabilities of safety are much
stronger than they were previous to the
first great tremor of Tuesday night, al
though we were then ignorant of the
threatened danger. Notwithstanding the
| general alarm-or rather one should now
say, anxiety-many are discussing the
remarkable natural phenomenon of which
we have had such signal display.
The causes of earthquakes have been
discussed for many centuries, and the
high sounding theories of modern scien-
fists are, some OF them, much more plau-
sible, If not more re-assuring, than the
fanciful imaginings of the Magi. The
ancient idea of cOncussion, however. has
still its counterpart in the Buffonian doc
trlne that great caverns exist deep down
IN the earth and that the falling of the
ceilings very often produce the initial
shocks, which are continued by the vibra
tions produced by the elastic matter in
terror Of the globe. Two centuries ago
it was earnestl y contended that the vi
brations of the earth were communicated
to it from gas exploding in the atmos-
phere, and later they were attributed to
the explosion of chemicals, which, it was
and is known, are formed in vast quanti-
ties far beneath the surface The vbra-
tions and undulations were also attributed
to electrical activity in the interior
of the earth, as we'll as to the
formation OF immense quantities of steam
under such pressure as can only be esti-
mated by the weight of large proper
tion of the mass of matter composing
the solid crust of the earth, such steam
being generated by the incidental or
gradual coming in contact of streams of
water with the internal fires, volcanoes
being formed as gigantic safety valves
after the semi-elastic crust has been sub
mitted to such pressure that it must give
way somewhere in order to prevent a
general terrestrial explosion. There are
many other theories, most of which are
either notifications or elaborations of
these here briefly noted. No doubt the
study of seismology will be general, if
not popular, during the next few weeks.
One OF the most severe earthquakes
ever experienced in this country since its
occupation by white men was that which
visited the Eastern and Middle States on
Nov. Is, 1855. The great earthquake of
Lisbon occurred on The first day of the
same month. In this country the earth
quake began in Massachusetts with a
mighty roaring noise like thunder. After
this had continued about one minute a
severe shock was felt like the swell of
long, rolling sea. 1t was so great that
people in open fields were almost thrown
from their feet. Then followed series of
lesser shocks for two minutes. Many
brick buildings were overthrown in Boston
and walls and chimneys over the coun-
try were dslocated or partially destroyed.
New springs of water were opened. YES
sells in the harbors were tossed violently.
and fish in the rivers were killed in some
instances. Nine hours afterwards a sea
wave 20 feet high visited portions OF the
West Indies.
The famous New Madrid earthquake
visited the Mississippi valley in 1911. 1t
was remarkable as being an almost in
cessant quaking of the ground for several
months. For over 800 miles south of the
mouth of the OHIO river the ground rose
and fell in great undulations. Great lakes
were formed in the rivers and streams
and were Immediately drained again. In
many places the earth opened in assures
running from northeast to southwest.
These disturbances continued until
March, 1912, over the "sunk country"
when they ceased coincidentally with the
great earthquake at Caracas.
In 1852 an earthquake DESTROYED one
of the Southern mission stations In Cali
fornia.
The Canadian earthquake of October.
1870, was a severe one, but not specially
destructive, and that of California of 1872
badly damaged many buildings in San
Francisco. Slight earthquake shocks,
some of them extending over thousands
of square miles Of territory, have occurred
frequently OF late years in this country.
The great Mexican earthquake of June,
1858, did great damage in that country,
a part of which was the destruction of the
aqueduct of the city of Mexico and the
stoppage of the water supply of the city.
Earthquakes are by no means uncom-
mon in the West Indies. On June z,
1870, Port Royal, the capital Of Jamaica,