The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-09-15
THE QUlVERING EARTH.
AN INTERESTING CHAPTER on EARTH.
QUhNES.

A Scientific Paper from Major Hurry Ham
mond-Some Fncts thnt VIII Instruc, th,
Newspaper Reader Earthquakes of FrcGuen
Occurrence In the United States.
BEECH ISLAND, S. c., Aug. 8, 1856.
Hon. p. Walsh, Augusta, Ga. Dear
Sir: ] feel such compunction at seeing
tho space of your valuable journal occu
pied with my random talk of the Other
day, that beg, rs commutation, to eli,
close some paragraphs on earthquakes tc
you.
have selected and very greatly cor.
dcnscd them from such mention MS
find in my scientific periodicals OF The
last fow years. L have not tried to III,
range them in any order, and you can
select and omit any rs you may think
proper. Ordinarily, l suppose, no ono
would read them, but just now perhaps
these scientific observations may bc OF
interest. The Importance Of Carthuuakcs
consist not in the property they destroy
or the persons they KILL but in the i'm
prcssions they produce on the mental
and moral character of large bodies of
people Comparing small things with
great, the fractures and tllSlocutiOns thcy
produce among the loose clements OF
human souls exceeds the alterations they
work IN the face of physical nature. [
have no doubt the decentralization con
scqucnt on them has determined the fate
of nations and the course OF civilization.
scientific consideration of them might
allay or dispcl such evil influence, and |
hope these notes will be of service to
you. Very truly,
HARRY HAMMOND.
NOTES on EARTHQUAKES.
Professor Eruchs records 1913 earth
quake shocks for the year 1891, of which
81 occurred i'll winter, - III spring, 2l III
summer and 2l i'll autumn. There was
little volcanic activity throughout the
year.
Twentieth January, 1886. The Russian
bark Prcciosc, latitude, II OF n. longi-
tudc CD degrees or W., wind fresh n.
e., water smooth, speed 10 knots, en-
countcrcd n heavy shock, throwing the
vessel to one side and causing it to ship
heavy sea. 1t lasted only 'uw see
onds, and the wind shifted directly To
the ;. H., and died away, leaving it calm
for the next three days.
OF u shocks in China, Is occurred in
tho first and second quarters OF the
moon, "a in the third and fourth. The
9th day Of the moon shows the largest
number, II; none occurred on the 2d,
9th, 18th, 14th. 1t has been thought
that storms on the Atlantic slope were
most frequent on the young moon.
In Switzerland there were llG shocks
i'll 1880 and 1881; 40 in 1882; - in 1888.
The schooner Rosano reports Juno %,
1885, i'll lat. % degrees II n, long. 1873
degrees 80 W., two heavy shock Of sub
marine earthquakes about one minute
apart, causing the vessel to trcmblc
violently. The sky was overcast and the
sea smooth.
Fourteenth July, 1885, severe Garth
quake experienced in Bengal, lasting
nearly minute and killing seventy per-
sons.
The centre of tho Andalusian earth
quake OF December %, 1891, was de-
tcrminCd rs lying between Granada and
Malaga, and earth tremors extended rs
far as Rome and Brussels. Seventeen
thousand buildings were injured, of
which 1000 were totally destroyed, 7I5
persons were killed and 1856 wounded.
The cause of this earthquake is thought
to have been tho pcrcolation OF water
into the deep lying rocky strata in the
valley of Nafarraya, whore the heat CON
vcrted it into vapor of high tension and
generated the tremendous forces which
exploded along lines radating from
Zafarraya as focus. These radiations
arc very nearly in the same directions rs
the surface streams OF the region, whose
courses arc believed to accord with sub
tcrranean crcvices, through which the
water reaches the interior heat
1t has been suggested that the Coast
Survey should sink deep vertical shafts
at intervals to determine by observations
made on them from time to time whcth-
er there was any movement or shifting
of the superficial or deeper strata, re-
sulting in changes Of latitude and longi-
tude.
In an earthquake observed in Toxic,
Japan, 10Th October, 1884, tho most
violent motions were over in ten sec
onds, but the oscillations continued with
much force for some minutes afterwards.
The greatest velocity was 6.S ccntimctrcs
per second and the greatest accclcration
81. If the amplitude had occurred i'll
conjunction with the moro usual period
of threcfourths of second, the de-
struction would have been immense. 1t
was felt over an area Of twenty thousand
square miles.
OF 3S7 earthquakes observed by Prof.
Milne in Japan, between October 1881 i,
and October, 1888, 1915 occurred from
January to March; 70 from April to
June; 80 from July to September; 83
from October to December. They were
most violent along the line Of the river
Toncgawa, in fiat alluvial plain, only
small number being felt in the noun
tains or in the vicinity of recent or active
volcanoes. They were most frequent on
tho side which slopes down stoeply un-
der deep ocean, and not on the oppo,
site sidD whore tho slope is moro gradual
and the ocean shallow: Tho same rcla-
Honship holds in South America. Earth
quakes are also most frequent in Japan,
Where there Is evidence of recent and
rapid clcyation OF tho land, and where
numerous rivers are pouring out heavy
J.