The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-12-18
WHAT Is THE CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES


As it aprcars, each and every scientist has Iii.
own, and rs II seems, his private opinion as tc
the cause Of earthquakes, In all ages man has
hceh brought face to face with this question, and
has he solved Il? let Us see. 1t has been ouly
! tor the last thirty years that the phenomena has
been subjected to exact investigation. 4 new
science has thus been established. called seis-
nology. But as it appears, few students have
been attracted to this study. The first of any
consequence in England was Robert Malct. Ac.
counts, too. are TO he found scattered through,
the writings of many ancient authors, hut are of
lttle value. Such ancept historians aid phoso-
piers us ThucyGides Aristotle and Stra6o Senc-
ca, Livy and plncy. Nor is much to be Cleaned
from mcdiayal or LATER writers-among the mos
| notable are TromOndc, C152T: MaggIo, u57ll.
In this country, the earliest work worthy Of
| mcHt;un is Dr. Robert Hooks "Dlscourse on
Earthquakes, G6tD. Equally unsatisfactory
were the attempts of Prcisley and some of the
other scientific writer's Of the last century to cen
meet the cause of earthquakes with electrical
phenomena. Rev. john Michcil, professor Of
minerology at Cambridge in I76O published IN
essay on the cause and phOnomCna of earth
quakes, and gives as his opinion regarding the
earth us having Il liquid interior covered by
comparatively thin crust; he conceived that
waves might be generated in the subtrrrancar
liquid, and that such waves by shaking the fiex-
ible crust would prodCce the shocks Of an earth
qlaEcs Modern physicists claim that Mich, Ii
did not understand tllC true nature of wave mo.
tion ana the way in witch 1t is transmitted dur
ing an earthquake shock Nn,n1r.. .-i .--.~''ssIStS
believe that an rarii i''ht ~ NIpTdloTy morton
nronaa..ss-,i through the solid materials of the.
earth, much in titt same way as souId is propo-
YatGl iIqq; 99A, h?s 'heen:i fay6lqe agent
with seismologiSls. II has been sIge estcd that
water, lndh, It's way through assures in the
Cartls crust might reach highly heated rocks
and rcNpain quietly in the Soherodal condition
until a local reduction Of temperature suddenly
caused il to flash in,o steam. Prof. AleGee nd
yocateS the displacement theory. Prof. Mendyi
hail boots at the displacement theory. Major j.
=. Powell. of the L. s. Signal Corps. believes that
the late disturbances were due 10 Tie recent
spouing of a number Of dried up gcyscrs in the
far West. The supcr-hrated gaSSeS and boiling
water could,no iiIrl suiii outlet there, so
they worked then way across the continent untll
they struck the Atlantic side where the car.h's
crust is thin and sensitive. The result was an
II iheaval followed by a series of cayings in Prot.
Andrew Jackson Devoe, selr-taught meteorolO-
gist, of New Jersey, 81 years Old) believes that
earthquakes and atmospheric disturbances go
together. The latter is the promoting cu,lse of
the former; now the normal external pressure oI
the atmosphere ON the carth's surface is about
fifteen pounds to the square ihch Il series ci
heavy storms come and displace portion Of the
atmosphere, diminishing the external pressure
in that particular locality The internal pres
Surc.-the volcanic forces at work without The
earth seek vent wherever the external pressure
is lcast-rcsut, IN earthquake. Now, all storms
in my opinion are attr!butal To the movements Oi
the moon. The moon carries the atmospheric
waves upward, attracts them toward herself.
scientists Of the schools deny thus because they
cannot weigh these suspended waves. ! have
two-ruli answer ready to meet this objection.
Let us suppose that We have small letter bal
ancc before us; place a steal weight on the bal
ance and il bears it down; now let me take
uowerful magnet and hold It above the weight,
note the result, The balance returns to its nor
nal position just rs ii the weight did not rest
upon it. How can weigh that suspended weight
now" Tell me and | will show the scientists
how to weigh suspended atmospheric wave
My second answer is lcvelcd at those who doubt
the power Of the moons attraction. II is simply
an argument by analogy The moon, according
the very generally accepted scientific theory.
the cbD and flow of the tide What is this but
attraction and rcpulsion? 4 the moon can lit
Il volume Of water thousands Of miles in erea ana
hundreds OF fathOms deep, why cannot it lift =
volume of air? Now to go back Il little way to
| where | said thatthe normal pressure upon tie
earlh's surface was changed by serics.nf heeNy
storms, you will now comprehend that this al
mosphcric displacement is attlbUtal TO the at
traction of the moon The; moon causosstslo
storms and then HTS the atmospheric wales
the pressure without the earth's crust has a
| diminished pressure from without TO contend
against, an uphcavcl follows After carefully
studying these different theories the fact stiIrcs
| us in the face that we really know nothing what
/ ever regarding the cause Of earthquakes. s,