The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1886-09-10
METEOROLOGICAL REPORT FOR AU.
GUST, 1856.
The Cause of Earthquakes.
tho INr;c and Intallfnonnar

The Cause of Earthquakes.
For the IEgs and Inteligencer.
Maximum temperature on the 27th ......S9 deg
Minimum temperature on the 3d-4th....54 :"
Mean temperature of the month...".. 70.S6 "
Rain fa..'.'..". ABB inc.
Mean temperature of August for ID years at
this place, 7l6l degrees highest in 1872, rs So de-
grees lowest in 1875, 967 degrees This year as
above, 1886 degrees.
Mean rain fall for August for Is years past. not
including this year, $40 inches most in 1872, 1.55
inches; least in 1881. Ito inches. This year, as
above, So inches. The great rain of the LIST and
I'd gave 1884 inches; another rain on the It'll, 123
inches; there then occurred an interval of 32
days without measurable rain, and the surface of
the earth became very dry. and the fields unus-
ually hard, having been, through all the season.
over saturated. Streams. wells and springs are
still much higher than usual ut this season. In
the rain of the Both and 3lst, there fell 096 of
inch. much needed and most grateful rain. Up
to the end of August there have fallen this year
40 20 inches, or 2.S9 inches more than the mean
yearly rainfall for ID years. Although we have
already had more than years rain during the
past eight months the late interval of twenty
two dry days shows us how poorly we would do
without rain for the balance of the year.
On the evening Of the Goth, about 8 o'clock, a
most brilliant meteor was seen, the light of which
was 50 intense that person, sitting In dark par
the figures on the carpet, as by dazzling flash of
lightning.
THE eclipse on tho morning of the Goth was OBJ
served here under favorable conditions, neither
mists nor clouds hindering. Interval of obscura-
ton, 40 minutes at most.
orally noticed throughout this section, AZ to 5
minutes before 10 o'clock. 10th meridian time -
The clock In the tower of st. Michaels Church,
Charleston, stopped at * minutes to 10, running
the same time. This shows that the entire terri
tory from Connecticut to Florida suffered this
disturbance at almost the same instant.
The theories of the learned regarding earth
quakes have varied wonderfully. First, they
we're caused by volcanic eruptions. This theory
prevailed while was a school boy, and for many
years. by another theory, electricity making its
way through the .earth's strata was the agency
but the last, and as 1t seems to me the most
plausible theory, is the theory of contraction
The earth is slowly cooling mass. and it con-
tracts the exterior rocky crust is left unsupported
by the more fluid interior portions. and by its
own weight settles here and there with q crash.
This fall breaks the strata and lets in the water
in places to nuclei of fire, aud hence volcanoes
aud eruptions. So earthquakes are now reckon
ed the cause of volcanoes instead OF the effect
Unequal contraction rolls the strata up in some
places, while 1t is settling in others. Where vast
bodies of water rest upon tho earth, 1t is there
cooling faster. Hence the ocean tends TO greater
depths, while the dry land may be crowded high
er up. Some shores are rising in other places
the coast is sinking. G.. G. q.
oakland School, FdAlSt0n.