Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-09-06
ORIGIN OF THE SHOCKS.
The Opinion Of the Editor of the News
and Courier.

Inc OplnlOn bl lne W .NVNN
and Courier.
CHARLESTON, :. c., September 1.-The
Nc,r& a,m Courier to-day publishes the fol-
lowing in regard TO the recent earthquakes:
There can he no doubt that the various
earthquake shocks had their origin i'll the
islands of the Mediterranean and in Greece
and Italy. On August % was reported the
occurrence of destructive earthquake
throughout Greece and Italy, that there
had been two cruptiOnS of NcSuViuS and
that. the volcano was still very active.
These eruption gave vent TO
THE INTERNAL. CONNECTION
which had produced the quaking Of the
earth in that vicinity, but the shocks be
ing communicated to the earth have trav-
clcd in various directions, i'll some with
more violence than in others, Us they were
fell the same day throughout Egypt,
but doing little damage. The
shocks seem to have extended
westward with more rapidity and violence
than in any other direction the vibrations
of the PARTICLES of the cmth'S surface being
transmitted under the Sea ut the rate of
about 100 miles an hour, occupying about
sevcnty-two hours in travelling 4 distance
of Il, 800 miles before reaching the western
shores of the Atlantic. Travelling as it did
almost dine west, one of the first points on
the shore line which it could reach WAS
THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
but we see that it was felt along the entire
coast us far north as Boston and spread
across the continent with discriminating
force Us the various more solid and rocky
portions of the surface crust retarded the
Vibrations until it seems to have
been almost entirely stopped by
friction in the extreme northwestern States
The reason why the shocks were more viO-
lent in the vicinity OF Charleston ana Sum-
merville is that there is more of soft yield
ing nature in the superficial upper strata
which conducted the vibrations and the
forward movements of the caEth-waveS
meeting less resistance than from hard
substances further in the interior, were
more rapid and icrl;y and throw the sur
face
WITH MORE VIOLENCE.
The presence of the innumCrahle assures
observable in the city and county, rs far
us Summcryillc and beyond, is accounted
for by this same soft material yielding
rapidly to the pressure of the waves which
push up the thin crust and squeeze out rs
it were. the water and sand subject to the
pressure. The blue sand and the yellow
sand thus elected are found i'll the upper
strata, and that came from near the surface
is proven by the fact that no mari is found
in it. and that it begins at from SiXty-tive
To ninety feet below the surface and eN-
tends to nearly l. loo feet deep. To show
still more conclusively that the wave mo-
tons were confined 10
\ VERY LIMITED DEPTH
beneath the surface it is only necessary to
state that none of the shallow or four hun
drrd feet artcSian wells are ut all affected,
nor is there any change noticeable in the
flow or quality of the water from the two
deep arteSiIn wells, Us would have been
the case if the cause of the earthquake
had been local or dccp-Seated.
This statement Of the c0mmun-
cation of land waves to enor-
nous distances is fully verified
by the observations of previous earth
uuakeS, since and even before the Christian
era. The absence OF a tidal wave proves
concluSively that the cause of the disturb
ance was confined to the land and the
ierky motion communicated TO vessels, rs
reported by their officers, was caused by
the vertical vibrations intermediate be
tween the rapid forward transmission and
the slower backward Jerks.