Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-09-04

1ae ylslts Of Earthquakes.


w oEe learning some surprising things
fnhunt earthquakes since the Charleston
6enntxophe has aroused such interest in
~ subject; and not the least surprising
}nnoemation given Is that earthquakes are
about - common as thunder storms,
3 lhough they have no connection with each
In The United States and Canada,
monthly average of earth movements
1orious enough to be called earthquakes is
naid, on the authority Of the Percy tables
s compiled upon the subject, to be about
Gour. The British Isles have had month
~ average Of nine quakes since the be-
ginning Of the century. France, Belgium
and Holland have had seventeen. Away
~ IN Iceland and Scandinavia they have
soNoEAged nine q month; while down in
Central America, which We are accustomed
eoconsidsrt the eearthquake 'scruising ground,
NJ sverage has been but two and half
un0nth but doubtless they were big ones.
We have to say in this regard that IL t.
ooction Of the earth s crust quakesregularly
once . week, it has hitherto been done
with mildness that has earned our con.
tcnpts We are not wont to give earth.
quakes thought as among ourcalamities; :;
hut the information now given us and the
practical illustration afforded us of what
can BE- done with the land hereabout, is
quite sufficient to inspire us with high re-
epect for the ancient institution. We do
not care to have any further evidence of
what It may do. 1t is exceedingly disa.
greeable to be aroused from our impression
( that we had no near connection with earth
quakes.
There is q gentleman in Pittsburg of
scientific turn of mind, who has hitherto
given M great deal of information about
the natural gas and petroleum phenomena,
( who has something to tell us about earth
Quakes. His name is Roberts, but not, we
believe, of torpedo fame, though the lurid-
l.naD Of his prophecies marks him as a
torpedo man. He says we have not had
the last of these quakes, and that they
usually are felt through several months,
when they once commence their exhibit
tions. 1t was SO during the Mississippi
valley disturbances of ISL. But lie does
5 not believe that natural gas has anything
at al to do with them.
In one position which he takes he seems
70 have basis of fact to stand on. 1t is
that the earthquakes follow the line of
water and water courses, the theory being
that rivers, following the lowest line of the
country, and having the least thickness of
strata over them, would become the bend.
Ing line or axis of movement just as any
piece of iron or fibrous material would
y Yield first where it was thinnest. In
Fittsburg Mr.. Roberts says that the quake
{ was not felt sixty feet above the river line.
Professor Very, of the Allegheny observa-
tory, says rhat its delicate clocks and other
nciontiic instruments were not in the least
affected by the earthquake. They stood
three hundred feet above the river. And
I the New York papers record that while the
shock was severely felt in the lower end of
the city it was not noted at all in the Gen.
+ trAl Park. Our neighboring town of Read.
Ing, on the banks of the Schuylkill, claims
- have felt the shock, while it was not OBJ
served In this city which stands above its
noighboring Conestoga. Williamsport, ly-
Ing low on the Susquehanna, felt two
z shocks.
The practical teaching from this, if it is
found to be true observation, will be i'm
poftant. It win send people flying in
\ earthquake times to places of refuge above
the streams and the shores. The sea coast
41nhabitants will have none such convenient,
St we can comfort ourselves hereabout
-ruat we have hills to save us. Probably
~ win know good deal more about
earthquakes, If they keep coming around
In the late lively fashion. 1t will stimulate
inquiry and cause Benjamin Franklin to
arise with a device to make them harm.
lss.