Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-12

and as the pendulum swung, the point OF
the pencil. always on the paper, Woulo
describe the horizontal motion pro-
duced by the earthquakes. Thcugn
the data thus collected were
too few TO form definite conclusion, the
motion was almost uniformly an ellipse
| pointing north and south. The vertical
movement L measured approximately by
| the smashing of water in glass table
bottle. In no case observed did the water
swash up the side OF the bottle more than
half an inch, even when the Temblor was
J strong enough to unlatch my chamber
door and make 1t fly open. This latter
experiment might have been very much
| improved upon, but it satisfied me that
the vertical motion was very slight.
have mentioned all these things to In
dictate ways by which the data may he
gathered, which perhaps may furnish
means OF studying scientifically the phe-
nomena or earthquakes. AS the shocks
are likely to be felt at increasing intervals
in the present instance until the forces at
work are exhausted, much may be learned
from the present calamity by painstaking
observers.
Here let me add that the barometric
pressure is almost uniform in Chill
throughout the dry season, wheu earth
quakes generally occur. My meteoro-
logical observations there showed scarce
~ any change of atmospheric pressure
from day 10 day, or month to month. For
example, note in my letter book that
the average at Pullalli 140 feet above the
sea, In $780, was:
Jan. Feb. March.
Barometer. ............ 2g.7797 20 .Sl49 %. 500
Mean thermometer ~ 6.43 64.S9 62.S0
Atmospheric moisture,
per cent. IL u "a
These data indicate no apparent con-
~ fh,Nt1 oil xHtth harn afriN
variations.
Before closing allow me 10 refer to the
Mendoza earthquake of 1868, named IL
yesterdays letter, of which I endeavOred
to obtain accurate information when at
Mendoza in 1865.
Mendoza was town OF 10000 people at
the east side Of the Andes. lat. SO dogs.
south, and is the capital of the Argentine
province or State of Mendoza. The earth
quake took place about 8 O'Clock In the
evening. The weather was clear, the
moon full. A great religious ceremony
was in progress; the churches were
crowded with women; the streets were
thronged with men smoking and talking,
but little thinking of the disaster at hand.
There had never been an earth
quake on that side Of the Andes
in the ''pampa" towns. There
had been no subterranean noises to
shocks were felt, all within a minute,
and every building in town was over
thrown Except a summer house alluded
to yesterday. The motion was entirely
horizontal, no vertical motion at all. The
walls fell outward, the roofs fell down
crushing those inside. In that brief mo-
ment u, 600 Of the 90, 900 inhabitants were
killed or so wounded as to die. Among
my 1nformants were gentlemen who
were walking in the street at the
time. Another gentleman was returning
on horseback. He was less than half
mile from home; he could see the lights
in his house and the city quietly stretched
out before him in the moonlight. Suddenly
his horse reared in fright, and great
cloud OF dust rose from the city. He hur-
ried forward full of fear, only to find his
house in ruins and his family all killed.
There was no indication of an APP
preaching earthquake, no underground
noises of any kind, before the shock,
though for several subsequent days the
rumbling OF Temblors was heard. That
was a TerremotO, so severe as to stop
clocks at Valparaiso, 300 miles west
on the Pacific, and at Buenos
Ayres, 1000 east on the Atlantic.
Humboldt says OF the great earthquake
at klObamba in 1897. that it was zone of
the most fearful phenomena recorded in
the history OF our planet, but was not ac-
companled by any noise whatever" In
short TembIOrs are noisy earthquakes
but rarely marked by great loss OF life.
l think yours belongs to that class. Your
friend and classmate,
HORACE N. FISHER.