The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-09-16
Prof. Proctor on Earthquakes.
COLUMBIA, September 8, 1886,

and instructive series OF iectures oeil4eIep'
in Columbia last Winter by that eminent!
Astronomer and Scientist, Richard a.
Proctor. Knowing the diversity ofopiE-;
ion among scientific men as to the cause
of earthquake disturbances, and thinning
that an expression Of Professor Froctors
views upon the subject would, just at this:
time, be interesting to your readers. y
send you the following extract from an
able and striking article recently contrib
uted by him to the Contemporary Revis,o.s
Prof. Proctor says: .S|sls'S 81
A few remarks should be made ON tie
evidence that earthquake disturbancss
afford Of terrestrial vitality. The nate.
rial life of a planet is beginning 70 osbss
recognized as being no less real than thess
life Of plant or of an animal. y is a
different kind of life, there Is neither
consciousness such as we see in one :of
those forms of life, nor such systematic
progress as we recognize in plant Iile !
But it is life, all the same. It has bad
a beginning, like all things which exist
and like them all it must have an end: 8 8
The lifetime OF, a world, like onr earsh,
may be truly said to be lifetime of
cooling. Beginning in the glowing va;
porous condition which we see in the sum
and stars, an orb in space passes gradu:s
ally to the condition Of a cool, non:Ip:
minous mass, aud thence, with progress:
depending chiefly on its size, (slower for:
the large masses and quicker for the;
small ones), it passes steadily opwards|
towards inertness and death. Regarding
the state in which ne find the earth to- Ea
as tie stage of planets mid.life, viz
that in which the conditions are sucI
that mnltitudinous forms Of life csls
exist upon its surface, We may call that
stage death in which these ccndition1
have entirely disappeared. Nov, among
ths conditions necessary for the support
of life in general are some which are mn
favorable to individual life. Among
these, may, be specially noted the actioA
of those subterranean forces BY which
the earth's surface is continually modelled
and remodeled. It has been remarked
with great justice by Sir John Hersc6sll Z
that since the continents of the eait
were formed, forces have been at woi
which would long since have suficed
have destroyed every trace Of land ap
to have left the face of our globe one
vast, limitless ocean. But against these
forces counteracting forces have been ats
work, constantly disturbing the earth'ssSI
crust, and, by keeping it irregular leay
ing room for oceans in the depressionss
and leaving the higher parts as conti;;SS
nents and islands above the oceans sur:
face. If these disturbing forces. cessea
to work, the work of Distinguishing
wearing away and washing off the land
would go on unresisted. In peri0 :
time such as to US seem long,
great effect would be produced but 81
periods as belong to the past Of our eal
even to that comparatively short part
the past during which she has been
abode of life, would suffice toprod
effects utterly Inconsistent. with the
istence of life on land. Only by q
action of her Vulcanian energies CAM
earth maintain her position as & an abode
of life. She is, them -manifesting her fts
ness to supportllife in those very throesI
by which, too often, many lives are Lost.
The upheayals and down.sinkings tho,
rushing of the ocean in great waves oveis'
islands and seaports, by which sens of|
thousands of human beings, and SILL
greater numbers of animals, lose their
lives, are part of the evidence which thss;
earth gives that within her, frame the d
stilliremains enough of vitality for lths')
support of life during hundreds of thou
sands of years yet to come, 81
This vitality is not due, as seems, com
monty imagined, to the earth's interns
heat. Rather the earth's internal hs
is due to the vitality with which
frame is instinct. The earth's vitality -
in reslity due to the power of attraction
which resides in every particle % AZ
mass-that wonderful force of gsayit
ton, omnipresent, infinite in extent
property whose range throughout
space should have taughtlong sinceNl
science is teaching now, land has b -
foolishly blamed for teaching,l The
equally infinite range OF Gods laws ins.
time also. By virtue of the force oE
gravity pervading her whole frame, thseF.
crust of the earth is continusiiy
going changes, as the loss Of he.
consequent contraction, or CD
changes beneath the surface, leay 4
for the movement inwards of th
substances of the crust, with crr ~
grinding action, and the general
intense heat. If the earth's enc
gravity were lost, the internal fires
die out-not. indeed, quickly, bu
period of time very short compared
that during which, maintained %
constantly are by the effects ofiD
movements, they will doubtless cor
They are, in sense, the cause Of
quakes, VOLCANOES, and 30 forth. 5e
they prepare the earth's interior fO
action of her energies Of attraction:
it is to these energies. and the mai
which as yet they have on Wild
work, that the earth's vitality Is
She will not, indeed, retain her sif
as long as she retains her grsgita
power Tbatpower must have someti
to work on. When the whole frams
the earth has been compressed to q col
dition of the greatest density which hez