Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-23
FORCES OF NATURE.
The Contraction of the Earth's Crust
Raises Up Continents;
DROPS OF WATER REDUCE THEM.
Statistics and Theories Regarding Earth
quakes and Volcanoes.
WORK THAT GOES ON WITH THE AGES
WRITTEN FOR THE pIsPATcHl

l
quakes is getting to be better understood.
They have been active at every period Of
history, elevating and depressing the earth's
surface. It is impossible that the earth's
interior is all mass OF fire, as was believed
by Humboldt 1t could not be, on account
of tides which would be caused in the mol
ten mass OF the interior. The edrth's crust
would partake of the motion and crack into
great assures. Very little smoke is now
coming out of few volcanos, while if the
earth's interior were mass of fire thousands
of VOLCANOES would hardly carry off the smoke.
On the other hand there is still extant an
old belief that there is a passageway through
the earth from pole to pole, but as the poles
are impossible to reach it cannot be proven.
But it is proven that there are internal fires
from the violence of VOLCANOES, and the gen.
orally accompanying violence of the earth
| quake. There are from IL to Is quakes
| every year, and in fact the earth is never
| entirely quiet or free from evidence of their
presence. Wide districts of grain and cat
| tie, and great towns and villages with their
| Inhabitants have been destroyed. 1t is esti-
mated that 10 600 900 of the human race have
been destroyed since history began; $4,000
were lost at Lisbon, and A, 600 in Caiabria
in the last century.
CHANGES IN THE EARTH's SURFACE.
In the beginning great changes on the
earth's surface were caused by these dis
turbances. New lakes and eventually river
courses were formed. The immense assures
formed in the earth's crust were gradually
filled up by filtration; by great landslides
which brought down precipices and noun
tains and filled up yawning chasms. FORM
ing new water courses and long valleys.
Earthquakes are most frequent along the
line of volcanos, showing some connection
with the violence of the volcanos. Every
earthquake is followed, preceded or accom-
panied by volcanic outburst. Violent
quakes are often stopped by volcanic ex-
plosions, while violent commotion in vol
canoes has caused earthquakes at vast dis
tancs. The earthquake is usually accom-
panied by violent tremors, ratings, roar
ings, hissings like steam escaping and other
subterranean noises. Sometimes the noise
is not accompanied by any motion, and
sometimes the motion occurs without any
noise. At the central point of the dis
turbance the shock comes from below, ver-
tical shock.
The Lisbon wave lasted only an instant
anywhere, but it extended from Finland to
Canada and the West Indies, over an area
of I, 800, 900 square miles. Taking the crust
to be 20 miles thick, it took tremendous
force to shake 100, ,00o, 900 cubic miles of
earth and water.
SOME OF THE THEORIES.
The explosions in the interior must be
from some fearful power. A Western
geologIst recently said that a sudden letting
down of the sea bottom and the precipitation
of great volumes of sea water into fierce
electric or other intense fires, caused the in
slant formation of a gas which either caused
other explosions or escaped upward through
the crevices, and deposited carbon oil near
the sur ace, and then became natural gas.
Something similar to that was the opinion
of Sir Humphrey Davy, who believed that
earthq uakes were formed by chemical ac-
tion OF metals in an uno1ydized state, acted
upon by water coming into contact with
them, causing vast quantities of gases to be
set free to which the great explosions were
due. 1t is an opinion of others that the
whole interior of the earth is a honeycomb
OF molten rocks and their metal bases
Great assures go and go miles long and IS
inches wide, with remarkable circular holes
have appeared in different places, after the
passage of an earthquake, showing severe
grind or a small upheaval. When great
disturbance occurs under the ocean near
shore, the water recedes for distance and
then comes back as wall 60 feet high, and
rushes inland a long distance, carrying
everything movable along with it. After
the earthquake of 1922 the coast of Chill,
for long distance, was found to have risen
from three to four feet, while in the earth
quake of 1852 an area OF 60 square miles on
the coast OF Chittagorg suddenly disap-
peared under the water, leaving only the
higher plains visible. The wonderful island
mentioned by many ancient authors, and by
Plato called Atlantis, situated, as he
claimed, opposite the Pillars of Hercules.
has disappeared with all of its wonders and
beauties beneath the blue waters of the
Atlantic.
TEMPLE OF JUPITER SERAPIS.
The ruins of the beautiful Temple of
Jupiter Serapis, near Naples, attest the re-
markable changes which are taking place in
that volcanic country. Three of the original
46 columns remain. The pavement is still
under water, but the three pillars stand up
out of it. They are AZ feet high, but they
show that submarine organisms have bored
into them as high as 81 feet, to which depth
thev must have been buried in the water at
one time. The changes have been so grad
ual that they have retained their perpen-
dicular.
Scania, on the southerly coast of Sweden,
is being swallowed slowly. Street bv street
and 600 miles of the west coast of Greenland
is sinking gradually. Within the past 90
years an island In the Greek Archipelago
sank gradually under water without any
sound, while another short distance from
it raised its head above water and then SUBJ
sided out of sight. The coast OF Siberia for
600 miles east of the Lena river, the western
coast of South America and the Scandi-
navian peninsula have all been recently up
heaved. The coast line on both sides of
Scotland has been raised from % to 160 feet.
The western part of Connecticut shows
plainly by "raised beaches" the former up
heaval of that country. By these raised
beaches it can be shown that the most OF the
land now visible was at one time under
water. High up on the Himalaya Mount
aims undoubted marine shells occur in the
solid rocks.
OUT OF THE Vastly DEEP.
In this way it is proven by the multitude
of places throughout the earth where SUBJ
marine organisms are certain evidence, that
at some remote time, probably very
gradually, possibly by sudden, violent,
mighty throes of earthquake and convul-
sions of the ocean, the great hills and
mountains have been raised with their
marine evidences out of the "vasty Deep"
But when they raised up some other vast
region subsided. Submerged forests can
often be distinguished lar beneath the
water OF calm sea and occasionally in the
Grecian Archipelago. The watcher over
the side of the vessel can see far down in the
clear water delicately shaped buildings, |
whose beauty is heightened by the romance
of their mystery. And the old mythical |
idea of the mermaids and sea nymnhs and |