The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-06-23
DR.. YATES TELLS 1T !
He Gives the New Moon a Good Send
Off, Sure.
Thinks Earthquakes Have Nothing to do
with W. C. T. Us.
pERIeEE AND APoesE VIEW OF 1T
Tbe Doctor PulIs the Fur Off Some of the
Goggle-Eyed Ideas Which the World
Has Long Believed.

To II EDITOR l notice some COM
ments in the papers IN the recent earth
quake felt in New Berne and other places;
in which notice is taken Of the co Incl
dence between such phenomenon and
the earth being at the summer s~olstice,
the moon near its quadrature and the
flood tide, etc.
This calls up a problem which scien-
lists will ere long have to grapple with,
viz: is Maurcy's solution the right one
and has he not left out or ignored the
the great influence of electricity in these
phenomena? Not being an electrician,
my suggestions are more in the nature
of az INQUIRY than an ASSERTION.
If heat increases y DEGREE for ev-
erv FIFTY FEET OF DESCENT into the
earth, then at about twenty-six miles
beneath the surface every known sub
stance is in a red hot fluid state. Such is
the claim.
never have been able to believe this,
that a crust of earth only twenty-six
miles in thickness incloses an ocean of
melted matter over seven thousand five
hundred miles in diameter, and that the
slipping of this crust under shrinkage is
an earthquake. Such internal ocean of
fire cannot exist, and for the reason, l
humbly submit, that the attractive force
OF the sun and moon, when in conjunc.
ton, upon such crust, would crack and
split it to such an extent that, at least,
rivers of red.hot lava would brighten
with streams Of fire every part Of the
earth's surface.
Is it not true, rather, that by the law
Of the convection of heat the earth has
long ago cooled down to about the con
dition of a thick hOney-comb, in which
the walls of the cells are very thick and
leaving but small spaces containing fluid
matter. And this would leave, what |
believe is true, only a small part of the
earth internally in a melted condition,
and that fire is only local-here and there.
If this should prove to be true, it would
negative the idea that earthquakes are
caused by slipping of the crust; but it
would leave almost demonstrated the
fact that earthquake is caused by a FALL
ING IN from the surface, or beneath it,
under the force of gravity-a seismic, or
falling down effect, which phenomena is
more frequently observed than any
other. And when such seismic effect
takes place Immediately over or above a
fiery cell Of the honey comb, the red hot
matter shoots out above the surface and
we call it a volcano And then the gen
eral trend of fire 10 such break would
continue such volcano for ages,
Now, as to the seismic, or falling down
effect, what produces ii? | venture to
suggest that it is an electric storm within
the earth. How is the local electrical
disturbance produced ? | answer by ex
~traOrdinarY friction Of earth particles in
juXta- position. How is such friction
produced? l answer, by the combined
attractive power of the moon and sun,
say at new moon.
We easily understand how this attrac
tive power can raise a tide on THE WATER
of a hemisphere; but we must also re
member that it raises some tide on the
solid earth, and it would RAISE SOME TIDE
ON A BALL OF EEL. SO that the cleo
trical disturbance is very great by this
heat producing friction, and by the cleo.
trical force thus set in motion, the cells
or chasms in the earth are being filled in
by seismic or falling down of large
masses Of earth, and this is earthquake.
After reaching these conclusions, | was
struck by some data collected by the
British Association of Scientists during
the last century, and which go to show
at least some connection between earth
quake and electrical disturbance by earth.
tidal action. l give a few of these re-
markable observations:
l. Earthquakes are MORE at
new or full moon, or when the three
bodies, earth, moon and sun. ARE IN LINE.
?. Earthquakes are more frequent when
the moon is in PERIGEE than in apogee.
The reason Of this is that when the moon
i ~ uDV-r !, =, ~ -.