Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-11-07

however, the earth has been bothered
about something. judging from the
agilated condition of its surface.
Along the western slope of the Mexi-
can ranges of mountains shocks have
been internationally occurring during
that period. Similar shakings have
alarmed the populations of the western
slopes of the Andes In South America.
Then a great tidal wave came out oil
the sea and destroyed the town of La
Paz, in Lower California.
Yesterday the whole Mississippi VAL
ley was shaken, and the people are apt
to begin to wonder whore the earth
will quiver next.
Should these disturbances prove to
be premonitory symptoms of a local In
ternal earthly disorder of serious type,
then people have reason to view with
alarm a recurrence of them. The
earth is usually a quiet, unobstrusive
sort of an affair. of retiring disposition
and inoffensive manners and customs.
When once aroused, however, puny
, man has reason to be afraid. Too
many terrible examples of the awful
destruction of life and property are re-
membered for people to contemplate
with content and satisfaction the pro-
bability of seismic disturbances.
The historical earthquake and the
resulting tidal wave which engulfed
Lisbon in 1855, sweeping awful des-
truction of Lille and property before it,
the more recent wrecking of Charles
ton, s. c.. the great earthquake of
May, 1877, which destroyed so many
South American cities, the stories of
islands in the South seas sinking un-
derneath the depths of the ocean,
while the waters closed over the peO-
pie of whole towns and villages-all
bear witness to the resistless, merci-
less, relentless exhibition OF power
which full-fledged earthquake dis
plays when once it getSa-going.
Earthquakes have always attracted
the attention of scientists. Pliny, it
will be remembered, watched the erup-
tion of Vesuvsus when that mountain
buried Pompeii beneath its cinders and
lava flows during great disturbance
of lhe earth. In latter days instru-
ments have been constructed which
give some idea of the nature of the
shock. They even record and differ
entiate the different impulses of motion
of the earth during the disturbance.
But no really satisfactory conclusion
as to the cause of earthquakes has
been arrived at by men of science, as
the whole matter is intricately con-
nected with the physical structure of
the earth. the facts OF which are real
ly unknown, although great deal of
theoretical discussion on the subject
has engaged the attention of eminent
scientists.
No violent and destructive shocks
have disturbed the tranquility o; this
section since the early part of the GEN.
tury, when the region about Cape
Girardeau, NO., was agitated. That,
indeed, was transformation of the
face of nature. Hills were fashioned
where hollows had been before, and
great areas of country were depressed
below the normal level. The swamps
and lagoons of the Southeast Missouri
district were almost all formed by this
convulsion of nature.
Yesterdays quake should bring no
alarm to the minds of the people. The
general habit and custom OF earth
quakes seems to lead them to frequent
mountains countries near to the sea,
and while an inland disturbance such
as that of the Cape Girardeau district
sometimes occurs, such cases are an
exception to what appears to be the
general rule.-K. G.. Times, NoU. I,
1895.