The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02
THE EARTH's PHYSICAL CONDITION.
A Crumpling of the Surface on the
Coast of Japan.
.emocrat and Chronicle.

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
On the 18th of June, at S o'clock in the
evening, there was a crumpling OF the
earth or an explosion Of imprisoned gas
OF the southeastern coast o. the island OF
Yezo, Japan, which raised mighty waves
that overwhelmed the fishing villages along
the shore for a distance of eighty or
ninety miles. In some places the sea
rushed inland for more than two miles.
The first wave drowned almost $1,000 peo-
pie and swept the shores clean Of houses.
| A heavy fog hung over Vulcan bay as
evening closed. and from the yelled waters
came a thunderous noise. While the alarm
ed people along the shore were wondering
as to the cause of the roar. the sea swept
in. Along the whole coast only n few per
sens survived. After the catastrophe they
were obliged to live on fish left by the sea
briefly the story of the great earthquake
calamity OF 1896.
tiers of disturbances which in former times
involved vast areas. In historic times
there have been but few changes in the
earth's surface. and We seem to have
reached a period in the physical history of
/ the planet when the mighty throes which
heaped up mountains and shifted sea bot
pear t a5e n fss 70 fe Ds rspda,Ina Of GUap earth
and explosions of volcanoes are but the
feeble endings Of processes that have ieft
their records in the stIs tilted rocks that
now crop out from hillsides or the gorges
Of river courses. and in this piled masses
of granite forming the domeS OF the Aul.
TOnCaCk mountains. Inc Sfedt 80 u
Strained rock under the city ofNRochester.
partially cut through by the wearing Iorce
Of the Genesee. was from a sea tnSe wa mnS
emptied upon land that may now be COW
cred thousands Of feet deep by the At
lantic. When the land upon which Roches-
ter stands rose from the sea, man had not
appeared on the scene: his bones are not
found In any Of the rocks. but should the
bed of the Atlantic rise, the geologist wan
sea bottom will fnd remains of man. The
question is. will the bottom of the Atlantic
rise. as rose the ground upon which the
Niagara limestone was deposited?
AS the earth has shivered and crumpled
her crust but feebly in historic times. it
may be assumed that the seas will not
shift again. This assumption, while ap-
parently well founded. may be as false as
that OF the trusting people Who built the
cities of Herculaneum and Pompel at the
base of Vesuvius. When these cities were
founded the mountain was covered with
forest that had fourished since man had
made any record of events on the shores
of the Mediterranean No one can tell how
many hundreds of thousands Of years the
mountain had been Tranquil. Possibly ITS
fires had subsidized in that far away age
in which the traditions of Egypt had fixed
the sinking Of Atlantis. While we may be
deceived, as were the people of Pompeif
and Herculaneum, their experience as COM
| pared with that of the Atlanteans, if such
ever existed. tends to show the gradual
subsistence of earth shakings and volcanic
action. For, judging from the Egyptian
- et
ing of Atlantis. off the pillars of Hercules.
was a mighter CONFUSION than the erup-
ton of Vesuvius, but feebler than that
which must have occurred when the ocean
bottom upon which Rochester stands rose
above water. All of the indications are
that the earth throes have become feebler
and feebler as time has passed. To be sure
there have been considerable changes.
The early Jesuit fathers in New France
recorded startling changes as the result of
continued earthquakes along the lower st:
| Lawrence. And as late as 1911 the face OF
the country over a goodly portion of Mis-
| souri, was changed. The greatest change of
modern times was in 1888. when the vol
cano OF Krakatoa. in the island Of Java,
exploded and collapsed. changing the ge-
| ography of the Straits of Sunda. II is pos
sible that the earth may run against some
thing in the journey through space that
will surprise people. We may acquire an
| other satellite in a way that will agitate
| the oceans to their depths. At the present
| time. however, the prospects for a calm
Journey and comparatively slight che nge
are good. No one is worrying very much
nowadays about a return of the ice age;
but every student must look upon the evil
dences of glacial action upon the rocks I'M
derneath Rochester with an impression of
awe. The marks are fresh and clear, as
though Of quite recent origin.