Evening journal., 1897-08-24
EARTHQUAKES rHls YEAR.
Have Shaken Many Countries, hut
Not Much Harm Done.

The news comes from India that
nearly every building in Calcutta has
been injured by the recent earthquake
there, and that still greater damage
has been done in the villages Of the
interior.
This is not unexpected; that is, while
we did not know of an earthquake in
India, and had no special reason to ex-
pect one, it was certain, from all pre-
cedents, that we would sooner or later
hear of a serious earthquake some
where. Seismic disturbances always
occur at nearly the same time at wide
" different points of the earth. We
of the United States are apparently
less subject TO them. When, there
fore, an earthquake occurs here we
may be quite sure of hearing in the
next few days of a far more serious
one in some of the great seismic CEN
ters of the world-the Grecian archi-
pelago, South America. India or NAL
aysia. While, therefore, no one could
predict Just where the bad news would
come from, scientists have for the past
few weeks been expecting to hear of
serious earthquakes somewhere.
This will go on record as an earth
quake year-not that there has been
so far any serious loss of life from
these disturbances, but that they have
been exceptionally frequent and wide
ly distributed. They have been Sc
we're, too, but, fortunately, free from
loss of life. more by accident, it would
seem, than from any special cause,
for there is no way of providing
against loss and damage by these con-
vulsions of the earth.
So far in the Last few weeks they
have occurred in Canada, Mexico, Italy,
Japan, in the central part of the
United States, and last of all, in India,
and it is believed, generally through
out the East Indies. Our own earth
quake, extending along the line of the
| Alleghenies, with its central point in
southwestern Virginia, was a more Sc
rious ono than any we have had since
the shaking up and down OF Charles
ton. There was n great deal of dam
age done, but fortunately the worst
shocks were in a wild, mountainous
country, sparsely settled, where there
were no large towns TO suffer dam
age.
News from India is still meager, ant
it may prove when we get the returns
from the far-away districts, that th'
disaster has been even greater than a
Calcutta, and accompanied by som'
loss OF life. At Calcutta walls werl
cracked and some of them fell. Tn
earthquake was accompanied by thos
phenomena peculiar to them. II wa
followed by an amazingly red ant
brilliant sunset, said by the seismolo
gists to be due to the dirt stirred u
by the fall of houses, and by the dis
turbances Of the ground over n spac
OF many miles. The air was filed wit
sewer gas and sulphurous fumes, th
former natural enough when it is cor
sidered that the drains were broker
and the sewers clogged and choke
by the falling walls and buildings.
Nor is there any reason TO believ
/ that the seismic disturbances are We
= over, for they generally wind up i
(, some severe shock before the cart
D rearranges itself. Against such dis
turbances, however, we are reasonabl
safe, for the United States seldoI
4 J suffers more than slight seismi
! | shake, and New Orleans and the couI
try around scarcely feel it.-N.
Times-Democrat.