New-York tribune., 1901-03-31
UNnEEDED CATACLYSMS.
AN EXAMINATION INTO HUMAN CARE
LEsSNESS OF GREAT NATURAL
CATASTROPHES
From The Spectator.

From The Spectator
we wonder If any person in the world has
beeh frightened by the appearance and disap-
pearance Of the new star in Perseus of which as
tronoHers have recently made much. Some
1ody ought TO have been. The new light prob
= bly, appeared because a had exploded or |
ecause two suns had collided, evolving tempo
ariy an almost inconcevable quantity of flame.
distant sun could explode. could our \
sun; and if two could collide sun \
f which We know nothing may be rushing at a
pace which the mind does not grasp though the /
brain can calculate il. toward our own. There
should be something alarming 10 the imagina- 4
tive in that idea. but. so far as We know. no 1
body has been alarmed. The catastrophe in
l'crseus, whatever its cause must have oc- I
CURED fifty years ago 10 give the light time 10
get here, and catastrophes inconceiVably dis
tant outside the range of the imasyi- \
nation. We read OF them read of qun- /
tilliOns, graspng the words but not the !
thoughts they are intended to convey. The mass /
Of mankind, too protected against astro-
nomical alarms. not only by their ignorance. I;
but by two very steady beliefs One. which is !,
not quite reasonable is that God though He |
allows railway collisions. viii never allow any |
thing so bg as an astronomical catastrophe-k
if there could be greatness litteness in the
eyes of the lniinite-and the other which is rea-
s0nable enough is that if an astronomical catas-
destroy all Of them within its range utterly and
at once. That would only be death which we
must all suffer. and death under unusual cir
cumstances of consolation death so rapid and
universal that We should part from one
and leave one behind to suffer.
There is much more to alarm in the little
catastrophe which has possibly occurred within
the last few days. An unaccountable wave has
traversed the ocean nearly destroying the Teu-
tonic for one thing. and showers of colored dust
have obscured the sky from Sicily to the Car
pathians, possibly beyond them. The same
phenomena on greater scale followed the vol
oanc explosion of 1853 in Krakatoa, and il is
reasonable. therefore. to believe that either in
the ocean or. more probably. in the centre of
Africa there has been n grand volcanic eruption.
Superheated steam generated by some outbuTst
II water into the internal fires has caused
pOsOn lifting millions Of tons Of earth and pull
Terized rock into the air which floats away at a
rh. .a1a a. in hn for gf fS1 herr
nothing alarm in that 10y itself. for the event
has come and gone. but that dust may conceiV-
ably be poisoned. The gases which are thrown
out 10y such explosions are not healthful; and
il is possible-H =. Proctor the astronomer. in
his book on 'Other Worlds "a. Ia. evidently
believes il certain-that with the dust much
animal matter is also thrown into the air. He
says: Even in the very bowels of the earth and
in ;he very neighborhood Of active volcanoes. We
iine the volcano fish existing in such count
less thousands that when they are from time
time Yomited forth 10y the erupting mountain
their bodies are strewn over enormous regions
and as they putrefy beneath the suns rays
sFread pestilence and disease among the inhabi-
tauts Of the neighboring districts" Clearly, if
that is true, part OF the dust which flies so far
must be, AT least may Toe. composed of animal
PARTICLES which. putrefying, spread disease AT
all events. there is much reason TO believe that
effects very inimical either To life or health do
follow volcanic explosions. and that Southern
Europe may, Therefore, be visited shorty by
some form Of epidemic or some pest ike The
kind Of influenza winch seemed, al an events
10 begin its ravages after hrakat"a Was sf!at :
t-red. This is not pleasant to think or ana II
the SOuthernerS anticipate ii, which Is pTOba Die
enough. their rush to the churches does not
Strike US as quite so mbecilely superstitous as
il strikes the makers Of bulletins. Populations
are comDosed of individuals, and prayer can
never TO the individual mind seem more at
rraCLive than when il is reSorted TO against a
fe--Gr in presence Of which energy and courage
arA alike unaVailing- .
we have always wondered a little why the
dread of cataclysmS enters so little INTO human
calculations There is reason which can be
stated why epidemic, once raging, should moi
carry off whole population, seems 10 haV.
Happened in CarnbOdia; or why fire, once
started should not consume capital city, as
me nearly did in Chicago; why storm wave
tflroyn rD by some sub-oceanic volcano should
r,t sweep over a whole country, drowning alike
nan and beast and sailing the mould tlll II
uou!d bear no crop, as happened to populouS
island in the Ganges: why volcanic eruption
ehould not occur say, in Southern Europe on
an inconceiVably greater scale than that whlcf
DESTROYED Lisbon and the faith OF Goethe Thos'
things have seldom happened; but they nave
hapriened and they might any OF them happei
again and a greater scale Ihe popular an
sIyer that God is too good, though II liuicates
useful and as believe. a morally Deneiicia
kind Of faith. is not logically defenslbie, Tor SUI
Cen .eash under terrible circumstances happen
every day, and the goodness or GOO cannot p'
.rrai.,ned or doubted merely because man.
dcaths all OF them inevitable within a shor
r1riod are permitted to occur at once i N
jn,Iltiplicafion Of the common fate does not IN
cfcas. the cruelty OF that fate; rather 10 mos
minds IN dirninishes it. Nor is the reason a gen
.~al suhyn;ssyeness 10 Irresistible law, Tor mel
shrink from death. which will come. SHRINK "a