The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-01


went much further back than the native
accounts. The most famous Of all the
Athenian exploits" Scion had been tole.
was the overthrow Of the Island Atlantis.
This was a continent lying over against
the Pillars of Hercules. in extent greater
than Lydia and Asia minor put together.
and was the passage TO other islands and
another continent (America). OF which the
Mediterranean sea was only the harbor;
and within the Pillars the Empire of At
lantis reached TO Egypt and Tyrrhenia.
This mighty power was arrayed against
Egypt and Hellas and all the countris bor-
dering the Mediterranean. Then did
your city bravely, and won renown over
the whole earth. For at the peril of her
own existence, and when the other Hell
lenes had deserted her. she repealed the in
vader. and of her own accord gave liberty
to all the nations within the Pillars.
little while afterward there was a great
earthquake and your warrior race all sank
into the earth. and the great Island of At
lantis alss disappeared in the sea-" This"
says Jowett, in his Introduction to the
Timaeus, lis the explanation of the shall
lows which are found in that part of the
Atlantic ocean,"
INACCURATE FIGURES.
In the certainty that at least IS 900 per-
sons persisted in Martinique besides other
thousands in Deighboring islands. is sufh-
cient evidence that this latest disaster is
to be ranked with the greatest of modern
times There is little hope that the exdg-
geration which is the greatest difficulty in
the way Of proper estimation Of the mag
nitude of other similar catastrophes is TO
tba
The estimates of casualties from earth
quakes and volcanic eruptions are notori-
ously unreliable. OF the many famous
catastrophes. about the only certain thing
is that thousands persisted. Forty years
ago the British Association published an
elaborate catalogue of earthquakes, be-
ginning with 1906 b. G. In times so remote
as that date no accurate counts were made,
and any estimate of the number of casual
ties could be only guess work 1t will be
| impossible. therefore, 10 assert definitely
that the. disaster in Cairo in 1854, for in
stance, when 10000 were reported killed,
was greater than the recent one in Mar
| Unique. The most notable catastrophe of
antiquity was the destruction of Hercula-
neum and Pompei. Others exceeded that
in number of lives lost, but there was an
/ clcIitcIll VI intense OTamdIlc interest In the
overthrow of the famous winter resort for
ancient Rome that impressed the ancient
world; and this in spite of the warning
earthquake and partial eruption in S.
which had cost many lives and badly dam
| aged both cities, sixteen years before their
destruction. The overturning of Nicome-
dia, Caesarea and Nicea. few years later
made no such commotion, and nobody ever
hears, nowadays. of the destruction of 800
towns in western Asia, with immense loss
of life in 742.
The middle ages abounded in records of
earthquakes with frightful casualties-the
magnitude of the figures being due, doubt
less. to the general exaggeration of the
times. Thus, 1900 persons are reported to
have been buried at Catania, Sicily, in 1857
about 10000 in Cilicia, in 126S; some 10000
at Naples in 1856; 10000 at Lisbon in 1881
10000 in the Kingdom of Naples in 1876;
$4,000 at Schamaki, 1867; 100000 in Sicily,
1893; 100000 at Yeddo, Japan, 1903; 100000 at
| Pehng, 1871. All these figures undoubtedly
are much too large, but they indicate at
least a terrible loss of life. The most wide
ly known earthquake OF the Christian era
was that which destroyed Lisbon in 1855
Upward of $4,000 persons were reported to
have perished-a report which DR.. Johnson
strenuously combated inasmuch as he re-
fused to believe that the earthquake had
| occurred at all
The worst sufferer from this cause in the
last century was the Kingdom of Naples
In 1857, when 10000 persisted there, it was
estimated that in seventy-hve years it had
lost 111,0O0 inhabitants, or nearly 1,5Oo year
~, by earthquake alone, in a population of
100000. Peru and Ecuador also suffered
heavily. In 1859 Quito was shaken and
about 5000 persons were killed, and nine
years later several towns in the two coun-
tries were destroyed or damaged and % 900
lives were lost. The most important earth
quake of recent years was in Japan, in
1884, when $4,000 houses were destroyed and
1000 persons killed. The United States has
been free from such calamities, though
minor disturbances have been frequent 1t
has felt only three earthquakes of impor-
lance. The first was in the Mississippi val
ley. in 1911, when great chasms opened in
the earth at New Madrid. These disturb
ances lasted two years In 1872 thirty per-
sons were killed in various parts of Cali
fornia, and in 1856 the Charleston earth
quake destroyed fifty-seven lives. In the
seventeenth century earthquakes changed
the face of large part of Canada and
shocks have been frequent in Mexico, Cen
trail America and the West Indies Mar
Unique itself is OF volcanic origin, and 900
persons were killed in st. Pierre in August
of 1867; 200 in January of 1899. and in 1851
Mont Pelee threatened the city with de-
struction. but its tribute of lives was rela-
lively small.
CLOSELY ALLIED.
The destruction of ST. Pierre was due to
volcanic eruption, but the phenomena OF
volcanoes and earthquakes are so closely
related that they usually considered to-
gether. The earthquake is frequently as
sociated with volcanic activity. When il
appears as an isolated phenomenon II is
usually ascribed to tension set up by forces
BRITISH SHIPPING EXPERT.