The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-06-14
RECORD EARTH'S CHANGES ISLANDS ARE BORN AND DISAP-
 PEAR EVERY FEAR.

Geogruphers Plan to Keep Track of the Shifting of the Surface of the Globe -COast Lines are Constantly Being Made Over-Man's Part in Rebuild
 ing.
 When the ninth International Geo. graphical congress meets in Geneva 1t will be asked to approve the idea of or ganizing a scientific movement for the recording of the changes that are con stantlv occurring on the land surface of the earth.
 The suggestion, originating with Pro- lessor Richard Tronnier, has been talk en up among others by Petermann's NIitteoluhgen, which says that while the organization of this work pre9entsditfl- culties, it is a matter of much impor- tance and the next congress should take steps to place it on scientific basis,
 For years great attention has been given to the study of the movements of the atmosphere. and of water surfaces, but such a thing as systematic record of the changes on the land surface, eX- cepting those caused lby earthquakes or
 the growth of the deltas or a few phe- nomena along shore lines, has never
 been attempted Professor Tronnier il- lustrates his ides by many occurrences
 in 1905. If such records as he proposes
 had been kept for centuries past they
 would have been very valuable con-
 trlbutlon to the history of our planet,
 Here are some of his notes relating to islands in 1905:
 1 The steamship City of Panama, on
 January 21, while off the coast of southern California and many miles at { sea- passed through a belt of water
 miles in width that was covered with
 trees, plants and the bodies of animals
 The mass of drift was so thick that the
 vessel made her way only with the greatest care. Many trees were from 1 five to six feet in diameter and the dead animals were of many kinds. The only $ theory concerning this find is that one or more of the four islands forming the I ReviDlo Gigedo group, uninhabited bS
 man, but with fauna and flora of trop.
 ical richness, may have been destroyed by some natural calamity.
 The Sun reported early. last year the
 appearance above the sea on Novembe1
 14 1904, of an island, suddenly pro
 duced by volcanic action and named q Nushima by the natives of the Bonir : group. The island reached height Q e four hundred and eighty feet. Th' ;. latest reports received last fall sa!
 that the island had wasted away abov'
 sea level and it's circumference has beer
 reduced about one-half. It is though d that in few weeks more it would b T lost to sight beneath the sea. Y In midyear the Milli island, in tn
 Pacific, was almost completely washed = away by great storm waves,one hun e dred and seventy-nine persons losint 1T their lives Most of the island is nov 'e twelve feet under water.
 d Among the examples of destruction
 along coasts, Professor Tronnier men ,f tions the Portuguese fishing town an !. watering place Espinho, which In tn e last months of 1904 was almost dai re assaulted by sea waves that gradual l. destroyed the beach and invaded stree
 after street. The efforts to protect tn ,s town failed and at the end of Januar ,t eighty-one houses had been washe " away. The ocean now occupies tn W places where they stood, and as it pen . etrates further Into the land with ever
 storm 1t is likely that the entire tow as will be destroyed.
 1- Early in January a wide piece of tf k coast near Dover, England, estimate of to weigh four million tons, fell into th s sea. This is the greateest dstruction
 coast in British waters in the past ha IT, century.
 o4 On July g a dry dock in the Bay ( oa Naples was suddenly moved about si ho hundred feet to the hright in cons' ny, m quence, it is supposed, of sharp mov' n ment of tho sea floor.
 Early in the year there was an emo
 nous landslide on the slope of moul
 tain bordering Lake Lone in Norwa
 An immense quantity of rock fell In
 the lake, causing high waves tn .o poured upon the opposite shore, d = stroying a whole village. Fifty-eig n persons lost their lives, and lit
 steamer was torn from it's moorinj z, and carried about a thousand feet i na n land Among the many landslides L the Alps were five of special importan
 in which human life and considerah - quantity of property were destroyed On November landslide of un ,,a sual magnitude carried about fifte D acres of land from Moen Island into t ,. Baltic. All of it was either titled lal p or fine forest and the loss of proper oo was considerable.
 11 Among the changes caused by fowl
 water Tronnier mentions the new cha n, mel which the Rio Grande on our sout ,s ern border made for itself in June Ia NJ for a distance of eighty miles. Apo bo one hundred persons lost their lives tar this catastrophe and the Americ
 town of La Mesa now lies half m south of the Mexican shore of the rlv Of course human influence is we -iiI potent in producing changes on the la a,, Isurfacc. Among the instances Whi
 the professor cites is the complete
 moval of the little mountain, Spi .o berG, in Prussia, which has been {
 tirely dug away by railroad compa
 that had use for the earth and rock contained. The top of this little CT ool hence was often sought by tourists, ha enjoy a particularly fine view of ,oo HaveI valley.