The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1909-03-11
OF old.
Strange Ideas Of the Ancients as
to Their Causes.
WARNING SIGNS OF SHOCKS.

Pliny Says They Were Shown In the
Air, Clouds and Water and by Ami
mails IN The Two Mountains That
Crashed Together and Then Receded.
If we search history to find to what
causes the ancients attributed earth
quakes we find that the Babylonians
believed that all occurrences of the
kind were due to the influence of the
stars, especially Of the three to which
they ascribed thunder namely, Sat
urn, Jupiter and Mars. The seers of
the day believed that these disturb
ances were caused by the stars NOV
ing with the sun or being in conjunc-
ton with it, more particularly when
the stars were in the quartile aspect.
Pliny chronicles the report concern
ing one Anaximander, Milesian, who
warned the Lacedaemonians to be-
ware Of their city and houses. And
legend has it that the city was soon
afterward destroyed.
Pliny, who wrote his natural history
in A. D. II, conceived that earth
quakes were caused by the winds, as
3'the earth never trembles except
when the sea is quite calm and when
the heavens are so tranquil that the
birds cannot maintain their fight, all
the air which should support them be-
ing withdrawn. Nor does it ever hap
pen until after great winds, the gust
being pent up, as it were, in the fis-
sures and concealed hollows.''
Many scientists have observed that
all great commissions Of nature are
likely to be preceded by Gains; also
that birds and animals generally ex-
hibit certain presentiments of the
event, facts which the wise men of
ancient days noted and accounted for
in their different ways.
Pliny says: "When an earthquake
occurs there is often sound without
any motion. When there is motion it
is tremulous and vibratory. The clefts
of the earth sometimes remain, dis
playing what has been swallowed up,
sometimes concealing it, the mouth
being closed and the soil brought over
it, the city being, as it were, engulfed,
devoured. Maritime districts are more
especially subject to shocks. Nor are
mountainous districts exempt. have
found the Alps and the Apennines fire.
quently shaken by them. The shocks
happen more frequently in the autumn
and the spring. They also happen
more frequently in the night than in
the day. The greatest shocks are in
the morning and the evening, but they
often take place at daybreak. They
also take place during eclipses Of the
moon, because at that time storms are
lulled. They are most frequent when
great heat succeeds to showers or
showers succeed to great heat"
Pliny further says: There is no
doubt that earthquakes are felt by
persons on shipboard. There are many
signs for the mariner beforehand, how
ever The timbers of the vessel creak
The birds that settle Oh the vessel are
not without their alarms. There is
also sign in the heavens, for when a
shock is near at hand, either in the
daytime or little after sunset,
cloud is stretched out in the clear sky
like long, thin line. The water in
wells is more turbid than usual, and it
enits disagreeable odor."
In describing the various kinds of
shocks and expanding on his investi-
cations on the subject Pliny remarks
that ''arched buildings are the safest
also the angles of walls and walls
made Of bricks suffer least. The earth
movement that resembles the rolling
of waves is the most dangerous, or
when the motion is impelled in one
direction. The tremors cease when
the vapors have burst forth, but if
there be no escape Of vapor Of any
kind then the tremors may continue
for forty days. They have been known
to continue for two years.
The historian records the greatest
prodigy Of the earth" as having oc-
Cured in the district Of Mutina during
the consulship of Lucius Martius and
Sextus julius, when "two mountains
rushed together, falling upon each
other with very loud crash and then
receding, while in the daytime smoke
and vapor issued from them" Pliny
says the wonder was witnessed by "a
great crowd of Roman knights and
travellers along the Aemilian way"
The same writer says: ''The greatest
earthquake which occurred in our
was in the reign Of Tiberius,
by which twelve cities of Asia were
laid PROSTATE in one night. During
the Punic war we had accounts of
fifty-seven earthquakes in one year.
Nor is it an evil merely consisting in
the danger which is produced by the
motion; it is an equal or greater evil
when it is considered as prodigy.
The city of Rome never experienced
shock that was not the forerunner OF
some great calamity"
Pliny, Of course, takes good many
Of his accounts from Aristotle, but his
references to events are confirmed by
other writer's. Herodotus describes q
great disturbance in his day, when
''the sea came beyond Memphis, as far
oc +hn ,,oo,,n+ainc nf FthiODi1 and also