The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-04-07
EARTHQUAKES OF OLD
Strange Ideas of the Anciants as
to Their Causes.
WARNING SIGNS OF SHOCKS.
Pliny Says They Were Shown In the
Air, Clouds and Water and by Ami
mails So The Two Mountains That
Crashed Together and Then Receded.


causes the ancients attributed earth
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, a 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
luakes were caused by the winds, as
"the earth never trembles except
when the sea is quite calm and when
the heavens are so tranquil that the
birds cannot maintain their flight, 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ing withdrawn.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 calms: 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 1t. the mouth
being closed and the soil brought over
1t, the city being, as it were. engulfed,
devoured. Maritime districts are more
especially subject to shocks. Nor are
mountainous districts exempt. l 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 on the vessel are
not without their alarms. There Is
also sign in the heavens, for when
shock Is near at hand, either in the
daytime or a little after sunset,
cloud is stretched out in the clear sky
like a long, thin line. The water IN
wells is more turbid than usual, and 1t
emits disagreeable odor."
In describing the various kinds Of
shocks and expanding OH 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 II
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
)ther with very loud crash and then
Feeding, while In the daytime smoke
md vapor issued from them" Pllny
says the wonder was witnessed by "a
,reat crowd Of Roman knights and
along the Aemilian way"
The same writer says: 1.-THE greatest
which occurred in our
was in the reign of Tiberus,
~ which twelve cities of Asia were
aid PROSTATE In one night. During
he Punic war we had accounts Of
ifty-seven earthquakes in one year.
Ior Is 1t an evil merely consisting In
he danger which is produced by the
notion; it is an equal or greater evil
when 1t is considered as a prodigy.
'he city Of Rome never experienced
hook that was not the forerunner OF
ONE great calamity"
Pliny, Of course, takes a good many
t his accounts from Aristotle, but his
eferences to events are confirmed by
Their writer's Herodotus describes
reat disturbance in his day, when
the sea came beyond Memphis, as far
8 the mountains OF Ethiopia. and also
rom the plains Of Arabia. The sea
lso surrounded Ilium and the whole
Z Teuthrania and covered the plain
through which the Meander flows"
'liny makes actual mention Of one Of