The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-10-09
EARTHQUAKES or OLD
Strange Ideas Of the Ancients as
to Their Causes.
WARNING SIGNS OF SHOCKS.
PIiny Says They Were Shown In ths
Air, Clouds and Water and by AMI
mails = The Two Mountains That
Crashed Together and Then Receded.

qudkes we nuu tnht the bhDylOnldns
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-
tion with It, more particularly when
the stars were in the quartile aspect.
pliny chronicles the report concern
ing one AnGximander, Milesian, who
warned the Lacedaemonians to be-
ware Of their city and houses. And
legend has 1t that the city was soon
afterward destroyed.
Pllny. who wrote his natural history
In A. ID. II, conceived that earth
quakes 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 fight, all
the air which should support them be-
Ing Withdrawn. Nor does II ever hap
pen until after great winds, the gust
being pent up. as 1t were, In the fis-
sures and concealed hollows."
Many scientists have observed that
all great convulsiohs Of nature are
likely to be preceded by calms; also
that birds and animals generally ex-
hibit certain presentlments Of the
event, facts which the wise men of
ancient days noted and accounted for
in their different ways.
Pllny says: when an earthquake
occurs there is often sound without
any motion. When there Is motion Il
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"
Ia
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 arc
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, n
cloud is stretched out In the clear sky
like a long, thin line. The water III
wells is more turbid than usual, and It
emlts 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
other with a very loud crash and then
receding. while In the daytime smoke
and yapor issued from them" Pllny
says the wonder was witnessed by 80
great crowd of Roman knights and
travellers along the Aemilian way"
The same writer says: "The greatest
earthquake which occurred In our
memory was In the reign Of Tiberlus,
by which twelve cities of Asia were
laid PROSTATE In one night. During
the Punlc war we had accounts of
fifty-seven earthquakes in one year,
Nor Is 1t an evil merely consisting In
the danger which is produced by the
motion; II Is an equal or greater evil
when It is considered as a prodigy
The city OF Rome never experienced a
shock that was not the forerunner OF
some great calamity"
Pliny, of course, takes a good many
of his accounts from Aristotle. but his
references to events are confirmed by
other writer's. Herodotus describes a
great disturbance In his day, when
"the sea came beyond Memphis, as far
rs the mountains Of Ethiopia. and also
from the plains Of Arabia. The sea
also surrounded Hum and the whole
OF Teuthrania and covered the plain
through which the Meander fiows.'l
Pllny makes actual mention Of one OF
the Aeolan Islands having emerged
from the sea" II was matter OF
common belief among the scientigts OF
Pliny's day that Sicily was torn from
Italy by such disturbance. - New
York World.