The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10
SOMETHING ABOUT EARTHQUAKES

I
 instability of this earth of ours. Hor-
 rible calamities visit various portions | of the globe and proclaim the un- stable nature of life on earth, and of the earth itself. How long the ! great changes have been going on no
 one may know. but apparently from I the beginning of this planet on which we live the changes have been fre- qucnt. The scholars who have stud l jed and investigated the globes struc- | ture tell us that there have been ter-
 rife convulsions going on at remote periods which have made great changes in the earth's formation. | Whether this began thousands or mill lions of years ago no one can say. but the proof is everywhere evident that l convulsions of various kinds have
 been in progress from the beginning
 and have left their traces for those l to see who make a study of the earth's
 nature and conditions.
 But We need not go beyond recorded history. or indulge in speculation in
 order to show that this globe has passed through many violent experi-
 ences going to show it's unstable char
 acter. Going back through the cen-
 turies and ages of which history gives account we can read of earthquakes,
 volcanoes and other disturbances which have brought death to man and
 destruction to his work. In some in-
 stances these occurrences have made
 notable and permanent changes in the | face of nature. The recent catastro-
 phe in Italy. perhaps the most awful
 and extensive of which history gives | any account, is but continuation of
 what has been going on for all time.
 so far as we can tell.
 So much for recorded and known facts as we have them, but is it hu- mainly possible to determine the cause | of earthquakes and to predict them?
 More than that. can human skill and
 knowledge find a way to prevent them? As to the cause of these dis turbances there are always to be
 found. immediately after an earth quake, men who will give a reason for 1t. One of the theories at least has an appearance of plausibility, if nothing more. It is suggested-to copy the language of a contempor- ary--that water from the ocean finds meath and that the steam generated finally develops the terrific force man. ifest in earthquakes. This fits in with the commonly observed facts that the most frequent and violent earthquakes are in volcanic regions, and that great volcanic eruptions and earthquakes seldom occur at the same time; the
 outlet of energy in one way being suf- ficient to relieve the steam pressure.
 It is admitted that this may at least account for. those terrible earthquakes
 which occur near the sea and in the
 volcanic regions of the earth. Ever | since steam has been used it has been
 known that if it is generated in large
 quantities and no ready means for It's 1 escape have been provided something
 must give way. Thus we can con-
 ceive that if a large quantity of water of live volcano there might at once
 be developed a power which could not
 escape through the volcano itself and
 the consequence would be violent dis
 turbances in all the adjacent country
 This. we repeat, is at least a plaus-
 ible theory, and unless it can be dis
 proven it will hold until something
 better is brought forth. The expla-
 nation may not be satisfactory as to
 all earthquakes, but seems reasonable
 as to those which occur in all volcanic
 regions. Then, if it is possible to fix
 a cause for such disturbances, is 1t
 also possible to predict them? In this
 connection we have an interesting
 statement from Professor Jagger, of
 the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
 nology, who says:
 With reference to Sicily. it is well
 to make note of the fact that an American volcanologist, Frank Alvord
 Ferret, has predicted disaster on
 Mount Etna for two years past. MT.
 Ferret, who was decorated by the crown of Italy for his splendid ser vice to science and to humanity on Vesuvius in 1906, wrote in The Worlds
 Work, of November, 1907: By the
 rational method of scientific research. Mount Etna is impending. the only uncertainty at present being which
 side of the mountain will break open Great volcanic eruptions are preceded by great earthquakes, and the Mes sina disaster of December 2S comes on an earthquake date Cterrestrial max mum of gravitational stress'D actual
 ly platted in advance by MT. Ferret
 on his diagrams for 1908. Like Dr.
 Omori, he is a man whose whole time
 is unselfishly devoted to these studies
 adequate means of support. A few
 business men in Springfield, Mass.
 last year came valiantly to his aid and now their foresight is worthy of all honor. When young men think of making science their lifework, 1t
 would be well to remember Pasteur, and to consider carefully whether the highest" development of the investi- gatIVe faculties may not concern itself
 torical motives. To those who will give time and money to the estab- fishing of earth observatories there will come, by way of reward, some