El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-18

to the ground, which is so arranged,
being pivoted at the bottom and
wed GIFTED at the top with mass of met
al. that even the biggest quake cannot
disturb its equilibrium But the stone
pier through which the rod descends
necessarily responds to- any movement
of the ground-the result being that,
in case of a shake, two fine steel points
attached to the upper end Of the rod.
are made to Joggle over a slowly re-
volving cylinder covered with lamp
BACKED paper.
Recording the Quake.
The cylinder, il will be understood,
keeps on revolving all the time Thus
under ordinary circumstances the two
steel points trace straight white lines
along the lamp-blacked paper. But
any movement of the earth will cause
them to wiggle, and thus the earth
quake writes, as one might say, its on
signature. Resort is had to an ingen-
ious device of a mechanical kind for
multiplying the effects Of the shock
sc tunes, so that the earthquakes
handwriting is proportionately larger.
Prof. John Milne. famous as an earth
quake expert. says that something
like 10000 earthquakes occur in various
parts Of the world every, year They
do a great deal more damage than
is commonly supposed, causing (says
this authority an average loss OF
about $500 human li~es annuaaly-not
TO mention many millions OF dollars
worth Of property destroyed Many Of
the most severe shocks occur IN the
depths of the sea-especia1Iy in the
great. hollow places, such as the abyss
known as the Tuscarora Deep, close by
the east coast of Japan. Unfortunately,
these submarine earthquakes (as has
happened many times in JAPAN are Ii
able to give rise to great tidal waves.
destruction
Origin of Japan Isles
1t seems likely, indeed. that the is
lands Of japan were originally thrown
up. in the shape OF lava. out of this
deep hole. In other words, Japan was
actually torn from the Tuscarora Deep.
which it would just about fill SINH
larly, the Aeutian Islands seem to have
been thrown up from under the ocean,
thus forming the deep trench close
by them to the south, which they would '
just about fill If thrown in At al
most every big earthquake in the Aleu-
tian region some one of the Aleutian
islands (Which are a branch Of the
Rocky mountains out at seal is uplift-
ed, and sometimes Gas in the case OF
Bogislof) new volcano breaks out
In this country We are accustomed
to consider ourselves safe from earth
Quakes, except in California, but the
fact is that no region is really secure
IN this regard What part Of the
earh's surface Is looked upon today as
more stable than the lower Mississippi
valley: Surely, none;; yet less than 100
years ago that very region was assailed
by one of the most tremendous seismic
disturbances OF historical times. It
comprised a number Of severe shocks
occurring at short intervals during
about two years The ground moved in
visible waves. by which the trees of the
forest were rocked. and in some cases
uprOOted- Great cracks in the earth
yawned and closed again at each shock.
while from the assures mud was
thrown high In the air. Five thousand
square miles OF territory in what IS
now southeast Missouri and northeast
Arkansas sank vertically an average
OF ten feet, and some Of the sunken
areas remain today as ake@memorfals
or the terrific commissions of 1S11-1S12-
May All BE Shaken
Many biologists are of the opiniOnt
hat all the eastern part of the United
states viii be appalHnoly shaken at
no very distant date-sufficiently so
TO throw down all OF the cities along
The Atlantic seabOard as IL they were
built of card houses For ages the riv-
ers have been bringing down mater
al from the land and depositing II off
he edges Of the continent This means
vast accumulation of weight which
must eventually so far disturb the
equilibrium of the earth's crust as to
bring about a shifting of the strata
IN gigantic scale. 1t was Just such
/ condition Of affairs,due to the bring
ng down of billions of tons of detri-
us by the Mississippi. that gave rise
o the commissions of 4 century ago in
he valley Of that river
RENE RACHE.