The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-03-01
NATURES CONCLUSIONS.
Expert Tells Among Other Interesting
Things About Speed Of Earthquakes.

lhlnBs ADout opetu ol EdlthquahSs'
The calamitous earthquake vt Avez
zano in Italy is a timely reminder that
one OF these large commissions OF nature
can, in few seconds destroy rs many
lives as are sacrificed in an interna.
tional war which goes on for many
months.
In the extent of It's dcath.roll, the re-
cent disaster is relatively small, for
there have been several earthquakes in
the last half century which have cost tar
larger numbers Of lives notably Mes
sina and Reggie utaly), Lahore tuorth-
ern india, ST. Pierre (Alartiniquel, and
Iquique PERU.
Now, there are two curious points well
worth noting about earthquakes which
are not generally known
In the first place, the more overwhelm-
ing the consequences Of an earthquake
may be in a human and material sense,
the less interesting is it usually to the
chronological expert; in the second place,
the range of the shock is in reverse ratio
to the amount of destruction which 1T
causes on the earths surface.
For the scientist who has specialized III
| the investigation of seismic disturbances
will tell you that the really big earth
quakes occur most frequently, not in
populous countries like Italy and Japan,
but in desolate regions far from the ia
miliar ccnters of civilization or down in
the depths of the ocean.
The fa,t that so many thousands OF
lives have been lost IN an earthquake
has less significance for the expert
who is concerned with the scientific, rath-
er than the human consequences of the
eonyulsion- than the effects which may
7 have been made on the rock formations
of the earth we inhabit.
Then the shocks which have visibly
been the most violent have been the
most restricted in actual range of earth
movement. Take the recent disaster.
! Although the Ayezzano disaster was tell
| ing its story on that delicately- sensitive
instrument known as the seismograph in
England long before the news OF the
latest earthquake had reached the eoun-
try by cable, the writing on the tablets
Of the seismograph was less pronounced
and definite in character than are many
records made BY shocks of which you
and the rest of the newspaper reading
public have never even heard, since they
cause no damage either to life or prop
erty.
But the earthquake shock which was
felt in 1896 in London and in many parts
of England and Wales, though nowhere
so severely as in Herefordshirc and IN
Worcestershire where crockery ware
was broken and people were thrown out
Of their beds had the extraordinary
travelling power OF extending over an
area Of a hundred thousand square miles!
There are, You must know, such things
as earth waves as well as ether waves.
But while the ether waves have by the
genius of Marconi been harnessed into
the service OF mankind, no scientist has
vet discovered any uses for earth waves,
or even any means Of utilizing them,
The shock of seismic disturbance
travels in waves at the rate Of two miles
second in the actual vicinity OF the
disturbance, and this rate rapidly dnnin-
ishes a. the distance Travelled by the
earth waves increases.
ne deeper tue oiiEiHHtlhH hi'fFhitA -
happens to he the farther the shock
travels. but the deeper the movement,
on the other hand, the less extensive,
and usually the less serious, from the
point OF view Of loss Of life, Is the
visible effect ON the earth's surface.
Thus we have the apparent contradic-
ton that the Herefordshire earthquake
Of 1896 SO called because il is believed
to have originated in that border county.
II not in the bowels Of the black noun
tains of Wales was. from scientific
point Of view. a bigger affair than the
Avezzano, or even Nlessina
The largest recorded displacement OF
land surface was that consequent upon
the Indian earthquake OF 1897, when an
area as big as the whole Of Yorkshire
was turned, 80 70 speak, completely
upside down.
Yet who can give name To- that
earthquake to-day though every school
boy has heard Of buried Pompeii, Of the
Lisbon and san Francisco earthquake
From Answers.