Evening star., 1921-01-02

earthquake occurred along the St.
Lawrence river. partly in what is
now known as New York and partly
in Canada. The missionary wrote his
exciting and picturesque description
of the catastrophe in the French Lam
guage. which was translated into
Latin by his friend, Pere Francois
Ragueneau. This Latin manuscript
is now one of the treasures Of the
Georgetown University library.
Possibly the earliest existing rec
ords of earthquakes are those ap-
pearing in the Bible. The first of
these, which we are told occurred in
Palestine. was in the reign of Ahab
nc, 91S-ss7. One of the most ter
rible earthquakes mentioned in the
Bible is that which took s.ace in. the
days of Mr.. Uzziah. whozWas,the king
OF judah in the years of S11-759 Be.
1t Is recorded that the earthquake
shook the ground and rent the tenn
pie. The awful character of this. and
the deep impression produced on
mems minds, may be learned from the
fact that the time of its occurrence
was subsequently used as an epoch
from which to reckon dates.
Amusing, and at times exciting,
have been the peculiar methods by
which people have claimed to be able
oil ~ "a-'irp Of an ea-. heuake
Some people have persuaded them
s---~s tIes In ioFe.eu the com
ing of an earthquake by the sultry
state OF the weather or certain
opp-essiveness-the feel, and instinc-
tive feeling arises that a disturbance
is near at hand.
In 1S43 a bishop of Ischia fore
warned his people of coming earth
quake. and thus was instrumental in
the saving of many lives. Naturally,
In an age of superstition the bishop
would be regarded as a prophet but
F'ayaro considers that the prognosti-
cation was probably due to a knowI-
edge of premonitory signs as exhibit
ed In changes in the characters Of
mineral waters.
The shock of 1851, at Meif. was in
! this way predicted by the Capuchin
fathers, who observed that a lake
| near their door became frothy and
turbulent.
Underground noises have led per-
sons to the belief that an earth
way that Vidauri, prisoner at Lima,
predlcted the destruction of that city.
i BEFORE the earthquake of 1858, so
| severely felt at Iquique. the inhabit-
ants were terrified by loud subter-
| ranean noises.
| That underground noises have pre-
ceded earthquakes by considerable
intervals appears to be fact. but
at the same time it must be remem-
pered that similar noises have often
occurred without an earthquake hay
Farmers predicted the earthuuake of
ST Reno in 1881 by underground
noises On the day before the earth
quake which in 1873. shook Mount
Baldo the inhabitants of Puos a viii
lage north of Lake Santa Croce. heard
| underground noises
Before the earthquakes which, in
lISS' shook Calabria and Sicily, fish
are san 10 nave APPEARED in great
NUMBERS on the coast of Sicily, and
the whirlpool of Charybdis assumed
an unusually excited state
1T ls said that Pherecydes predicted
the earthquakes of Lacedemon and
Lovain. %
The writer of an article on the Lis
BON earthquake says: After the
ssrned srn 1 re feis apprehe nsive. as I OBJ
afternoon Of October 81; that is. the
weather was severe, the wind north :
eriy. a. fog came from the sea. the
water IN a fountain ran OF yellow
clay color. On the 25th I felt five
4 Shocks" 'S
IN the northern part Of South Amer.
lea certain shocks are anticipated
by preliminary vibrations which cause
a little bell attached to a. T-shaped
frame to ring. There are, however.
persons who are supposed to be en-
dowed with seismic foresight, whose
verdicts in that section of the world
are greatly relied upon.
In Caracas it is said that nearly
every street in the river suburb has
an earthquake Cassandra or two.
Some of these go SO far as not only to
predict the coming seisms, but also
the vicissitudes OF particular streets.
The story of a crazy lifeguardsman
who prophesied an earthquake to
take place in London on April 4, 1881.
is an example of early day guessing.
A study OF the warnings furnished
by animals is exceedingly interesting.
1t is said that several Of the natives
of Caracas possess oracular quad :
lrupeds, such as dogs, cats and jerboas,
which anticipate coming dangers by
their restlessness. Before the ca
jtastrophe of 1919 at Caracas a Span
ish stallion broke out of it's stabIe q
u and eSc9Ded tn the hiphlapds y,hf,h