New-York tribune., 1922-11-14
Earthquakes and the Eternal Hills

Earthquakes are undoubtedly the
most terrifying trick that our usu.
ally calm and benign earth plays
upon man. The terrible tragedy that
has befallen our fellow Westerners,
the Chileans, stirs at once sympathy
and uneasiness. What is going on
deep beneath these quiet fields and
colossal, snow clad mountains to
cause such havoc? When Lisbon
was destroyed in 1755 it was q conf
mon view in Protestant England
that the Almighty was punlshing q
city of Catholics; and with that in
genuity which man always displays
when his prejudices commence to in
terpret natural events, the Cath
elic survivors of Lisbon blamed their
catastrophe upon the fact that few
Protestant heretics were in their
midst. How much better do we of
to-day understand earthquakes,
thanks to science?
1t should be clearly understood
at the start that the nature and
composition of the earth's interior
are almost as completely unknown
as they ever were. A hard, fairly
rigid shell envelops the earth beyond
question. The earlier hypothesis
were all based upon the theory that
within this shell was an intensely
hot molten core and that the grad
ual cooling of this interior contract
ed the whole body of the earth and
wrinkled its surface very much as
the skin Of dried apple is drunken
and wrinkled. For various reasons
the molten theory of the earth's in
terror is to-day viewed with consid-
cradle doubt. The most that can
be accepted is that some change in
the earth's interior is taking place
which sets up terrific stresses and
strains upon the earth's surface
along certain lines. Probably cool
ing and contraction are the causes
and molten material is clearly pres
ent at certain points, as volcanoes
prove; but the precise condition of
the earth's core must be left for
future scientists to determine, III
they can,
What is clear is that this crum-
pling of the earth's surface-which
has folded aloft on great mountain
ranges--has usually taken place
along certain clearly marked lines.
The backbone of North and South
America is one such line, and the
western coast of the Pacific, from
Japan south, presents traces of sim
liar foldings. AS result, the Pa
eific is more or less surrounded by
nigh mountains or their remnants.
The other great line Of folding runs
cart and vest across Europe and
Asia from the Pyrenees and the
Alps " ehe Hirnaiayas.
Sow, whefeyee these erump]inps
~ the eartkI's surface have been
gseaSeEt He tfe weakest spots In its
crass, Consequently 1t Il at spots
si>1g these BH@s TINT The strains
Ssf'on tsas shell afs ifkeisesf 10 pro-
aaes yiolent results, cracking ereat
faults, shifting h8ze areas, opening
roles through mich whatever is
seethsng within eap bigw off steam
literally aDa Ggafse1vsiy. when
the heaving Ut tte sarsb lesiaSses an
area OF sea bottom grsaG seq ways
is added TO the terrors sf Iapd4.ag
at Messina and now aleng sta cbil.
can coast.
Thus, while science bas bes1o sbls
TO locate the areas within which fbe
earth plays its most violent sricks
and has worked out fairly clear
sneories as to their manner Of tee,,r.
renee, the basic causes are stjlI hid.
oen many miles deep within tbo
mysterious heart of our eartb
Terra firma thus becomes a bigh,y
relative and dubious term Wben
It is added that through erosion h,
rain and waatha~