Evening star., 1923-09-16


first word given to the world locat-
4 ing the place where the earthquake
occurred, he very modestly stated that
he had given to the world the fact
of the distance. The writer, however.
knows that the first word that was
given to the world came from the
office of a scientist on Georgetown
Hill at 6 am. on the morning the
shock was felt in Japan and IL was
ION the press wires in Washington
long before Europe had any knowl-
edge of 1t.
Continuing, Father Tondorf said:
"Of course. while 1 gave out the dis
tance, / was rather certain in my own
mind as to about where 1t happened.
One cannot tell the exact spot where
the. slip occurs. For instance. you
cannot say that it was twelve and
! ione-half miles outside of Toxic. That
( would be wild guess. Could such a
thing be determined? In answer 10
that question would not want to say
IL could. because I do not know You
. have asked about the article that was
/ published some time ago about a
method of foretelling earthquakes. I
! am ignorant on that question"
/ Returning for a moment to the
matter of the earthquake at Charles
! ton, S. c., in 1886, and the subsequent
one that was the primary cause of
laying San Francisco low, the man of
| the church said: There is little rea-
son to believe that we have any
quakes of volcanic origin in this
| country. Those that caused damage
/ in Charleston and San Francisco were
| tectonic in their origin. They are
different from the ones they have in
Hawaii As-I said before, these vol
canic earthquakes are localized. Take,
for instance, the ones in the Philip
pines, the Taal volcano, for example
The one which took place in Alaska
number of years ago was of tee
| tonic origin"
IHAVING in mind the building site
L i on the narrow strip Of land they
call New York city, the writer asked
Father Tondorf if New York city
might not some day suffer from one
of these catastrophes. His reply was:
New York city is practically i'm
mune, for, is far as we know, there
is no slip in the region of that great
municipality. The noSthern part of
the state Is not quite so immune, for.
if you will turn back the pages of
history you will find that in 1863
there was a shake in the northern
part of New York. that portion that is
on the Canadian border.
'Tt may be of interest to some to
know that Washington is not abso-
Ilutely immune to earthquakes. We
have felt quakes here, but the differ
ence is that Washington is not the
center. Take, for instance, the shock
that occurred in 1918. Its center was
down in the Virginias. OF course, it
is only my belief. but 1 doubt very
much that Washington will suffer
from a quake of any consequence.
The chance is a remote one, but, of
course, it is still there
| Earthquakes, as L stated before
are caused by slips. These slips in
turn are caused by weaknesses pri-
marily, secondarily by stresses
! brought about by the abutting geo
logical factors and also. possibly, ac-
| cording to the theory of DR.. Omori.
by heavy precipitations and baro-
metric variations. 1 very much doubt
if the interior cooling of the earth
has anything to do with the earth
quakes from which we have suffered
THE instrument we have here prae-
| tically records earthquakes in any
part of the world. but you must also
L hot ;rr
| rather freakish. They sometimes re-
cord great distances, while nearby
shocks are not recorded at all.
IGeIT>HE practical certainty Of the
l. dislocation theory calls for a
! more thorough study of geological
l formations, so that the more unstable
areas may be indicated on the map.
I This accomplished, more exact inter-
pretations of the warnings given by
lesser shocks would be useful in
places situated along a serious fault
line. Had this been done in the past
Messina and San Francisco would
have been better prepared to meet
| the shocks that were so disastrous
/ to them"
One of the effects of earthquakes
lis to cause architects, builders and
others to revise their plans of con-
struction. We find that the students
of engineering in Japan receive a spe-
cial course of lectures on this subject.
| Another application of seismometry
has been to record the vibration of
railway trains, bridges and steam
ships. An instrument of suitable con-
+, struction will give records of the
more or less violent jolting and
vibratory movements of a train and
so localize Irregularities due to
changes In the character of ballast
and sleepers, to variation in guage,
etc. An instrument placed on-s loco
motive throws considerable light on
the effects due to the methods of
balancing the wheels. and by altera-
tions in this respect, a saving of fuel
| can be made.
/ earthquakes has taught is the por-
tions of the ocean bed to avoid when
laying a cable, for, with the maps
! in existence showing the shock
| areas" it is possible, to an extent at
least, to avoid regions that are
known to be in the quake zone.
Chinese and Corn Meal.
From the National Farmer and Stock Grower.
| Corn -four is the principal article