1907.] 



AND CONTRACTION OF THE EARTH. 291 



water after the earthquake, which always indicates that the sea bot- 

 tom has sunk. Thus by the study of the laws of the physical world, 

 and the diffusion of the resulting useful knowledge, a great measure 

 of safety may be secured from some of the most dreadful forces in 

 nature, and in the course of time the interests of civilization enor- 

 mously conserved. 



When we reflect over these results and contemplate the harmony 

 thus established in many branches of the physical sciences, is it not 

 obvious that Newton's belief that the great laws of nature are 

 simple may with great advantage still be borne in mind by those who 

 wish to arrive at the ultimate causes which lie at the basis of natural 

 philosophy ? 



Blue Ridge on Loutre, 



Montgomery City, Missouri, April 18, 1907. 



Addendum. 

 Further Considerations on the Earthquake at Helike and Bura, 



372 B. C. 



Some time after the foregoing was finished it occurred to me to 

 consult Grote's '' History of Greece," in the hope of obtaining fur- 

 ther light on the famous disaster at Helike ; and from his references 

 (Vol. X., p. 157) to Diodorus Siculus, ^lianus and Pausanias I 

 have prepared the following addendum : 



I. Diodorus Siculus, Book XV., Chap. V. — It is well established 



that this historian flourished in the reign of Augustus, but the date 



of his death is not known. The translation here followed is that of 



G. Booth, London, I7(X). This is an old work, and the style of 



waiting is antiquated, but the meaning appears to be clear. 



"Afterwards when Asteius was chief magistrate at Athens, and six 

 Military Tribunes, viz. Marcus Furius, Lucius Furius, Aulus Posthumus, 

 Lucius Lucretius, Marcus Fabius and Lucius Posthumus executed the office 

 of Consuls at Rome, there happened such dreadful earthquakes and inunda- 

 tions in Peloponnesus (throughout all the cities and over all the country) 

 that are incredible to relate. For never in any former Ages did the like 

 calamity fall upon the Grecian Cities, which were now swallow'd up to- 

 gether with their inhabitants ; and certainly some Divine Power contrived 

 and executed this remarkable ruine and destruction of Mankind : Nay the 

 time when it was done aggravated the greatness of the calamity. For the 

 earthquake hapned not in the day (when the distressed might have found 

 out some way or other to have helped themselves) but in the night ; and 



