Phillips.] ^1" [March -21, 



yl 7?/V</ Account of the Earthquake at Aix la Chapelle (Aachen) on Mon- 

 day, August 20, 1878. By Henry Phillips, Jr., A. M. 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, March 21, 1879.) 



For several (lays prior to this occurrence the weather within a circuit of 

 one hundred miles had been excessively rainy and quite cool for the season. 

 Sunday, August the 25th, was chilly and lowering, although the barometer 

 seemed inclined to rise. The next morning (Monday) dawned with rain 

 falling in torrents, which continued at intervals during the remainder of 

 the day and the whole of that night, driving the strangers visiting at Aix to 

 seek refuge within their hotels and lodging houses. At about five minutes 

 before nine o'clock in the morning a heavy shock of an earthquake, recur- 

 ring in several waves, was experienced, and again, although of fainter in- 

 tensity, at 9.05, 9.80 and 11.05, in the forenoon of the same day. 



The first (viz., that at 8.55) was the most violent, moved in the direction 

 from north north-west to south-south-east, the vibrations continuing in this 

 plane for several seconds. A very heavy rolling, rumbling sound, appar- 

 ently not subterranean, resembling that caused by the simultaneous pas- 

 sage through the streets of cumbersome deeply-loaded wagons, accompanied 

 the disturbance. 



In the upper portions of the dwellings the brunt of the shock was most 

 forcibly felt ; glassware and crockery were thrown down from their places 

 and shattered on the floor, the window panes were rattled with great force, 

 the bedsteads were swung in the direction of the motion. In the hotel 

 where I was sojourning there was great consternation, and ladies rushed 

 out terrified into the corridors, believing the building was about to fall upon 

 them. I was at that moment ascending the grand stairway of the hotel, 

 when I was suddenly seized, as I imagined, with a dizziness ; everything 

 reeled or rolled before me, the steps seemed to come towards and recede from 

 me. and I seated myself, believing that I was suffering from an attack of 

 vertigo. After a few seconds I perceived by the confusion of surrounding 

 people that there was something really amiss. The oscillations became 

 more and more violent, and it seemed as though the whole town was about 

 to be laid in ruins. Many chimneys were demolished, the stone base of a 

 weathercock on the Deaf Mute Asylum was thrown to the ground, a figure 

 of an angel in the Church of the Holy Cross fell, striking terror into the 

 hearts of the early worshipers, who fled in dismay, the officiating priest 

 and Ins assistants escaping with great difficulty. 



The long continuance of the first shock wrought a strong impression 

 upon the inhabitants, who, pallid and trembling, rushed forth into the 

 streets, while others stood with fixed gaze in the open air, as if paralyzed 

 by fear or rooted to the ground. Some in their anguish fell upon their 

 knees in prayer, calling loudly upon the saints in heaven for their inter- 

 cession and protection. The market women, the letter carriers and all 

 those whose business required them to be out at this early hour in the morn- 

 ing were witnesses of many ridiculous spectacles. 



