24 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [OCT. 18, 



ceive a far greater precipitation of moisture than the lowlands, 

 and erosion, which is the opposing force to elevation, counter- 

 acts its effects. The East Indian geologists estimate that in the 

 Himalayas the process of elevation is going on constantly, and 

 that it is at least equal to the loss from denudation. 



The application of all that has gone before to the Charleston 

 earthquake is simply this: that we learn from the facts cited 

 that displacements are constantly taking place in the crust of 

 the earth the world over, and as tliese affect rigid and resistant 

 masses of rock they are produced ^^er saUnm, that is, in parox- 

 ysms. The strain accumulating until it overcomes the resist- 

 ance is released in one or many efforts, each of which is attended 

 by an earthquake vibration of greater or less force. The coun- 

 try bordering a disturbed belt is sure to feel the effects of sub- 

 terranean movements more frequently than plains and plateaus 

 removed from mountains. Every year we hear of local disturb- 

 ances in the Southern AUeghanies, and Bald Mountain has 

 been the scene of so many that it has come to be looked upon 

 with awe and apprehension by the people in the vicinity. So 

 along up the Atlantic slope of the AUeghanies there have been 

 many earthquakes since the country was occupied by whites. 

 Not a year passes that we do not hear of several in New England, 

 the Middle or Southern States. As the population increases, 

 the number of observers is multiplied and the number of struc- 

 tures liable to damage constantly added to; so that such pheno- 

 mena now attract more attention and cause greater destruction 

 than formerly. In New England the best record of earthquakes 

 has been kept, and if any one will look over a file of newspapers 

 published at Boston or Hartford, he will find that within the 

 last century a very large number of earthquake shocks or vibra- 

 tions are noticed. Earlier than that, we must depend upon 

 town records or private correspondence. From these we learn 

 that in 1727 the country about Newburypovt, Mass., was shaken 

 up, very much as Charleston has recently been, but in that re- 

 gion there were then but few buildings and those of wood; so 

 that the damage was comparatively small.' 



Two years ago. New York City suffered an earthquake shock, 

 but fortunately not a severe one. It occurred about two o'clock 

 Sunday afternoon, the 10th of August. I was sitting alone in 

 my room in the College, where all was perfectly still; suddenly 

 I heard a heavy rumbling sound like that of a passing loaded 



' Since this paper was written I have received " Historical Notes on 

 the Earthquakes of New England from 1638 to 1869," bj^ William T, 

 Brigham, published in the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, 1868. This contains notes upon two hundred and thirty-one 

 earthquakes, with many interesting details. 



