252 



EAKTHQUAKES. 



places were produced. The country in the vicinity 

 of St. Paul's* Bay is of volcanic formation, and slight 

 shocks are of frequent occurrence. A gentleman 

 from that vicinity informs me that they had twenty 

 or thirty slight shocks within the past two weeks. 

 The shock on the 20th, here, did not appear to have 

 an undulating, upheaving motion, but to partake of a 

 tremulous nature. 



The operator at Kichmond. a place ninety miles 

 southwest of here, says the shock was just passing 

 away there at the period when I made the inquiry of 

 Montreal. 



Commenting upon this, Mr. Twining re- 

 marks that, in the region about Bay St. Paul 

 and Les Eboulements a neighborhood of well- 

 known volcanic character probably lay the 

 central spot of the disturbance. He adds : 



The interpretation of Mr. McCord's interesting 

 statements relative to the telegraphic communication 

 seems to be as follows : He occupied the last eight 

 seconds of the motion at Quebec with a question put 

 to Montreal. That question, together with the an- 

 swer "No," I find by careful trial at the American 

 Telegraph-office, requires not less than eighteen sec- 

 onds for transmission and reception. Then there 

 are estimated fifteen seconds of interval. Then there 

 was the second reply of not less than eight seconds ; 

 then there were nine or ten seconds to the end of the 

 vibrations. In other words, there transpired not less 

 than forty-two seconds between the end of the mes- 

 sage and of the tremors at Quebec, and the end of 

 the same at Montreal, ninety-six miles distant in 

 longitude, and one hundred and fifty -nine in a line 

 N. 51 E., and which, in the table above, had been 

 and still remains credited with the empirical interval 

 of thirty-nine seconds showing a near accordance 

 between these and the other facts, and one hundred 

 and thirty-seven miles per minute of east and west 

 progress. 



Again, the Montreal " No " was given just as the 

 tremors there began, and after say six seconds 

 after the end of the shock at Quebec ; that is to 

 say, the beginning traversed from city to city in 

 gome six seconds more than the duration of the 

 shock. Consequently the latter, in consistency with 

 the above, must have continued about thirty-six sec- 

 onds, in place of the twenty-six seconds ascertained 

 at New Haven. Still again, the shock at Montreal 

 began with the " No," which may have occupied 

 four seconds. Then there were fifteen seconds of 

 interval ; then eight of reply ; then nine to ten of 

 estimated continuance; in all thirty-six or thirty- 

 seven seconds for the duration of the shock. 



Of the shock at Albany, Prof. Hough, of the 

 Dudley Observatory, reports : 



The shock of an earthquake was felt here at 11.15 

 A. M., October 20th, and lasted about one minute. 

 The walls of the building had a very marked vibra- 

 tion, open doors were made to vibrate, objects hang- 

 ing on the walls were put in oscillation, and even tables 

 and chairs on the ground floor had a sensible tremor. 

 At the time of the shock a rumbling noise was 

 heard, the clock pendulums swinging north and 

 south were made to vibrate east and west, showing 

 that the earthquake passed in an eastward direction. 

 Since nine A. M., or yesterday the barometer has 

 been falling rapidly, the total fall amounting to 

 seven-tenths of an inch. During the shock the mer- 

 cury in the registering barometer was in a violent 

 state of agitation. 



The severest effects in the United States 

 were remarked at Scranton, Pa., Oooperstown, 

 Rondout, Hudson, and Troy, N". Y., Montpelier, 

 Vt., New Haven, Conn., Boston, Mass., and 

 Brunswick, Me. But Canada suffered from 

 it far more. 



"We learn, as supplementary to the state- 

 ments already given, that at Montreal bells in 

 the public buildings were rung, and judges 

 and others vacated their rooms precipitately. 

 Chimneys were thrown down in Quebec, and 

 two persons injured by falling bricks. The 

 people there fled into the streets, and for a 

 time much clamor and confusion prevailed. 

 The steeple of St. George's Church at Toronto 

 swayed to and fro, the walls of buildings were 

 shaken, and furniture was moved from its 

 place. At St. Catherine's windows were bro- 

 ken. 



Earthquake shocks visited San Francisco, 

 February 17th and April 2d, but did little 

 damage. 



Hon. S. A. Hurlburt, United States minister 

 to Colombia, writing from Bogota on the 6th 

 of June, 1870, gives the following account of 

 an earthquake at that place : 



We have had rather an unusual phenomenon at 

 this place in a remarkably well -developed earth- 

 quake. At about ten minutes before 10 p. M. of the 

 evening of the 4th of April (Saturday), and without 

 any previous warning that we had noticed, there oc- 

 cured first, a moderate shock, not of any peculiar 

 force, and consisting of a single vibration ; this was 

 momentary. In about two minutes afterward a very 

 sharp movement took place, giving the impression 

 of a lateral motion from north to south. The table 

 on which I had my elbow at the time seemed to re- 

 cede about \}4 to 2 inches, quiver an instant and re- 

 turn to its place ; the beams of the houses creaked 

 like the timbers of a ship in heavy weather. Doors 

 and windows flew open. Those who were in bed nt 

 the time seemed to feel it much more, and the effect 

 of the vibrations was to make many " sea-sick." 

 This shock, they tell me, was the sharpest known 

 here since 1826. I cannot learn of any damage done 

 to buildings in the city. 



The unquietness of the earth continued from the 

 time mentioned until nearly 11 p. IT., with a species 

 of shuddering motion scarcely perceptible unless one 

 were lying down. There was heard with each shock 

 a peculiar muffled rushing sound, not as clear and 

 distinct as the movement of wind, but something 

 like it. At the moment of the principal shock I 

 looked at my watch and found the time to be ten 

 minutes of ten Bogota time. Time however, here, 

 is not well regulated, as the observatory possesses no 

 instruments and is neglected. The direction of the 

 movement was very distinct from the north to the 

 south. As earthquakes rarely have their centres in 

 Colombia and are generally the result of action in 

 Ecuador, it may be advisable to connect this obser- 

 vation with notices from that country. I believe 

 there is but one volcano in action in Colombia 

 Purace". 



Some nights since we noticed for two hours after 

 sunset in the west, and nearly in the range of To- 

 liina, a well-defined column or line of light, on the 

 Cordillera. This bore about due west. The charac- 

 ter of the light I could not determine. 



January 18th, shocks of earthquakes were 

 felt at Marseilles and Toulon, France. The 

 oscillations numbered from twenty to twenty- 

 five, from southwest to northeast, each last- 

 ing about the third of a second. Some reports 

 speak of the shocks as from north to south. 



A series of earthquakes visited Mexico from 

 the llth to the 19th of May. The portion of 

 country where they were most active under- 

 went singular changes. Lake Chicagua en- 



