EARTHQUAKES. 



EASTERN CHURCHES. 



Iftl 



tiroly disappeared, leaving a dry noil, with fish, 



alligators, and other aquatic animals, in it. In 



I.LUVS, Oayula among tin-- number, a new 



W&a suddenly formed; old deep wells, 



which wore dry years ago, became filled with 



\\.itiT, uu'l otlior wolls dried up. Treivs \vi-ro 



;.'d by thousands, and whole villages dis- 



irod. The loss of life and property was 



heavy. 



A very disastrous earthquake occurred in 

 the largo city of Batang, on the Kinsha River, 

 in Thiltut, commencing April llth and con- 

 tinuing with intervals till May 9th, when a 

 tire broke out laying waste a largo por- 

 >f the city and destroying an immense 

 number of lives one account, probably much 

 exaggerated, says 10,000. Several neighboring 

 villages wore ruined. 



July 26th, an earthquake took place at Ma- 

 nagua, Nicaragua, simultaneously with an ac- 

 tive condition of the volcano of Momstombo. 

 In the adjoining Republic of San Salvador an 

 t'.-irthquako was reported July 27th, and an- 

 other 28th, both severe, but inflicting no great 

 damage. 



A volcanic eruption and earthquake destroyed 

 a number of villages in Niphon, May 21st. 



Greece was shaken by an earthquake July 

 1st, the island of Santorin suffering severely. 



In Calabria, an earthquake, October 7th, 

 caused a great destruction of life and property. 



In building a church in San Francisco, the 

 Roman Catholics took into account the risks 

 from an earthquake. The side-walls above the 

 basement are only 80 feet high ; from these a 

 roof rises, which, with the main roof, is sup- 

 ported independently of the walls by two rows 

 of pillars inside of them. Both roofs are firmly 

 bound to the pillars, and the latter are fastened 

 together by iron cross-beams, secured by heavy 

 iron bolts, forming a net-work of great strength. 

 It is supposed that, should the pillars be shaken 

 down, the roof would be launched outside the 

 walls, thus giving a chance of escape from the 

 ruins. 



Prof. David Forbes, F. R. S., in a lecture de- 

 livered at London in June, on volcanoes and 

 earthquakes, said: 



I cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that 

 all volcanoes are connected with one another in depth, 

 and have one common source, not necessarily sit- 

 uated at any enormous depth below the surface, 

 but in -which the molten matter while always con- 

 taining certain general characters has undergone 

 considerable modifications in composition, nrine- 

 ralojfical and chemical, from time to time in the 

 world's history ; for, under the term volcanic rocks, I 

 would here include all eruptive rocks without excep- 

 tion, whether called granites, syenites, porphyrites, 

 basalts, or lava, all of which I regard as but so many 

 members of one series, or simply as the products of 

 the volcanic action of different geological epochs. 



So much for the molten products of volcanoes. 

 Now a few words on their gasiform emanations, which 

 consist in greater part of the vapor of water, i. e., 

 steam, along with volatile chlorides, hydrochloric 

 and sulphurous acids, nitrogen and sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen gases. The sulphur, seen to be sublimed in so 

 large quantities, is probably derived from the mutual 



reactions of the sulphurous acid and sulphuretted 

 hydrogen gases, ai they couio in contact with one 

 another. 



Now, if it be true that we have a vast accumulation 

 of molten matter at a certain depth below the surface, 

 which observation further informs us must, in iu;ij'>r 

 part, consist of the silicates and sulphides of the me- 

 tallic elements, then, in my opinion, at least, it only 

 requires the assumption that water from the sea 

 should, by some means or other, find its way down 

 into such a reservoir, to account for all the phe- 

 nomena of volcanoes, both mechanical and chemi- 

 cal. The greater part of the water BO introduced 

 would be at once converted into steam, which, in its 

 turn, would become still further expanded by a heat 

 BO great as that of molten lava, and would develop an 

 enormous power. Calculations have been mode which 

 show that water, even when treated to a much less 

 temperature, would exert an " ejection force," as it 

 has been termed, even exceeding that developed in 

 eruptions of the highest volcanoes known. Another 

 portion of the water with the air carried down along 

 with it, acting upon the highly heated sulphides*, 

 would become decomposed, and furnish the sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen } sulphurous acid, and nitrogen 

 gases given off, while the common salt in the sea- 

 water, oy its action on the hot silicates in presence 

 of steam, would eliminate hydrochloric acid, and 

 account for the appearances of it, as well as of the 

 volatile chlorides found in volcanic fumes. If wo ac- 

 cept this explanation, the chemical reactions would 

 be but the effects and not the cause of volcanic 

 phenomena. 



The destructive effects attendant 'on volcanic con- 

 vulsions are of two different characters, viz., those 

 arising from the earthquakes which accompany and, 

 as a rule, precede outbreaks ; and those caused by 

 the products ejected from the volcano itself. The 

 connection of earthquakes with volcanoes has been 

 noted from the oldest times ; the earthquakes which 

 commenced A. D. 63 were but the efforts made by 

 Vesuvius to relievo itself, which culminated in the 

 great eruption of 79; the same was the case in Mexico 

 with Jorillo in 1759, and with the great earthquake 

 of 1834 in Chili, which ended in the outbreaks of 

 Osorno and three other volcanoes of the Andes ; and. 

 lastly, in 1868, the terrible earthquake which visited 

 the coast of Peru, and totally destroyed the cities of 

 Arica and Iquique, was followed by the eruption of 

 Isluga, which, according; to the latest news, still con- 

 tinues. There seems little reason to doubt that all 

 earthquakes are of purely volcanic origin, and that 

 volcanoes themselves may be regarded as BO many 

 safety-valves for blowing off the surplus steam, gases, 

 and molten products from our great internal boiler ; 

 for, as a rule, it has been observed that earthquakes 

 either cease altogether or diminish greatly in vio- 

 lence as soon as a neighboring volcano has cleared 

 its throat. 



EASTERN CHURCHES. At the beginning 

 of the year, the Greek Archbishop Lycurgos, 

 of Syra and Tenos, a distinguished scholar, 

 who had studied at the German universities, 

 made a visit to England, where he was re- 

 ceived with marked honors. In his intercourse 

 with the representatives of the Church of Eng- 

 land, he avowed his. sympathy with the move- 

 ment for bringing about a closer nnion be- 

 tween the Anglican and tho Eastern Churches. 

 Thus, in reply to an address from the English 

 Church Union presented to him on leaving Enir- 

 land, the archbishop is reported to have said : 



I have seen with joy in your renowned nation tho 

 prevalence of divine zeal for the true faith, and the 

 just aversion to all novel adulterations of tno divino 

 teaching of the holy Scriptures ; and, above all, the 

 earnestness, well-pleasing to God, with which your 



