204 



NATURE 



\yan. 2, 1890 



that the twelfth century was specially subject to earth- 

 quakes. 



Since the development of telegraphy, and the conse- 

 quent rapid production of daily press news, the means of 

 recording such phenomena with prompt accuracy has of 

 course been greatly facilitated. This is very apparent 

 when the number of shocks which have occurred within 

 the present century is apportioned into decades of ten 

 years. Thus — 



In 1800-10 there were 9 shocks recorded. 



181 1-20 

 1821-30 

 1831-40 

 1841-50 

 1851-60 

 1861-70 

 1871-80 

 1881-88 



36 

 23 

 49 

 27 

 12 



25 

 18 



34 



Making a total number, between 1800-88, of 233 shocks. 



Although it appears from this artificially divided list 

 as if a low decade was followed, as a rule, by a high 

 decade, the number being often doubled, no safe compu- 

 tation whatever can be inferred ; and the more one 

 considers the facts accumulated, the more one feels 

 that there is no real evidence upon which the various 

 conjectures respecting earthquake periodicity have been 

 made. About a dozen only of the numerous Comrie 

 shocks are included in the above figures, but even 

 this number is sufficient to materially affect any such 

 calculation, whilst very many other well-authenticated 

 shocks, as already mentioned, are omitted in Mr. 

 Roper's list. With regard to Comrie, in Perthshire, 

 it may further be remarked that, during the month 

 of October 1839, as many as sixty- six separate shocks 

 are reported to have taken place ; and during the years 

 1839-42, altogether upwards of 200 vibrations were ex- 

 perienced in that district iodide NATURE, vol. xxiii. pp. 

 117 and 170). 



With regard to the trustworthiness of the earlier records, 

 it may be generally assumed that some earth vibration did 

 actually take place at the time stated, notwithstanding the 

 exaggerations and extraneous notions that were mixed up 

 with such phenomena in superstitious times. But whether 

 the occurrence was in every case an earthquake in the 

 proper sense of the term is open to doubt. It is, 

 indeed, highly probable that such occurrences as that 

 recorded under the date of June 7, 1750, and other 

 more recent cases, were not earthquakes at all, but the 

 effect of bursting bolides, similar to the phenomenon 

 which was described very fully in Symons's Meteorological 

 Magazine for December 1887. Others, again, appear to 

 have been no more than extensive landslips, or other 

 superficial rock displacements resulting from aerial denu- 

 dation ; while some others were probably only connected 

 with violent storms, or the frost-cannonadings which are 

 commonly produced on exposed chalk cliffs during the 

 winter season. 



The absurd statements that were made respecting 

 some of the older occurrences are evidently either inten- 

 tional or unintentional falsehoods ; but many of them con- 

 tain so much quaint humour that a few samples are well 

 worth quoting. In the year 132 a.d. there was a terrible 

 earthquake in England, when '"men and cattle were 

 swallowed up " ; but this fashion in recording events had 

 been set at least twenty-nine years earlier, for in the 

 year 103, "a city is said to have been swallowed up." 

 In 418 there was one that was " great and general ; then 

 famine, plague, hail, snow, cold, and meteors." In 505 

 one lasted for three hours. At about three o'clock on 

 August 1 1, 1089, there was a terrible one in England, 

 which caused great scarcity of fruit, and a late harvest ; 

 while twelve years later there was another that " terrified 



all England with a horrid spectacle, for buildings were 

 lifted up and then again settled as before." Again, in 

 1 177, near Darlington, "the earth swelled up to a great 

 height from nine in the morning to the setting of the 

 sun, and then with a loud noise sank down again " ; there 

 was another that took up all the day in mo; while on 

 September 11, 1275, a great earthquake was felt in New- 

 castle, with " dreadful thunder and lightning, blazing stars, 

 and a comet, .... with the appearance of a great 

 dragon, which terrified the people between the first and 

 third hour of the day.'' This savours somewhat of the 

 Chinese dragon fables, while some others almost match 

 the deluge of Noah in their vast extent. In 974, for 

 instance, " a great one shook the whole of England " ; 

 while earlier still, in 856, one occurred " over the greatest 

 part of the known world." In 11 33, "in manie parts of 

 England an earthquake was felt so that it was thought 

 that the earth would have sunke under the feete of men, 

 with such a sound as was horrible to heare." In 1290, 

 there was one felt in England that was described as 

 being "nearly universal (I) in Europe" ; while we are 

 assured, with circumstantial evidence, that, in the year 

 1426, " on the even of St. Michael the Archangel, in the 

 morning before day, betwixt the hours of one and two of 

 the clocke, beganne a terrible earthquake, with lightning 

 and thunder, which continued the space of two boures, 

 and was universal through the world. The unreasonable 

 beasts rored and drewe to the townes with hideous noise ; 

 also the fowls of the ayre likewise cried out." 



Space does not permit of other equally curious accounts, 

 as marvellous almost as the more primitive traditions of 

 patriarchal times regarding the vindictive forces of Nature. 

 Whatever may be said about the accompaniments and 

 absurd effects which have been ascribed to earthquake 

 action, the majority of those shocks which are recorded 

 as having caused damage to buildings may fairly be set 

 down as facts, and although they may have occasionally 

 been exaggerated, some of the details are generally 

 authentically described. 



A curious problem may be raised with regard to the 

 effect of earthquakes upon river courses. That shoals 

 have frequently been produced along marine coasts is 

 well known, a striking case being that which happened 

 early in January 1885, off Malta, to the extent of danger- 

 ously affecting navigation ; but there are several accounts 

 which agree in the assertion that the beds of such navi- 

 gable streams as the Trent and the Thames have been 

 temporarily raised by local earthquakes so as to permit 

 of people " passing over dry-shod." What became of the 

 river course during the operation is a problem that does 

 not appear to have required solution. Yet sufficient 

 circumstantial evidence has been produced, in connection 

 with the shock in mo at Nottingham, and in 1158 at 

 London, to almost warrant the idea that a certain amount 

 of credence may be given to the stories. Whether it 

 may be inferred from such statements that a change in 

 the bed of the rivers in question then took place is doubtful, 

 as history yields us no information on the point. 



As a general statement we may safely infer finally that 

 earthquakes in Great Britain, including the microseismic 

 disturbances which are now so frequently recorded, were 

 as common in the past as in the present period of more 

 scientific observation ; though, fortunately, such calamitous 

 results as attended the catastrophe in Essex within recent 

 times continue to be rare. It is still a matter for regret, 

 however, that no steps have yet been taken to establish 

 seismographs in different parts of this country. Until 

 this is done, the chance records of various individuals — 

 whose impressions, being inevitably affected more or less 

 by the personal equation, produce only doubtful data — 

 must continue to take the place of precise observation. 



William White. 



