KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Oct. 9, 1885, 



we fiud theories of this sort prevalent. In the Institute 

 of Menu the Hindoos are taught that at the end of each 



of those cycles of ages which arc termed the "days of 

 BiMliiM-.- :,1I f,.r::,- ,,r i;,-., ,.,v ,L -.r>;ved from the earth 

 liy ;i Ljr. I' . .i.!'i I iii I '1,1 liy a deluge which 

 inui. 1 - - '. :i\' ■ - '■ 1 ■ ' ilical legends of tlir 

 Chiiu'^r 1',1'iT in .-ii'iiiiir vi^w-, wlnrli appear also in the 

 Babylonian and Tcrsian csmo-nnics. The Chaldeans 

 taught that when the planets are all conjoined in 

 Capricorn the earth will be overwhelmed by a flood, and 

 that wlii'ii ;i, ciijunction of this sort takes place in 

 Can.. '■ i>- . ..•' ' N ill be destroyed by fire. 



Ill i ~ :. je when the network of telegraphy 



briii_~ 111 ,i,ii> I ilie earth into close intercommunica- 

 tion, we are iioi iiKcly to tr,ice, even in the most wide- 

 .spread disasters, the approaching destruction of oiir 

 globe. The same day which brings the intelligence of 

 .some desolating catastrophe brings evidence also that the 

 devastation is but local. We are seldom informed of 

 simultaneous, or nearly simultaneous, events happening 

 ia. widely-separated regions of the earth's sui-face. 

 Accordingly, we are seldom led to dread the occurrence 

 of any widely-devastating series of catastrophes. 



"We have heard a great deal lately of certain specula- 

 tions — recently ventilated by an American philosopher — 

 which threaten the earth with complete annihilation. 

 Accordintr to these views there is one great danger to 

 which we are at all times liable— the risk, namely, that 

 some large volcanic vent should bo formed beneath the 

 bosom of ocean. Through this vent the sea would rush 

 into the interior of the earth, and being forthwith con- 

 verted into steam by the intense subterranean heat, 

 would rend the massive shell on which we live into a 

 thousand fragments. 



Whether it is possible or not that such an event as 

 this should take place, I shall not here stay to inc^uire. 

 Let it suffice that the risk — if there be any — is no greater 

 now than it has been any time during thousands of past 



But certainly, if there is any sourrc fr-m which the 



inhabitants of the earth nia" ii i- .lly dread the 



occurrences of widely dev:i>i _ .lies, it is 



from earthquakes. It is ii i i i : ' i V full six 

 months after the great ear: In p; \ ■ .-! Lisbon, Dr. 

 Johnson refused to believe in the occurrence of so terrible 

 ;v catastrophe. " He spoke half jestingly," Macaulay 

 thought — it is not easy to see on what grounds. To us 

 it seems far more probable that Johnson heard with 

 natural wonder and awe of the destructive effects of this 

 fearful convulsion ; and that for awhile he could scarcely 

 believe that the extent of the disaster had not been exag- 

 gerated. It would be well if, indeed, the powers of 

 earthquakes were less tremendous than they have been 

 repeatedly shown to be. " There is," says Humboldt, 

 "no other outward manifestation of force known to us — 

 the murderous inventions of our own race included — 

 through which, in the brief period of a few seconds or 

 minutes, a larger number of human beings have been 

 destroyed than by earthquakes." Lightning and storm, 

 war and plague, are but weak and inefficient agents of 

 destruction in comparison with the earth's internal forces. 



And as earthquakes surpass all other phenomena as 

 agents of sudden destruction, so the impression which 

 they produce on those who for the first time experience 

 their effects is peculiarly and indescribably awful. jSIen 

 of reputed courage speak of a feeling of " intolerable 

 dread " produced by the shocks of an earthquake, "even 

 when unaccompanied by subterannean noises." The 

 impression is not that of simple fear but a feeling of 



absolute pain. The reason seems for awhile to have 

 lost the power of separating real from imaginary causes 

 of terror. The lower animals, also, are thrown into a 

 stiitc of tt iror and distress. "Swine and dogs," says 

 1 1 uiiilw Ml , " are particularly affected by the phenomenon 

 ' f . :iitli.|i; ikes." And he adds that "the very crocodiles 

 if tlic Orinoco, otherwise as dumb as our little lizards, 

 leave the shaken bed of the stream and run bellowing 

 into the woods." 



Humboldt s explanation of the peculiar sensations of 

 alarm and awe produced by an earthquake upon those 

 who for the first time experience the effects of the 

 phenomenon is in all probability the correct one. " The 

 impression here is not," he says, "the consequence of 

 the recollection of destructive catastrophes presented to 

 our imagination by narratives of historical events ; what 

 seizes us so wonderfully is the disabuse of that innate 

 faith in the fixity of the solid and sure-set foundations of 

 the earth. From eai-ly childhood we are habituated to 

 the contrast between the mobile element water and the 

 immobility of the soil on which we stand. All the 

 evidences of our senses have confirmed this belief. But 

 when suddenly the grouml liegins to rock beneath us, the 

 feeling of an unknown inystcrious power in nature 

 coming into operation and shaking the solid globe arises 

 in the mind. Tlic illusinn of the whole of our earlier 

 life is annihilated in an instant." 



Use habituates tlic mind to the shocks of earthquake. 

 Humboldt found himself able after awhile to give a 

 close and philosophic scrutiny to the circumstances 

 attending the phenomenon which had at first impressed 

 him so startlingly. And he tells us that the inhabitants 

 of Peru think scarcely more of a moderate shock of 

 earthquake than is thought of a hail-storm in the tem- 



Tet the annals of earthquakes are sufficient to give 

 rise to a feeling of dread, founded, not merely on the 

 novelty of the event, but on a knowledge of the powers 

 of the earth's internal heavings. The narratives of some 

 of the great earthquakes afford fearful evidence on this 

 point. 



In the first shock of the great earthquake of Lisbon 

 (November, 1755) the city was shaken to its foimdations. 

 The houses were swung to and fro so violently that the 

 upper stories fell at once, causing a terrible loss of life. 

 Thousands rushed to the great square in front of St. 

 Paul's Church, to escape the reach of the tottering ruins. 

 It was the festival of All Saints, and all the churches 

 had been crowded with worshippers. But when the 

 terrified inhabitants reached the square, they found that 

 the great church of St. Paul's was already in ruins, and 

 the immense multitude which had thronged its sacred 

 precincts were iavolvel in its destruction.^. Such of the 

 congregations of the different churches as had escaped 

 rushed to the banks of the Tagus for safety. There were 

 to be seen priests in their sacerdotal vestments, and an 

 immense crowd of people of all ranks and ages, praying 

 to Heaven for mercy. As they prayed there came the 

 second shock, scarcely less terrible than the first. The 

 church on the top of St. Catherine's Hill was rocked to 

 and fro till it fell, crushing in its fall a great multitude 

 which had sought that height for safety. 



But ,1 f r 1 r. ti rrible catastrophe was at hand. As 

 the In: 1 " ' ; ■■ sounded with the Miserere of the 

 tcrriiii I : who had crowded thither for safety, 



there \>. ;^ :r ii 1,1 ]iass over the wide expanse of the 

 stream (here four miles broad) a strange heaving swell, 

 though no wind stirred the air. The waters seemed to 

 be drawn away to meet a vast wave which was now first 



