THE CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES 



through hollows, fissures, and crevices, thus developing in 

 the heated interior great vapour, a part of which is 

 expelled from volcanoes. Aristotle correctly associated 

 seismic sea waves with earthquakes, and even Homer 

 assigned these great disturbances of the sea to Poseidon's 

 trident, which was also the means employed for raising up 

 islands from the sea bottom. The withdrawal of the 

 water from the shore after an earthquake and its return as 

 a great wave were familiar to Aristotle, and are implied 

 in his description of the sinking of Helike in 373 B.C. 



Before leaving the subject of earthquakes we may quote 

 some passages from Mr. John Milne on the influence 

 which these great disasters have exercised on the emo- 

 tions. Immediately after the Kingston earthquake we 

 read of the dazed and almost insane condition of the 

 people. Many were affected with an outburst of religious 

 ecstasy, thinking the last day had come. The negro 

 population camped on the racecourse and spent their time 

 in singing hymns. Somewhat similar scenes took place in 

 Chili ; men and women ran hither and thither, mad with 

 terror and devoid of reason. Amid shrieks and sobs and 

 the wailing of a multitude an " Ora pro nobis " or a 

 " Pater noster " might now and then be heard. In early 

 civilisations underground thunderings have so far excited 

 the imagination that subterranean monsters or personages 

 have been conjured into existence, and these in many in- 

 stances have played a part in primitive religions. At the 

 time of an earthquake in Japan the children are told that 

 the shaking is due to the movement of a fish which is 

 buried beneath their country, and in Japan we find refer- 



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