NA TURE 



{May i, 1884 



Information is also wanted as to the angle at which the 

 shock emerged from the ground at various points around 

 the central area, in order that the depth from the surface 

 at which the shock originated may be known. There 

 should be no difficulty in collecting data for this in a dis- 

 trict where so many buildings are cracked and shattered. 

 The direction of the cracks, and the angles which these 

 cracks make with a horizontal line, should be carefully 

 noted. 



Another point upon which much uncertainty at present 

 exists is the direction in which the wave travelled from 

 its point of origin. The swinging of chandeliers, the 

 swinging of pictures on certain walls and not on others, 

 pendulums which stopped or not according to the direc- 

 tion of the swing, are all important helps towards de- 

 ciding this question. Of course it is always dangerous to 

 seek for knowledge of this kind some time after the event, 

 but in many cases it may be possible to speak with 

 absolute certainty of the facts. 



Some observers speak decidedly of two distinct shocks: 

 this probably was the case frequently, though seldom 

 noticed. The rumbling sound so frequently accompanying 

 earthquake shocks was in many cases noticed in Suffolk 

 and Essex. It is rarely mentioned elsewhere, but is said 

 to have been heard at Chelsea, Reading, and Bristol. 



As regards the actual area affected by the shock, there 

 is perhaps much yet to learn. It is recorded along the 

 south side of the Thames from Heme Bay to London, 

 and again at Reading. It was felt at Maidstone and 

 Croydon, and again along the south-east coast from 

 Hastings to Portsmouth and Ryde. But at present we 

 know of no observations in the central parts of Kent, 

 Surrey, or Sussex. W. TOP] EY 



We have received the following further communications in 

 reference to the earthquake : — 



As all facts connected wit hlhe earthquake shock on Tuesday may 

 prove of more or less value, I beg to communicate the following. 

 The house which I occupy is situated in the centre block of 

 buildings constituting Inverness Terrace, on the western side. 

 Under this block of houses runs the Underground Railway, but a 

 distance of one hundred paces from my house. During 

 time the passage of trains is wholly unperceived, but during the 

 night, when heavy luggage-trains run, a very perceptible vibra- 

 tion is experienced, and in the stillness a distinct rumbling is 

 heard. On the morning of Tuesday I was engaged re: 

 when my attention was called to what I supposed to be the pas- 

 sage of a train ; but the peculiarity of the motion speedily unde- 

 ceived me. The sensation was that of being borne rather on 

 water than on solid earth, and as I had already had experience 

 of an earthquake shock in India, I suspected that this disturb- 

 ance I was feeling was of the same nature. I immediately 

 looked at my watch and noted the time as being thirty-two 

 minutes past nine o'clock. As no one of the other three inmates 

 of the house had perceived anything unusual, I thought no ] 

 about the matter until I saw the announcement in the evening 

 papers of what had happened. I then went to the watchmaker's 

 and found that my watch was just fifteen minutes too fast. I 

 am therefore able, with fair approximation to accuracy, to fix 

 seventeen minutes past nine o'clock as the time at which the 

 vibration ceased a( this point. W. C. B. Eatwell 



69, Inverness Terrace, Kensington Gardens, W., April 24 



Tin Wednesday morning last, the day after the earthquake, I 

 determined to start upon its track. In Ipswich here, little or no 

 visible harm has been done; but no sooner had I arrived a! 

 Colchester and commenced to walk through the town, from the 

 chief station to the Hythe, than abundant evidence of the ruin 

 wrought by it was visible. Chimneys were totally thrown down, 

 and the brickwork had crashed through the frail roofs. Others 

 were standing, but they looked as if they had been struck by 



ghtning. Their upper parts were splintered and laterally 

 expanded. I could not help noticing that nearly all the house 

 hose chimneys were wrecked were the oldest — hardly any of 



he modern, cheaply-built cottages being affected, contrary to 

 my expectation. 



At Wivenhoe I found the appearance of the town best 

 expressed by the remark already made : " It looked as if it had 

 been bombarded." That was the first idea which rose in my 

 mind. 



Hardly a house was untouched, inside or out. The neiuest 

 houses seemed to be externally least affected, but they made up 

 for this inside, '['hey looked as if they had been given a few 

 half turns, and then shaken up. The plaster had been detached 

 from all the walls, the roofs were rent and loosened all along the 

 cornices, and the framework of the windows was everywhere 

 splintered or free. The battlements of the grand old church had 

 been thrown down, and about fifteen tons of rubbish lay among 

 the crushed headstones and the delicate and abundant grave 

 flowers. Here again there was evidence of a semi-rotatory 

 motion on the part of the earthquake. The beautiful Inde- 

 pendent Chapel is so utterly wrecked within and without that it 

 will all have to come down. The streets were full of bricks, 

 mortar, and tiles, although with characteristic English tidiness 

 and diligence the terror-stricken inhabitants were already clearing 

 away the debris. I noticed several houses with rents at the bases 

 of their walls, and in such of the chimneys as remained standing 

 they were frequent. One thing struck me, the rents sprang at 

 an angle of about 30 at the bases of the buildings, whilst in the 

 chimneys this was increased to from 40" to 45°. 



I he old ferryman related his experience after the manner of an 

 old salt. He was just bringing his boat to the shore when the 

 shock occurred — "it seemed just like three seas,"he said — a 

 capital and vivid expression to convey an idea of the wave- 

 motion. 



(1.1 iing the river 1 made my way through Fingrinhoe 

 village, and on to Langenhoe. I did not see a single house on 

 the road, large or small, for a distance of about four miles, that 

 had escaped untouched. The fine old Jacobean hall at Fing- 

 rinhoe has lost the upper part of the western side of the front 

 elevation. Here I found some of the chimneys that had been 

 [eft standing twisted on their pediments. I carefully noted this 

 on the way, and on examining those of the massive chimneys of 

 1 it 1 ingenhoe, the torsion was very plainly visible. 

 The twist had come from the south, fir the faces of the chim- 

 neys which had previously looked in that direction were now 

 turned almost south-easterly. I did not set out a minute too 

 soon to note these circumstances, foi all the builders of the 

 countryside were already abroad, and in a few days all the evi- 

 dences of earthquake a< ti"ii of the greatest value to seismologists 

 will have been completely obliterated. Thus I found a very 

 inti Uigi in builder bom Colchester on the lawn of the Langenhoe 

 ■\in; orders for having the twisted chimneys removed, 

 and I have no doubt they were all taken down within twenty- 

 four hours. He had been driving all over the disturbed country- 

 side, and told me that wherever the big chimneys had been left 

 they were twisted from the south-south-west to the north north- 

 east, e-pe. i.T.1 ! x in ill itiguous villages of I'cldon and Abber- 



ton. This. I think, s, tiles the original direction of the earth- 

 quake wave, and also establishes its rotatory character. 



Langenhoe Church is an utter ruin, and all thai yet stands will 

 have to come down. It is a sad sight to see this picturesque, 

 ivy-clad old church — standing so prettily overlooking the creeks 

 where the ancienl Danish Vikings landed in the dawn of our. 

 modern history but a comparatively few years before the church 

 was built — now so utterly ruined. The porch on the north side- 

 is of brick, and a modern structure. Two large rents run up, 

 one on each side of the doorway, at an angle of about 32 . 

 They run from opposite directions, and meet just above the key- 

 stone of the arch. Here another large rent parallel with tin- 

 ground traverses the masonry. It seemed to me that the first 

 earthquake shock which rent the brickwork sprang from the 

 western coiner, and was reflected so as to form the opposite rent, 

 I ing and lifting up and forming the parallel crack above- 1 

 mentioned. 



The battlements of Langenhoe Church, like those of Wiven- 

 hoe, have been shaken down. But while those of Wivenhoe 1 

 were thrown upon the ground chiefly on the west side, those of 

 Langenhoe Church were tin own on the nave — that is, in an 

 opposite or easterly direction. They crashed through the roof 

 and carried a gallery with them, the concussion meantime burst-, 

 ing out the upper part of the chancel end. Am I right in think- 

 ing that this pitching forward of the loosened rubbish in opposite 

 directions, as exemplified in these two churches, taken in connec 

 tion with the overwhelming proof of rotatory motion, indicates 

 that the movement of the earthquake had swerved right round be' 



