yATURR 



117 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 18S0 



BRITISH EARTHQUAKES 



ON Sunday evening last week (28th Nov.) the northern 

 parts of the British Isles were slightly shaken by 

 an earthquake. The recent disastrous earthquake shocks 

 in Croatia have called renewed attention to this still 

 mysterious geological phenomenon, and now, while the 

 subject is still fresh and under discussion, a milder visita- 

 tion of the same nature reminds us that our islands are 

 not wholly exempt from their share in the pulsations of 

 the terrestrial crust. Save the vague and inexact news- 

 paper paragraphs which chronicle the impressions of 

 different observers, we have no information as to the 

 direction of propagation of the earthquake wave of last 

 week, its duration, relative intensity, and angle of emerg- 

 ence at different localities. It appears to have been one 

 of the usual type of earth-tremors experienced in this 

 country, and to have affected ths region which, during 

 the present century at least, has been most subject to 

 such movements. It is reported as having been felt at 

 niany points in the central valley of Scotland and in the 

 north-east of Ireland, also along the west coast as far 

 north as the further end of the Long Island. Its effects 

 appear to have been most marked over the area occu- 

 pied by the crystalline schists. In Bute the house-bells 

 rang. At Oban a portion of the plaster was detached 

 from the ceiling of the parish church during the service 

 of the Sunday-school. At Inverary also some plaster 

 was loosened, and a sensation of nausea and giddiness 

 is even said to have been experienced. At Blair Athole 

 the oil in the table-lamps was thrown into undulations, 

 which rose over half an inch up the side of the glass. 

 Over the Lowland belt the effects were less perceptible, 

 though they are alleged to have been distinctly felt as far 

 as Edinburgh. By some observers the duration of the 

 shock was estimated at two, by others at ten seconds. 

 In some places the movement was thought to be from 

 the north-west, in others, from the south-west. One of 

 the phenomena duly chronicled in most of the narratives 

 is the jingling and creaking made by crockery and furni- 

 ture. Such is the usual meagre kind of detail out of 

 which an explanation of the cause of earthquake move- 

 ments in Britain is in truth hardly possible. 



If we look back into the history of the subject nu- 

 merous references to earthquake shocks will be found in 

 the annals of the last seven or eight centuries in this 

 country. And if the chroniclers are to be believed, some 

 of these were of exceptional severity. According to the 

 list compiled by Sir John Prestwich, shocks seem to have 

 been specially numerous and severe in the twelfth cen- 

 tury. Thus on the 2nd of August, 1134, England was 

 shaken by an earthquake just at the very time that Henry 

 I. was about to take ship for Normandy ; " flames of fire 

 burst forth with great violence out of certain riffs of the 

 earth." On another occasion, in the same century, the 

 bed of the Thames was laid bare at London. We read, 

 too, of churches and other buildings having been from 

 time to time thrown down, and of open rents having been 

 left in the ground after the passage of the shock. 



In the contemporary records of these phenomena the 

 Vol. .x.xiii.— No. 5S0 



geologist vainly searches for particulars that may serve to 

 elucidate their origin. He finds much that is doubtfully 

 correct, not a little that is obviously fabulous. Naturally 

 the events were considered merely in their relations to the 

 human population of the country, and those aspects of 

 them «ere noted that bore special interest in that respect. 

 Most frequently they v.-ere regarded in the light of 

 divine judgments, and were connected with some 

 real or imputed delinquency on the part of the inhabi- 

 tants. We read, for instance, that on the 8th November, 

 1608, a rather smart shock of earthquake passed over 

 Scotland. In the southern counties it was looked upon 

 as a result of "the extraordinar drouth in the summer 

 and winter before." But the more orthodox worthies in 

 the farther north took a higher view of it. The kirk- 

 session of Aberdeen met, and accepting the earthquake 

 as " a document that God is angry against this land and 

 against this city in particular for the manifold sins of the 

 people," appointed a solemn fast for next day. On 

 further reflection they came to recognise one sin in par- 

 ticular as having doubtless called down the judgment. 

 For more than 150 years, in virtue of a bull granted by 

 Pope Nicolas V., the proprietors on the banks of the River 

 Dee had been accustomed to fish salmon on Sunday. 

 These Sabbath-breakers were accordingly now summoned 

 before the session and rebuked. Some of them agreed 

 to give up their custom, but " some plainly refusit any- 

 way to forbear." Again on 20th October, 1580, an 

 earthquake occurred that particularly affected the house 

 of the ^.laster of Gray. The boy king, James \\ 

 asking Fergusson, the minister of Dunfermline, " What 

 he thought it could mean, that that house alone should 

 shake and totter," was grimly answered by the divine : 

 '' Sir, why should not the devil rock his awn bairns ? " 



Doubtless many of the events chronicled in former cen- 

 turies as earthquakes may not have been of that nature. 

 Landslips and violent storms would account for some of 

 the phenomena recorded. In looking over the lists of 

 reputed earthquakes we cannot fail to notice that some 

 districts of the country have been specially liable to the 

 visitation. One of these has been the south-west of 

 England, embracing the lower basin of the Severn with 

 Somerset, Gloucester, Worcester, Cornwall, and the ad- 

 joining counties. Another notable area for a hundred 

 years past has been the southern highlands of Perth- 

 shire. 



After making every allowancefor the vast multiphcation 

 of the means of recording passing events afforded by the 

 extension of newspapers and the consequent increasing 

 minuteness of detail in our domestic annals, there seems 

 no reason to doubt that the number of earthquake shocks 

 has increased during the present century, though possibly 

 none may have reached the severity of some recorded in 

 earlier periods. During the four years subsequent to 

 September, I S39, upwards of 200 shocks were felt in Perth- 

 shire, some of which extended over nearly the whole of 

 Scotland. 



In searching for a possible solution of the problem pre- 

 sented by these terrestrial commotions one or two circum- 

 stances should be specially considered. In the great 

 majority of cases where details of any kind have been 

 preserved of the nature of the earthquakes, reference is 

 made to noises that immediately preceded the actual 



