110 Earthquake and rising of the sea coast of Chili. 



Art. XL — Earthquake and rising of the sea coast of Chili, in No- 

 vember, 1822. 



The well known account by Mrs. Graham of the rising of the land 

 on the coast and in the interior of Chili, during the great earthquake 

 of 1822, having been controverted by Mr. Greenough, late Presi- 

 dent of the Geological Society, a vindication of her statements was 

 made, and by the authoress herself, now Mrs. Calcott, (formerly Mrs. 

 Graham,) in a letter addressed to the President and members, of the 

 Geological Society. These papers were published in this Journal, 

 Vol. xxviii, at p. 236 and Mrs. Calcott was, we believe, regarded 

 by the geological world as having fully sustained herself in the con- 

 troversy. This subject having been publicly mentioned by Pro- 

 fessor Silliman at Nantucket, during a residence there, in August and 

 September, 1 835, a full confirmation of the first account of Mrs. Gra- 

 ham was accidentally obtained from Captain Robert M. Joy a high- 

 ly intelligent and most respectable man, for many years, a comman- 

 der of a whale ship. This gentleman having expressed great sur- 

 prise that any one personally acquainted with the facts, should doubt 

 of the rising of the land, kindly furnished to Professor Silliman the 

 following documents. 



1. A printed letter addressed to the editor of the Nantucket In- 

 quirer, written at Valparaiso at the request of Captain Joy, by Mr. 

 1. Robison, a gentleman of Virginia, who was present at the time of 

 the earthquake ; this letter is dated December 15, 1822. 



2. A letter by Captain Joy, to Professor Silliman, dated Nan- 

 tucket, Sept. 23, 1835. 



Our limits allow us to give only an abstract of the principal facts 

 contained in Mr. Robison's letter ; th&se facts relate to the convul- 

 sions of the earthquake which produced the rising of the ground des- 

 cribed in Captain Joy's letter. 



1. Notices of the earthquake in Chili in November, 1822, by I. 

 Robison, Esq. of Virginia, U. S. Am. 



The catastrophe occurred in the night of the 19th of Nov., 1822. 

 It was summer in that climate, the weather had been hot and dry 

 and during the preceding month, many slight shocks of earthquakes 

 had been perceived, which were most sensible on alluvial ground. 

 The town of Valparaiso stands on the margin of a bay of the same 



