September 17, 1886.] 



scmisrcE. 



247 



accurate time found by Professor Mendenhall 

 during his visit, however, was 9.51, which agrees 

 very much better witli all other accurate observa- 

 tions from adjoining localities. This and other 

 reports might allow of shifting the central ellipse 

 a little farther south ; and this, of course, agrees 

 better with the fact that the greatest destruction 

 was caused at Charleston. Still, all reports agree 

 that the shock was more nearly vertical at points 

 to the north-west of that city, and even at Augusta, 

 nearly due west. 



Among all the recorded times, up to date, 

 the following seem most worthy of mention at 

 present : Charleston, 9.51, from very reliable data 

 obtained by Professor Mendenhall ; Washington, 

 D.C., 9.53.30, the mean of observations by Profes- 

 sors Newcomb and McGee ; Baltimore, 9.54, Richard 

 Randolph, civil engiueer ; New York, 9.54, West- 

 erniinion telegraph operator ; New Haven, Conn., 

 9.55.80, signal-service observer ; Toronto, Ontario, 

 9.55, Professor Charles Carpniael, du-ector of the 

 Meteorological service of Canada ; Mount Sterling, 

 east central Kentucky, 9.53.15, 1. J. Evans, watch- 

 maker ; Newport, Ky., 9.54.15, S. P. Newman, 

 attorney ; Portsmouth, southern Ohio, 9.55.57, 

 signal-service observer, corrected by telegram to 

 Columbus ; Dubuque, lo., 9.58, as given in associ- 

 ated press despatches ; Jacksonville, Fla., 9.54, 

 associated press. If we take the centre of disturb- 

 ance at a point about 50 miles north-west of Charles- 

 ton, at 9.51 P.M., these figiu-es give velocities about 

 as follows : to Washington, D,C., 144 miles a 

 minute ; to Baltimore, 130 ; to Newport, Ky., 92; 

 to Dubuque, lo., 103 ; to Jacksonville, Fla., 

 63. These seem to indicate that the origin was 

 along a north and south line rather than at a point. 

 If we take the origin at about the middle of the 

 line joining Charleston and Raleigh, at 9.50 p.m., 

 we get velocities as follows : to Washington, 76 ; 

 to Dubuque, lo., 87 ; to Newport, Ky., 84 ; to 

 Jacksonville, Fla., 71. 



The area as stated in the last number of this 

 paper is also about the same according to the latest 

 observations. No reports of any disturbance are 

 yet at hand from any point in southern Florida 

 south of Tampa. It was felt very slightly at Bos- 

 ton, Mass., in northern Vermont, and New York ; 

 in Ontario it was very perceptible at Toronto and 

 a number of points ; and it extended into south- 

 ern Michigan, eastern Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, 

 and Louisiana. 



It is reported by Captain Boutelle that the water 

 on the bar at Charleston has deepened since the 

 shock from six mches to a foot. The character 

 of the shock is reported from almost all points as 

 decidedly undulatory, rather than vibratory, in 

 character, which perhaps explains the fact that 



there was generally formed a very fair idea as to 

 the direction of the motion. Published requests 

 for information have been very generously re- 

 sponded to ; and although some letters are amus- 

 ing, and even absurd, a large proportion of them 

 give valuable and interesting data. The follow- 

 ing extract from a letter received from Mr. Rich- 

 ard Randolj)h, civil engineer, Baltimore, Md., is 

 such an excellent example of clearness of state- 

 ment combined with accuracy of observation, that 

 its perusal cannot fail to be both interesting and 

 instructive : — 



"I was reading in my front room, third story, 

 east side of the street, about the middle of the 

 block ; was sitting with one leg thrown over and 

 resting upon the knee of the other, so that the 

 position of my body was nearly north and south, 

 pointing with the foot about 15° west of north. 

 While in this position, so sensitive to lateral oscil- 

 lations, I experienced a sensation which I at first 

 ascribed to a violent palpitation of the heart ; but 

 the absence of all uncomfortable feeling, and the 

 great amplitude of the oscillations, quickly drove 

 that idea from my mind. At the same time I was 

 satisfied that such a motion could not be due to 

 what I supposed to be a passing baggage-wagon 

 loaded with trunks, the sound being exactly that 

 of such a wagon, which frequently, dm-ing the 

 last month, has passed over the cobble-stone pave- 

 ment of the street. I did not look to see if there 

 really was a wagon passing, and, although the 

 sound began and ended with my observation of 

 the telluric movement, I still assume it to have 

 been caused by a wagon. After noticing for a 

 few seconds my suspended foot swinging at right 

 angles with the position of my body with the reg- 

 ularity of a pendulum, and feeling a general 

 movement in the same direction, and hearing a 

 sonorous beating of some object in my bedroom 

 adjoining keeping time with these oscillations, I 

 arose and walked across the room to my watch, 

 and, upon inspection, saw that the minute-hand 

 was exactly halfway between 9.53 and 9.54, i.e., 

 9.53^. My watch has, for the last two months, 

 coincided precisely with the chronometers exposed 

 for public reference in the windows of the prin- 

 cipal dealers ; and I had made a comparison only 

 the day before. These chronometers keep the 

 standard time of the Philadelphia meridian. 



" While in this standing position, I no longer 

 felt the vibration ; but the sounds in the adjoining 

 room continued at the same rate, but ceased, as 

 did all perceptible vibration, by the time I resumed 

 my seat, when I recorded on the blank leaf of a 

 book I was reading, ' 6+ minutes of 10 p.m.' 



" In order to form an estimate of the duration 

 of the phenomenon, I held my watch before me, 



