96 ■ KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 



Paris, April 23. 

 The earthquake at " Chio's rocky isle " has resulted in the death of 12,000 

 individuals. The catastrophe is dreadful. However, in the Caraccas in 181 2, 

 more than 20,000 persons perished. The first Lisbon earthquake, in 1531, 

 destroyed 30,000 persons, and that of 1755, 50,000, not counting its recoil in 

 Morocco, where 12,000 inhabitants perished. The "shock" extended even to 

 Scotland, as such travel at the rate of 470 to 530 feet per second. From 1785 to 

 1857, the then Kingdom of Naples lost 111,000 inhabitants. As for the victims 

 in Peru, earthquakes appear to be a matter of course in that region. Respecting 

 the catastrophe at Chio, which occurred on the 3d of Apnl last, the first shock 

 took place at forty minutes past one, and lasted eight minutes. Few houses 

 resisted ; twenty minutes later a second, and then a third shock ensued 

 which destroyed the few houses that at first escaped. The shock had a kind of 

 spinning movement, in the direction east-west, and changed the sites of buildings 

 by six to eight inches. The cracks in the ruined dwellings commenced from be- 

 low, eastward, terminating always at the top, westward. The only minaret in 

 Chio that escaped was that built in .cut stone ; all constructions in masonery were 

 overthrown without exception. Not only the kind of building materials employed, 

 but the nature of the building site, has much to do with the resistance. The shock 

 traveled very rapidly over the gneiss and mica-schist rocks, and was next to stopped 

 in the plains. Along soil of a volcanic origin the shock was very intense; on the 

 contrary in the case of alluvial soils, it was next to insensible. The gravity of the 

 Chio catastrophe is due to the fact that the sofil is of eruptive origin. When the 

 earthquake took place the sea was as smooth as glass, the sky overcast, the atmos- 

 phere heavy, the wind southerly — the precursors certain of an earthquake. M. 

 Fouque is of opinion that the disaster at Chio is to be attributed to a sinking of 

 the soil. M. Lacau thinks the contrary \ hence, there is nothing certain. The 

 volcanic axis or line does not positively traverse the island, so that it is possible 

 internal erasions having taken place, the superincumbent rocks, simply in their 

 profound depths, fell in, producing the convulsion ; thus there would be no 

 connection with such a result and a seismic origin. The transformation of a por- 

 tion of the Island of Reunion three years ago is owing to such a cause. In any 

 case the moral of the Chio calamity is this : abstain from occupying isles of a vol. 

 canic origin, as being devoid of stability, and if occupied, erect only structures of 

 a special order, and as widely separated as possible. 



The trichina causes less anxiety. No person has been affected by the malady. 



