16 OLDHAM: THE CACIIAll EARTHQUAKE OF 1 GtH JANUARY 1869. 



have been due to a certain amount of rolling or changing place after 

 touching the ground, and how far to the action of the disturbing force 

 impressed upon it, I shall merely mention the fact, without attempting 

 to base any conclusions on it. It is very possible that more careful 

 examination might have shown how far its present position was due to 

 each cause separately. From the top of the south-east corner buttress 

 some bricks had been dislodged, and were found lying between the but- 

 tress and the fallen arch-work to the south. 



The only two archways left standing, adjoining to the chimney shaft, 

 were both badly cracked, these cracks passing right through the arch-work 

 and wall above. I should mention that the building had no roof on when 

 it was overthrown ; it is said to have had a corrugated iron roof before. 



It is clear that the mode in which the building was broken up has 

 been materially affected by its construction ; the corners had obviously far 

 greater strength and power of resistance than any other portion, and not 

 only had they this power of resistance due to the solidity and symmetry 

 of the wall, but also from their being buttressed, as it were, by the two 

 corner walls being at right angles to, and tied into, each other ; the 

 chimney stack in the north-west corner of the building acted still fur- 

 ther as a buttress or support by its solidity and weight, and so supported 

 the two adjoining arches, which, though seriously cracked by the rocking 

 of the walls, stood. The walls were, in fact, precisely of the con- 

 struction which would be most liable to result in an overthrow from 

 euch a wave shock as this earthquake sent through them — lofty arches, 

 with slight piers and a comparatively heavy mass of masonry above, 

 which could only act as the heavy bob of an inverted pendulum, pro- 

 ducing a serious leverage on the whole and tending to prevent the possi- 

 bility of recovery of the vertical when once moved therefrom. 



The evidence which this building affords of the direction of wave 

 transit I shall discuss in another place. 



SylJiet. — Earthquake said to have been at 4 hours 22 minutes p.m., 

 magnetic meridian time. The shock was sudden ; lasted about a minute ; 

 direction toward the latter part of the shock was from north-north-east 

 ( 16 ) 



