﻿C. G. HocJcvjood, Jr. — American Earthquakes. 7 



known him personally, or much by correspondence ; and most 

 of his old associates and near friends, who knew him best and 

 prized him highly for his sterling character, have gone before 

 him. 



Art. II. — Notes on American Earthquakes, No. 15 ; by 

 Professor C. G. Kockwood, Jr., Princeton, N. J. 



In this, the fifteenth paper of this series, T have given, as in 

 former years, a summary of such information as I have been 

 able to gather in regard to the earthquakes of 1885 in North 

 and South America. For the facts embodied herein I am 

 largely indebted to the Monthly Weather Review of the IT. S. 

 Signal Service, and to a pretty careful watch of the current 

 newspapers ; but I must express here my thanks to all those 

 persons, a somewhat numerous company, who have in one way 

 or another personally lent their aid to my work. Among them 

 I may be permitted to mention J. M. Batchelder, Esq., of 

 Cambridge, Mass., Professor Charles Carpmael of Toronto, 

 Superintendent of the Meteorological Service of Canada, C. H. 

 McLeod of McGill College Observatory, and Dr. George 

 Pyburn of Sacramento, California, who has given very efficient 

 aid in collecting data in regard to Californian earthquakes. 



A few items are printed in small type, being regarded as 

 somewhat doubtful, and when the account of any earthquake 

 rests on the authority of a single unconfirmed report, the source 

 of the information is always given. The division of the day 

 into twenty-four hours is again employed. 



I have also again attempted to assign to each earthquake a 

 grade of intensity. The estimate of intensity is based when- 

 ever possible upon the character of the physical phenomena 

 reported. "When no such information is available, the judgment 

 is based upon the phraseology of the original report, taking 

 into account the probable intensity of an earthquake in the 

 locality in question. For example, if a despatch says briefly, 

 "A heavy earthquake was felt" at a single place; then if this 

 item referred to the eastern United States it might mean a light 

 or even a very light shock, while if it referred to Peru or Cen- 

 tral America it would probably be a strong or a severe shock. 

 I am quite aware that such estimates have in many cases a 

 large element of uncertainty, but at least they are the best that 

 can be made now, and better than any one else could make at 

 a later date and without access to the original reports. In 

 indicating the intensity I have used again the adjectives, 1, 

 Very light; 2, Light; 3, Moderate; 4, Strong; 5, ^Severe ; 6, 



