6 EAKTHQUAKES. 



be described as the earthquake year of Britain, * a shock 

 was felt in Surrey on March 14 ; on the 18th of the 

 same month the whole of the south-west of England was 

 disturbed. On April 2, Chester was shaken ; on June 7, 

 Norwich was disturbed ; on August 23, the inhabitants 

 of Lancashire were alarmed ; and on September 30 ludi- 

 crous and alarming scenes occurred in consequence of 

 a shock having been felt during the hours of Divine 

 service, causing the congregations to hurry into the open 

 air.' ^ As might be expected, these occurrences gave rise 

 to many articles and notes directing attention to the 

 subject of earthquakes. 



Seismic literature has not, however, at all times been 

 a measure of seismic activity : thus, in Japan, the earth- 

 quake records for the twelfth and sixteenth centuries 

 scarcely mention any shocks. At first sight it might be 

 imagined that this was owing to an absence of earthquakes; 

 but it is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that at that 

 time the country was torn with civil war, and matters 

 more urgent than the recording of natural phenomena 

 engaged the attention of the inhabitants. Professor Kock- 

 wood, who has given so much attention to seismic dis- 

 turbances in America, tells us that during the recent 

 contest between Chili and Peru a similar intermission is 

 observable. We see, therefore, that an absence of records 

 does not necessarily imply an absence of the phenomena 

 to be recorded. 



Perhaps the earliest existing records of earthquakes 

 are those which occur in the Bible. The first of these, 

 which we are told occurred in Palestine, was in the reign 

 of Ahab (b,C. 918-897).2 One of the most terrible earth- 

 quakes mentioned in the Bible is that which took place 

 in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah (b.C. 811-759), 



* GcntlcmaiCs Magazine^ 1753. * 1 Kings xix. 11, 12. 



