-EARTHQUAKES. 
BY W. T. BRIGHAM. 


y _ Eartuquakes and volcanoes are at last claiming, by their 
_ very intrusive activity, the attention of observers, who are 
_ able to look through the smoke of an eruption, and the dust 
3 of an earthquake, at the real geological importance of the 
_ terrible demonstration. Within the past two years the earth 
_ has been strangely unquiet.. First Vesuvius sputtered forth 
4 feebly in its old age; then Santorini smoked and steamed, 
and extended its little territory ; then Central Europe shook 
x alittle, and the tremor extended through Asia, and into the 
4 st where a new island came to the surface near the 












Mauna Loa poured forth their lava streams, and finally the 
Sea rushed upon the shore destroying animals and men. To 
this day the island shakes, but the movement is so slight 
little notice is taken of it. Not so remarkable as this 
Hawaiian earthquake, nor so admirably adapted for scientific 
= search, but far more destructive to life and property, was 
terrible earthquake of the South American coast this 
summer. The commotion was so violent, that the impulse 
given to the sea extended through the whole Pacific, reaching 
m to the coast of Kamtschatka. 
: _ the scratches of the pebbles, frozen into a block 
Ice, claim and gain the attention of geologists, strangely 
=d the far mightier forces which build up those moun- 
ranges, and which have modified much of the earth’s 
» are comparatively neglected. It is true that M. Alexis 
rey, in France, has collected since 1842, all evidence 
Mtainable relating to earthquakes, which he has or 
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