26 ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL 



tion, in sunspots, or appearance of motion is mainly vertical. 



In either view allowing- remoteness of resemblance, may we 

 not liken sunspots to our earthquakes rather than to our 

 wind storms? 



Is it objected that a sunspot covers a great area, and often 

 persists for weeks or months? 



True our earthquakes usually produce visible results only 

 in small areas, and quickly subside; but often they are felt 

 throughout an extensive territory. 



The earthquake of last week, Nov. 4th, which caused con- 

 sternation in the city of St. Louis, was felt in eight states — 

 Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana and Arkansas. 



In the year 357 A. D. an earthquake in that ill-fated re- 

 gion which we now know as politically convulsed Macedonia, 

 was so wide spread that it swallowed up 150 cities. 



The great earthquake of 1755 which destroyed Lisbon with 

 its 50,000 people, destroyed or damaged several other cities in 

 Portugal and some in Spain and in Morocco and extended its 

 disasters east to Arabia and west to the island of Madeira. 



In 394 A. D. an earthquake in Europe wrought its destruc- 

 tion of city after city for fully one month; and one in Constan- 

 tinople in the year 480 A. D. convulsed that region for forty 

 days. 



In point of fact, then, as regards both extent and duration 

 there is analogy between the sunspots and the earthquake. 



From these several considerations — somewhat uniform sur- 

 face temperature, sharp demarcation, preponderance of verti- 

 cal motion, and analogy in extent and duration— we may say 

 the spots are in no sense solar surface storms, but rather deep 

 seated sunquakes. 



As shown, the first great sunquake in October was of vast 

 extent, and displayed its vigor for more than a month. 



The sunspot maximum at hand — sunquake maximum — 

 promises abundant opportunity for noting other such outbursts 

 of solar energy — some perhaps on a still grander scale. 



