March, 1887.] elliott society. 135 



from a point known as the opening of Wappoo Cut, on the "Western bank of 

 Ashley Kiver, a trifle South of West from the spot where he stood, and going 

 towards a httle North of East. 



The central of those three houses, the No. 10, was the one the most damaged, 

 and all three had their Eastern ends — the ends farthest away from the direc- 

 tion of the waves, the worst shattered. 



The waves reaching these houses from the West and producing the rocking 

 or swaying motion, did not damage the Western ends as much as the Eastern, 

 because the side walls gave support to the former as the waves passed under- 

 neath, and there was nothing beyond the latter, in the shape of supporting 

 walls, to give them the steadiness which the first had received. Another proof 

 that the Eastern end of the No. 10 dwelling was more shaken than the Western 

 was that, of three chimnies on the South front, projecting above the roof, the 

 Easternmost was the only one broken off, having been the most shaken on ac- 

 count of its proximity to the Eastern wall. 



These inanimate evidences of the directions of the surface waves are more 

 reliable than the impressions made by sounds and sensations. They seem to 

 explain why the Western column of the porch of the Medical College, facing 

 South, remained standing, whUe the other three fell — why the entire porch 

 of Hibernian Hall, facing East, became a complete wreck, and why the porches 

 of St. Michael's Church and South Carolina Hall remained standing. Those 

 two buildings, facing West, sustained their porches as the waves from the West 

 pressed them in an Easterly du-ection. The porch of the Scotch Presbyterian 

 Church faces East, and, according to this rule, should have fallen also. But 

 the pediment above is of light material, and not of heavy masonry as that of 

 the Hibernian Hall was. It is also supported at each end by being joined to 

 the towers, which contributed to their ability to stand and to their thus survi- 

 ving the shock. The Church proper was extremely shaken and the destruc- 

 tive character of the waves was better illustrated in this case than in most 

 others, as the masonry was of the very best quality. 



It is more than probable and, indeed, it has been already observed, that sur- 

 face earth waves do not radiate from locations of vertical thrusts with equal 

 intensity in every direction. Those which prove destructive to human habita- 

 tions lying in their track follow certain directions on the earth's surface favora- 

 ble to their progress, while others are weakened by the inert resistance offered 

 by the immobile earth, and very many are entirely aiTested and set at defiance 

 by the absolute impossibility of any forward movement. It is only by taking 

 this into consideration that the escape of certain brick houses, not built of the 

 most substantial masonry, can be accounted for, while, in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood there might have been an other construction, like the Scotch Presby- 

 terian Church, for example, which, model as it was of the best kind of brick 

 work, was forced to yield to the violence of the waves. 



In view of this explanation and the certainty that there were three locations 

 where vertical thrusts predominated, it would seem likely that the Stono Eiver 

 and Wappoo Cut, which communicates with it, were the favorable track by 

 which the earth waves radiating from Eantowles' as a centre, obtained access to 



