Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/717

Rh Yeddo (now Tokyo); the great part of the city was laid in ruins, and the loss of life amounted to several tens of thousands, including those who were actually crushed to death by the falling houses and those who, imprisoned in the débris, were burned in numerous fires which broke out in various parts of the city; for, as the earthquake occurred at about eleven o'clock at night, the inhabitants were asleep and unprepared to escape from their houses.

On the 28th of last October another part of Japan was visited by a similar catastrophe, of which more details are available than of the above-mentioned earthquake of 1855. The center of this latter seems to have been the valley of Neo, north of the city of Gifu, in the province of Mino. In this city and in the neighboring town of Ogaki the destruction is terrible and the loss of life appalling. Gifu is the seat of government of Gifu prefecture. In Gifu and Aichi prefectures the killed numbered 7,522, the wounded 9,983; the number of buildings wholly destroyed is 88,705; partly destroyed, 28,011; while throughout the entire region over which the disturbance was most seriously felt the totals are: Killed, 7,566; wounded, 10,121; buildings wholly destroyed, 89,629; partly destroyed, 28,626.

Great changes in the geographical features of the provinces of Hchizen, Mino, and Owari, at the head of Owari Bay, will evidently result. Land-slips have occurred which completely changed the appearance of the mountain-sides; river channels are dammed by the débris, causing inundations of agricultural lands, and large lakes where were cultivated farms.

The total area throughout which the earthquake was felt is stated to have been 39,375 square miles. No serious damage was done in Tokyo or Yokohama. Asama-Yama, the volcano in the provinces of KodzukeShinano, far to the north of the center of the disturbance, was thrown into a state of unusual activity, large quantities of scoria? having been ejected. Fuji-Yama has also suffered. It appears that, ten minutes after the most violent shock, a noise like a hundred peals of thunder was heard to proceed from the side of the mountain. Some people declare that an immense land-slip, visible soon after the earthquake, has occurred; but before their statements could be verified by careful, scientific investigation, snow fell and obscured the topography.

One of the Japanese newspapers states that at the Okumstama Shrine, in the Nagajima district of Aichi prefecture, Mino province, several fissures were opened from which mud and water were ejected. After the water had drained off, a number of wooden swords, stone axes, and maga-tama (beads) were discovered. If this be true, it is a remarkable archaeological fnd.

The trembling of earth continues up to the present time, although the shocks arc no longer of destructive force. Prof. Milne, of the Imperial University, compares the rumbling sound that accompanies the shocks to that which would be produced by the escape of a great volume of steam through narrow fissures—a colossal steam-horn, in short, roaring and bellowing underground, each of its thunders indicating the explosion of a more or less destructive force.

Editor Popular Science Monthly:


 * I was greatly interested in the article by President Jordan, on the colors of letters, which appeared recently in your magazine. From my earliest recollections I had always associated various colors with the letters, but never before have I heard of any one else who did so.

Thinking that statistics on this subject might be of interest, I send you my list of alphabet colors:

Those left blank are associated in my mind with a color, but I am unable to define it; and certain of the descriptions used do not fully convey the idea.

It has been suggested to me that my connecting color with the letters arose from the colors on the blocks from which I learned them. This might account for red, black, and white, but certainly would not account for the other shades.

My own explanation of the matter is this: When we are learning to spell we associate certain letters with certain words, and those words give us the idea of color. These words may be said to be chrompoetic, and this property, if it may be so called, can not be dissociated from them. For illustration, D is associated in my mind with dog, and when I think of dog it never is a white dog, but always a black one; hence, D is black. I brings up ink and black ink; J, a jug of brown color; V is a vulture, which I always think of as brown.

In many cases I am unable to trace the connection between the letter and the color, but I feel sure it exists somewhere in my mind. If this possesses sufficient interest to your readers to warrant its publication, you are at liberty to do so.