Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/370

 362 EARTHQUAKE down or dislocated and twisted many chim- neys, wind vanes, brick buildings, &c., and throughout the country it threw down the rude stone walls bounding the farms ; new springs of water were opened ; the vessels in the har- bor felt the shock ; large numbers of fish were killed and floated on the surface of the water. Nine hours afterward, at 2 o'clock P. M., a sea wave 20 ft. high, that had undoubtedly origi- nated at the source of this earthquake, arrived at the harbor of St. Martin's in the West Indies. On Oct. 19, 1870, occurred the most consider- able shock that has been observed in the mid- dle and eastern states during the present cen- tury. The source of this disturbance has been traced with some probability to the volcanic region 50 to 100 m. N. E. of Quebec ; from this region the shock spread to St. Johns, New Brunswick, and thence was felt westward to Chicago and southward to New York. The velocity of the wave of shock was about 14,000 ft. per second. The occurrence of the shock felt at Quebec was telegraphed to Montreal by the operators of the Montreal telegraph com- pany in time to call the attention of those at the latter city to the phenomena about 30 seconds before the shock reached them. In California, the earthquake of 1852 destroyed one of the southern missions. That of March 26, 1872, was the most severe that has occur- red there during many years; special damage was done in San Francisco by the cracking of the walls of fine public buildings. In Nevada, the mining regions suffered in 1871 by the de- struction of Lone Pine and other settlements. In Mexico a disastrous earthquake occurred June 19, 1858. It extended throughout the valley of Mexico, demolishing the aqueduct that supplies the city with water; it was felt in most of the surrounding provinces, where it also did great damage, and was in some places recorded as being the most severe ever experi- enced there. In the West Indies, subject as they are to very frequent shocks, we need only note that of June 7, 1692, by which Port Royal, the capital of Jamaica, was in less than three minutes sunk beneath the sea. The fissures produced in the earth opened and closed so rapidly that in some cases, it is said, the lower parts of the bodies of persons were buried while the upper portions remained above ground. In San Salvador, near the capital, is a volcano that was thrown up in 1770, and which is very similar to Stromboli in the regu- larity of its intermittent eruptions; it has re- mained in a state of constant activity, and continues to increase in size by means of the accumulation of ejected lava, ashes, &c. Its origin was preceded by earthquakes for several months, and on Feb. 23, 1770, by the opening of a crevice whence issued lava, ashes, smoke, and flame. On March 19, 1873, San Salvador was utterly destroyed. Three successive severe shocks were experienced ; but the inhabitants were by the previous noises so well warned that a comparatively small loss of life (less than 500) took place. The frequency of earthquakes in this region is expressively told by the name given to it by the aboriginal Indians, Cuscatlan, " the land that swings like a hammock." In South America, the city of Caracas, Venezuela, was entirely destroyed by three shocks within 50 seconds on March 26, 1812. In Ecuador, the city of Quito was almost destroyed on March 22, 1859. On Aug. 16, 1868, a terrible earthquake devastated a large part of Ecuador ; this was one feature in the series of severe shocks that between the 13th and 16th were experienced over nearly the whole of the south- ern half of the eastern coast of the Pacific ocean. In Peru, Callao was destroyed in 1586 ; the accompanying sea wave must have been about 90 ft. high, and resulted from the joint action of two shocks. It was again destroyed in 1746. On Aug. 13 and 14, 1868, the sea- port of Arica suffered severely; and during several days there occurred numerous shocks throughout the coast region from lat. 10 to 25 S. The earthquake sea wave was specially destructive (see ARICA), and it sped thence across the Pacific ocean, reaching the Hawaiian islands on the 14th and Yokohama on the 15th ; it was also felt on the coasts of Australia and of Alaska. Among the numerous earthquakes that have visited Chili we will mention three very instructive ones. That of 1822 is inter- esting historically, because the accounts given of certain twisting effects led Mallet to enter upon those dynamical studies that have done so much to elucidate the obscure points in seismology. The earthquake was itself a very severe one, and specially interesting, since in connection with it there occurred a permanent elevation to the extent of from two to seven feet of fully 100,000 square miles of land lying between the Andes and the coast ; lines of sea beaches at higher levels and further inland in- dicate the previous lifting up of the same re- gion at different times along the same lines. About midnight of Feb. 20, 1835, the city of Concepcion was for the fourth time destroyed ; there were felt over 300 successive shocks within two weeks ; the accompanying sea wave was 30 ft. high, and probably originated near the island of Juan Fernandez, where there also simultaneously broke forth a submarine vol- cano, which sent up a column of fiery ejecta through a depth of 400 ft. of water ; about the city of Concepcion the sea water was black and of an offensive smell, killing many fish. Among the numerous earthquakes observed by Gilliss during his astronomical expedition to Santiago was that of April 2, 1851, the most severe since 1822. The heaviest portion con- tinued a minute and a half, within which in- terval were experienced continuous rumbling and innumerable severe shocks or oscillations. The movements of pendulums and other free bodies were nearly in the meridian. The warn- ing rumbling noises preceded the shock by about 15 seconds. The earthquake was severe- ly felt over a region extending 200 m. N. and