Originally published in The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review (J. Limbird) vol.1 #27 (20 Nov 1819).
The last accounts from India bring details of one of those dreadful convulsions of nature, which, more than all others, impress the mind with horror; as it leaves no certain remedy—no refuge to the terrified inhabitants who may have witnessed or been in the immediate neighbourhood where an earthquake has taken place. There is scarcely any country upon this globe, whether continent or island, that has not, some time or other, felt the shock of an earthquake. Even the sea is affected by them; and the histories of all times record an immense series of earthquakes which has hardly left a month, or perhaps a week, unmarked by their devastations in the annals of the world. Yet, frequent as earthquakes have been, we know nothing certain respecting the causes by which they are produced; neither are we acquainted with any certain indications of their being about to take place, nor with any mode of averting them. Of all the writers who have treated on the theory of earthquakes, Dr. Stukeley is the most able and ingenious. Considering all circumstances, he says, he had always thought that an earthquake was an electrical shock, of the same nature with those which are now become familiar in electrical experiments. And this hypothesis, he thought, was confirmed by the phenomena preceding and attending earthquakes, particularly those which happened in London and other parts of this kingdom. The weather, for five or six months before the first of these earthquakes, had been dry and warm to an extraordinary degree, the wind generally south and south-west, and that without rain, so that the earth must have been in a state of electricity, ready for that particular vibration in which electrification consists. On this account, he observes, the northern regions of the world are but little subject to earthquakes, in comparison to the southern, where the warmth and dryness of the air, so necessary to electricity, are common. In these previous circumstances of the state of the earth and air, nothing is wanting to produce the wonderful effect of an earthquake, but the touch of some non-electric body, which must necessarily be had ab extra, from the region of the air or atmosphere. Hence he infers, that if a non-electric cloud discharges its contents upon any part of the earth in that highly electrical state, an earthquake must necessarily ensue.
In what manner the earth and atmosphere are put into that electrical and vibratory state, which prepares them to give or receive that shock which we call an earthquake, and whence it is that this electric matter comes, Dr. Stukeley does not pretend to say, but thinks it as difficult to account for as magnetism, gravitation, muscular motion, and many other secrets in nature. The similarity between the effects of electricity and some of the phenomena that attend earthquakes has struck many persons, but, when one examines the particulars a little beyond the bare similarity of certain phenomena, there appears to be very little reason for concluding that electricity is the cause of earthquakes. The Chevalier Vivenzio, in his account of the earthquakes at Calabria, in 1783, expresses his perfect conviction of their being electrical phenomena; but his hypothesis of the accumulation of electric fluid, under certain strata of non-conducting matter, and of the force which it must exert against those stratas, is too vague to demand an particular examination. Whoever is acquainted with the practical part of electricity, must know how difficult it is to confine the electric fluid, especially when it is much condensed or in large quantities. The best possible insulation, formed by the interposition of dry glass and resins, will hardly prevent the dissipation of that subtile fluid, which will endeavour to fly off into the air, or to any other body which may happen to be within its reach. How difficult then it is to conceive that an immense quantity of that fluid (for, surely, immense must that quantity be which can produce an earthquake) can be accumulated in any part of the earth, without its immediately rushing to the other parts of it; or, in short, that it may be accumulated at all in any part of it more than another. It is undoubtedly true that the earth contains various non-conducting bodies; but the manner in which they are found to exist is such as to prevent the possibility of forming a perfect non-conducting stratum of any considerable extent; for they either exist in separate pieces, or they are intermixed with water and a variety of other bodies, so that the whole compound is far from being a non-conductor of electricity.
In the atmosphere or in the clouds, as far as we know, no very extraordinary quantity of electricity can be accumulated, beyond what may constitute a thunderstorm; for, although the aurora borealis, shooting stars, as they are commonly called, and other meteors, have been supposed to be electrical phenomena, yet there is no certain evidence of their being actually so.
Such, in fact, are some of the observations which may be advanced respecting the supposed accumulation of electric fluid, either within the earth or in the atmosphere.
Various preservations against the effects of earthquakes have been suggested. The Chevalier Vivenzio, already alluded to, proposed to fix metallic rods in the ground, as deep as it may be practicable, through which the electric fluid might pass from the earth into the atmosphere, and vice versa. Others have suggested, and the idea has been acted upon, that deep wells, by giving vent to the effluvia, whatever it be, that produces earthquakes, will guard cities, buildings, &c. against their effects, or, rather, that they will prevent the shocks of an earthquake. In the city of Naples, there is a pyramid erected before a church, dedicated to St. Januarius, under which, Celano says there is a deep well, which has several openings at the base, expressly for the purpose of saving it from the effects of an earthquake. Toaldo, the distinguished astronomer, says, that the city of Udine, capital of the Friuli, has four deep wells, which, tradition says, were made at a time when earthquakes were frequent in that province, and that the expedient has had the desired effect. The ancient city of Nala, in the kingdom of Naples, was never known to have been damaged by earthquakes; and the city contains, within and without its boundaries, a great number of wells. How far these facts may be relied on, or what they may prove, we know not, but whenever an earthquake does occur, we trust the improved state of science will prompt every investigation into the circumstances, to ascertain, if possible, the theory of those terrific convulsions of nature.
Earthquake in India.
The Bombay Gazette of July last, contains accounts of an earthquake which has visited that part of the world. The following are extracts:—
'Camp Bhooj, June 19.—At seven o'clock, on the evening of the 16th of June, an earthquake destroyed the whole district and country of Kutch. Accounts that have been received mention, that, from Luckput Bunder to Butchao, the whole of the towns and villages are more or less in ruins. The towns of Mandavie, Moondria, and Anjar, have suffered extensively and severely; but the city of Bhooj, and the fort of Bhoojia, between which our force is encamped, are reduced, the former to ruins, and the latter so breached, as to be useless as a fortification. This, however, is the least part of the evil—at the moment of the crash, it is apprehended, and I fear not any way exaggerated, that 2000 of the inhabitants were buried in the mass.
'Even now the effects of this horrible visitation are felt, though three days since the first shock, in constant and hourly vibrations of the earth. The inhabitants have been obliged to forsake what were once their halls, and encamp outside, upon some small hills. Their distress cannot be well described—bruised, maimed, and agitated with fear, they go daily into the city to work upon their several houses, and try to extricate the mangled remains of wives, children, and relations, whilst, in their pious labour, the putrid stench nearly exhausts them; and cattle, which have fallen in numbers, add greatly to the noisome evil. The walls, from the sandy nature of the stone, are crumbled in a mass, and the narrow streets of Bhooj entirely lost, thus adding to the diificulties of the sufferers.
'The upper stones of the palace fell, and buried, amongst others, the mother of the deposed Rao; what houses stand are so shattered, as to be liable to fall in the ruins, and the very complete wreck of the wall on the southern side, as well as the demolition of nearly all the towers and gateways, render it impossible for Bhooj to be a city again.
'The loss of lives cannot be confined to the city. I fear, in all the towns and villages mortality has been great. I am inclined to think, from the circumstance of a volcano having opened on a hill, thirty miles from Bhooj, that the country will experience a repetition of the evil.
'From our camp being in a plain, no very material damage has been sustained; the tiles of a few temporarily erected houses were knocked off, and the walls shattered.
'I shall attempt to give you the sensation felt by those both camp and city. In the latter, I was informed by a gentleman, who nearly suffered by a house falling over him, that, riding on, without an idea of what was to happen, upon the first notice, a heavy appalling deadened noise, the motion of the earth, Walls of the houses on each side of the street, tottering and falling outwards, impressed upon him an idea, and he called out, that a mine was sprung; whereas, another gentleman imagined, the bank of the tank was forced by the water; these ideas were accompanied with an unpleasant giddiness of the head, and sickness of the stomach, from the heaving of the ground:—
— 'In one wild roar expired!
The shatter'd town, the wall thrown down,
The waves a moment backward bent;
The hills that shake, although unrent,
As if an earthquake passed!'—
Byron's Siege of Corinth.
'In camp similar sickness and giddiness was experienced; and in ignorance, until the shock was over, which lasted a minute, of the nature of the noise below the earth, some sat down instinctively, others threw themselves down. One wes paying work-people in a circle, and, upon seeing him squat, the whole followed the example, and sat round him,—'the very picture of despair.' The sensation I felt was a giddiness and horror, at perceiving a small hillock, close to which I was riding, a short distance from the camp, completely agitated, and, at the same time, my horse plunged, from the grounds moving. This was the case also with an officer I was riding with. I have, on inquiry, ascertained that, many years ago, and in the remembrance of the oldest inhabitants, an undulating motion has been felt before in Kutch, but never, I hope, will again be attended with such a horrible catastrophe; the distress of which has been so great upon the inhabitants, that I confess I fall short of ability to describe it.'
A letter from a respectable native, dated June 18, from Isoria, gives the following additional particulars:—
'Yesterday, the 9th of Jest. Vud, (the 16th of June,) in the evening, a noise issued from the earth, like the beating of the Nobut, and occasioned the trembling of all the people. It appeared most wonderful, and deprived us all of our senses, so that we could not see—every thing appearing dark before us; a dizziness came upon many people, so that they fell down. The walls of the fort of Isoria, in many places, were completely overturned, and the guns fell from the bastions; the inhabitants ran home to their houses, many of which fell down. For one hour this remained; the buildings of the town soon fell, and the others appeared as if falling; the walls of the fort that remained after the first shock, appeared in a ruined state. For an hour and a half the inhabitants did not know each other; after that time all was hushed and still, and we then returned to our houses. At night, a trembling seized our bodies; and, on Wednesday morning, some horsemen who arrived, came to me and reported, that in the fields the earth opened and threw up water; to see which I went there, and such was the case; water came up from the earth in many places, and it appeared like the rushing of water when drawn from a well; I remained all night in the fields, and in three or four places the earth had given way, and sunk one hundred feet in depth, which space was filled with water. Many of the wells, which had before this plenty of water, were left empty, and many pools that formerly were dry were now filled with water. The like of this was never heard or seen before.'