The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1906. THE EARTHQUAKE IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12483, 20 April 1906, Page 6

The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1906. THE EARTHQUAKE IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Following hard upon tho awe-inspiring eruption, of Vesuvine the terrible disaster which has now laid a great part of San Francisco in ruins, serves to remind ns how weak and puny c creature i« man in the face of the great elemental forces of Nature. It k,*no doubt, a striking coincidence that one calamity should have followed so closely on the other; but although attempts have been made to show that both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions may be, set in motion by some common cause, such as A alteration in the barometric pressure, or in tho attractive force exerted by the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon., it cannot bo said we have any precise or definite facts in support of such a supposition. We have yet much to learn regarding volcanoes and earthquakes. True we have advanced in some respects in our knowledgo since the days of tiho ancients. In classical mythology, as our roaderc sure aware, Vuloano, in the Lipari Islands (whence we get the name volcano) van regarded as tlie forge of Hephaestus or Vuloan; while Etna was supposed to be the fiery prison of tho rebellious Typhon. Modern science bniehos away the*** poetic fancies, and tells us that «• volcanic outbreak is eimpry caused by the oscape, from the midst of molten .materials, of imprisoned st«atn. As to earthquakes, Aristotle liad evidently observed them very closoly, since he was able to classify them with tolerable correctness into mx different kinds, according to the way in which they mad** themselves manifest in their effects. Shakespeare's d«scrip-

tion of an earthquake, if not tetentin-

oally sound, is at any rate vigarone and picturesque:— "'Diseased Xatiiro oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions; and the teeming mrtli Is with a kind of colic plnch'd and vex'd By tho. imprisoning of unruly wind Within her womb; which for enlargement Shakes tho old stHying beldam earth and topples down Steeples and moss-grown towers." In modern times we have been able to collect n great many facts about earthquakes, to measure their rat© of travel, to calculate tho points where they started, and generally to form a pretty clear conception of earthquake motion and the manner of its propagation. An earthquake shock is in reality an earth-wave, which may be produced hi several different ways—by a volcanic explosion, by the sudden fracture of rocky strata, or the production of 'faults." by the collapse of subterranean excavations, or by stresses brought about by a process of e.levation of the earth's surface. As to lifting able to foretell either earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, or to protect ourselves against their terrible peivers of destruction, wo are as balptess now as we were in the days of Aristotle. The suddenness of such calamities is indeed one of their main elements of liorror. There are on the whole bettor chances of escape in the case of a volcanic eruption because, as we saw recently at Naples, there is usually some time given for flight from the danger zone if the people choose to avail themselves of it. The earthquake shock, however, comes with itpp:illing suddenness, nnd the inhabitant* of .i great city may be overwhelmed without any premonition. JrVrhaiis in tinio sci«noe may be able to give warning beforehand both of probatile eruptions and earthquakes, as stoniis are foretold by the meteorologists. In the. meantime, iJie chief oJoment of comfort for the survivors from such a disaster as that which has overf.ak<Tii the dueller , ? on the slopes of Vesnviiifc. is that, one gtv.at eruption is usuiilly followed by a long period of repoMj. This no doubt accounts in a measure for tho fact that the districts swept by a volcanic outbreak are so soon repeoplwl by i.be inhabitants. "Hope " springs eternal in tho human broast." and there is a great tendency to "take "the nsk." The fact that San Francisco is in a district known to be frubjf ct to earthquakes, did not prevent its citisteiis from erecting and living in brick and stone buildings twenty stories high. Yet the samo people proba.bly felt a pitying wonder that tho residents of Torre Annunzuita had not taken yarning by former disasters, instead of iignin exposing themselves to tho risk of being swept away by luva streams or brried in cinders from Vesuvius. Human nr.turo is very much the samo all over tho world. Jioth the reoemt disasters, while demonstrating human weakness, will— perhaps all tho more on that account— oxcrte human sympathy in a marked degree. Many New Zealanders have friends in California, and tho calamity there seems to convo home to us with especial force. Here, as in other parts of the British Empire, the most profound regret will be felt at tho sad news which our cable messages record to-day.