The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1914. THE PANAMA CANAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 14, 16 January 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1914. THE PANAMA CANAL.

Towards the end of last year, on two occasions earthquakes of moderate severity were felt along and near the Panama Canal, and the question has ! arisen as to whether the safety of the I Canal is likely to be endangered in the future by stronger disturbances of the same character. Mr i). F. MacDonakl, I geologist to the Isthmian Canal Com-' mission, has answered the question in) a recent number of the- "Scientific! American," and has given two important reasons for concluding that |

any fears of the kind arc groundless The strongest reason of all, no doubt is the comparative immunity fron earthquakes of the country in the past. Both to the north and south there arc districts in which shocks are frequent and often disastrous, as in Guatemala, Honduras, and'Colombia. But in Panama itself they are rare. The seismic record for the isthmus

jdates, of course, no farther back than the Spanish conquest. But in an interval of more than three centuries two earthquake only have attained /a semi-destructive character.. Records show that in March, 1021. many houses in Panama were destroyed by an earthquake, and in September. 1882, buildings were damaged in pkces as far apart as Panama. Gatun, and Colon, a bridge over the river Chagres was slightly injured, as wHI as (lie; isthmian railway line. But authorities now state it is impossible that either shock would have caused damage of any importance to the Canal or! the works connected with it. It is; also further argued ihai even if the unexpected wore to happen, if the] Canal zone were to be visited by an j earthquake that would merit the term "severe,"-it by no means follows that [he Canal or its works would suffer.

It has long been known that an earthquake is much less strongly felt in a mine or tunnel than on the surface.! I 'The late Professor Milne has shown j that the intensity of a shock is much] less at tliP bottom of a shallow cxcn-|

vation than on (lie ground above. Other students have proved that in severe earthquakes the large vibrations do not differ much in strength on the surface and at the bottom of a pit eighteen feet deep. Beside.--, the large vibrations, however, there are on the the surface numerous ripples which, owing to the shortness of their period, may possess an intensity many times greater than that of the principal vibrations. At the bottom of the pit these ripples, it was found, were to a great extent smoothed away; aud from this it has been concluded that the destructive effects of violent earthquakes should be much less in deep pits than on the" free surface. Tims it would seem that the prinicpal effects of such earthquakes, if they were to occur in the isthmian zone, would bealmost confined to a. renewal of the landslips from the sides of the cuttings which have already given so much trouble to the makers of the Canal.