Abstract
IN the course of a lecture delivered recently before the Rigaku Kyôkai, or Science Society of Tokio, on the causes of earthquakes, Prof. Milne classified the theories as to the cause of these phenomena into three kinds—unscientific, quasi-scientific, and scientific. In the former class he included the explanations of the Negro preachers at Charleston after the late earthquakes there, that they occurred in consequence of the wickedness of the population. The Mussulmans in Java recently prayed to the volcanoes there to cease their shakings, at the same time promising reformation of life. That earthquakes are the direct result of man's wickedness is an idea that has always been common. About 1750 earthquakes were felt in many parts of Europe, which were widely attributed to this cause, and innumerable sermons were preached inculcating the lesson that if mankind would live better lives there would be no more earthquakes. In 1786, after a shock at Palermo, the people are recorded to have gone about scourging themselves, and looking extremely humble and penitent. An English poem called “The Earthquake,” published in 1750, alleged, in somewhat halting verse, that the disturbances were not due to an unknown force, nor to the groanings of the imprisoned vapours, nor yet to the shaking of the shores with fabled Tridents:
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Pre-Scientific Theories of the Causes of Earthquakes . Nature 35, 428–429 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/035428a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035428a0