Old Mother Earth

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 10, 1868

OLD MOTHER EARTH has been indulging in some odd caprices within the last ten years, the variety and frequency of her antics having especially increased during her last three annual revolutions. Tornadoes, waterspouts by land as well as at sea, freshets, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes, have become of almost daily occurrence, and of continually augmenting intensity. Moreover, they embrace a larger and larger area of territory at each recurrence. The last shock, which so fearfully devastated South America, was felt over one-third of the earth's surface. These portentous phenomena are seriously engaging the attention of the scientific world. The remark that they only seem to us more frequent because our means of communication are more complete and rapid, and that we now hear from all parts of the globe simultaneously, will not explain the matter, since the late commotions have been attended by disturbances of both land and sea in parts of the earth which have been constantly accessible for centuries, that were totally unparalleled in previous history. The change of the Gulf Stream from its course, and the alteration of climates, have been some of these increased marvels. That some tremendous and general transformation is going on cannot be doubted, and we may expect it to reveal itself in grander majesty from day to day.—N. Y. Mercantile Journal.