EARTHQUAKES AN EARTH DISEASE.
THE following note, taken from the Christian Advocate, of New York, issue of January 24, gives some points on earthquakes that merit consideration: "Professor Angelo Heilprin, of Philadelphia, whose standing is of the first-class, affirms that geologists are mistaken in the supposition that the more intense earthquakes have no connection with volcanic activities. He maintains that instability yet marks the history of the planet. He denies that any regions of the earth's surface may be considered as exempt from earthquakes. "He directs attention to the fact that in the early part of 1902 there was a fearful earthquake in Guatemala (on April 18), and shortly afterward volcanic eruptions in various parts of Central America, culminating in the cataclysms of the Soufrière of Saint Vincent, on May 7, and of Mount Pelée, on Martinique, on May 8. The distance between the extreme points of disturbance, Martinique and Guatemala, is 2,000 miles. "He says that when Lisbon fell in 1755, on that very day the volcano of Gotlugia in Iceland, 1,800 miles north, had a fearful paroxysm; and that when—almost exactly, if not precisely—San Francisco was destroyed, a remarkable volcanic eruption took place in the Alaskan group of islands, in which Bogoslov Island No. 3, a steaming volcano, was upthrown from the sea bottom. "One thing is certain, the phrase terra firma is being discredited, and the radical disputes of scientists should be moderate in tone and manner rather than, as frequently, arrogant and savage."