EARTHQUAKE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 436, 19 February 1909, Page 5

EARTHQUAKE.

;>/v '{!Y .tILKOUATIi—riIESS ASsbciATipN-;COi'tßiaHT.) iW^v.W ; ,;-/',;/. ; 'v : -; ;/:•;•/ Londony/Februaryvl?.;;' '■ ißblated' reports^liayo: been '.received,''stat-; ihgHhat an: earthquake -at Luristan pn -Jan-. uaryA 23/destroyed v6o;. is esti : : :raiited/that"six\thousand ;lives;wero, lqst.;<",

/ l ///v:///;/->/i: : A:'NEW:;THEpRY; : /;>:;.:/.;'//;.'/,/ '/ Mi' I'Abb•'Ph.; Moreui," the/director 'of /tip Bourges-' Observatory,-Vhas. contributed; to ..the Paris ."-Tenips" two.articlesin:whicli he estab-: Wishes "a -new .'theory of learixiquakes,' verified, as'he assertt, by :tho. : prediction, of sent catastrophe),.wliich he made in. a: French .uowspapcf.vas far;back"as'August last. .Briefly, he 'connects I ;:'tho.';scismological'■■".phenomenon ■with,the.activityVof the sun..'--'The'.;whole his-tpry-:'of;, earthquakes,:-he .'declares;//shpws/' riot -only":that they, recur in ;<a'- cerfuiri''.periodical 'order; butthat tljey-also occur riioro frequently, arid /with -'greater: force,;in the .winter: than", in the ::summer-4jribre. often in•: the'/night' t!ian : : intlie day,':tiiiic,:,and in, the: morning than; in tlie "evening.' .. Besides,;-fit, is''/known that/, the activity, of-the sun reaches its minimum .every 'eleventh:-year,/and'/it isyobservcdv'that 'it\is ■just -about in; such :a v jieribd. that ■earthquakes /become! ■ partioularly,. frequent,"./: In ;. 1905' -the. sim's activity. Was .at 'its lnaximiuri, but- then ltrbpidly-sank', 'givin'g-riso, to tho'eartha/uakes ■ of that.year.. Thsi'.smi's/activity,wll-'c'ontiriue to decrease till 1912,'. in/which year/earthquakes 'are'-;bound,/ in consequence,: to 'be ..very infrequent; • Thp 'present." earthquake^." fit "will last till the end: of 1909, fsince ; the diminution of : the sun's- activity, is ■ 'partiuclarlyj: 'accentuated 'during the three years .immediately ;followiiig /thp'"maximum. .The learned,' Abbe 'also.'pro-, pounds, a novel theory as to the' localisation of ■earthquakes ■ and volcanic" eruptions;.- '/According to him,.the earth;,in pooling down, tends t'o. assume a pyramidical forni,• and/it is. along the ridges, that 'the great .dopressiom knowu in' geography as the Mediterranean depression, which, marks: tho ■■ dislocation ; between., the northern and southern part of the.globe, that :the"oarth's crust is.apt to orack,.and''to present the Jeast'resistance to the forces which produce seisniological, phenomena. .-'■ ','. .'. ■':':■