Trustees of Boston University

EARTHQUAKES
Author(s): R. W. WALLACE
Source: The Journal of Education, Vol. 55, No. 23 (1382) (JUNE 5, 1902), pp. 361-362
Published by: Trustees of Boston University
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44055166
Accessed: 25-09-2018 01:03 UTC

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 June 5, 1902.

been to enlarge
thirty its honest effort, humble
field
schools by self-
of judgment,
the interested at-
usefu exh
the number
ness enlarged. of pupils reached
tention, and a belief that written and spoken ex- a
pression are the fullness out of which the heart
speaks. But we have good authority for believing
that the heart is deceitful, and to this end the will
must be set steadfastly to criticism, and again and
THE USE OF EN GLISH.- (I V.) again to criticism. Only the weakling will flinch,
and he must be held to his unwelcome task or free-
dom will never take the place of his bondage.
SOME METHODS OF SECURING FREEDOM AND
should know the history of English idiom thoroughly
ADEQUATENESS OF EXPRESSION IN ENGLISH.
enough to make criticism of the student construc- EARTHQUAKES.
BY MARY A. JORDAN, SMITH COLLEGE. tive, encouraging, and sympathetic. The teacher's
The increased attention given to formal training way is at best only one way, and most sucfi ways are BY R. W. WALLACE.

in English lias not been attended by the desiredless re-attractive and fascinating than a wider employ
sults in many cases, nor by the looked-for improve- of English material and device would make them. Few occurrences in the natural world are more
ment in characteristic features of spoken and written The material on which the student should employ wonderful, and none more terrific, than volcanoes
expression. The student prepared for college doubt- his glowing powers of expression should be, further, and earthquakes. There is a very close relation be-
less knows certain things about English master- the closest experiences of his own life, the intereststween these two forms of planet disturbance. In
pieces, false concords, and paragraph structure, but contributed by books and the persons he meets. But cases volcanoes and earthquakes seem to train
many
the average student does not write willingly, heorshould be encouraged to discriminate carefully together. It is probable that the same forces that
between his own contribution to the material and its
freely, or well; the student "prepared for college" is produce the one are responsible for the other.
not equipped with an adequate means of record or original
of form. Models he may always find in the Yet about these giant forces that produce earth-
expression in his mother tongue. Four considera- masterpieces of literature whose acquaintancequakes he little is definitely known. Much remains to
tions deserve attention in this connection; two of makes in the course of his school life. Learning by
be discovered. Just what the interior of this planet
them affect mainly the studenťs freedom of expres- heart the phrasing and diction of writers whose for- is is, by no means clearly determined. Many geolo-
sion, two of thenr contribute to adequacy. tune is secure is of the greatest practical value. Thegists think it to be in a molten condition, a lake of
The mechanical conditions under which most stu- tunes and patterns of great or interesting literature fire. But not a few others challenge this theory,
dents carry forward their English work are entirelyshould be inevitably and automatically at his dis- and insist that though it was probably in a molten
unsatisfactory. Fixed habits of trustworthy pre- posal. The committee of the future and the chair- condition in early geologic ages, it has cooled suffi-
cision and efficiency in the use of pen, ink, paper, men of deliberative assemblies will thank his ciently to be fairly solid now.
pencil, notebooks, and the like, are as rare as theytrainers. A PROFESSOR'S GUESS.
are important. The eyes and hand should be trained In the effort to insure adequateness of expression,
to be the extension of the brain itself and the un- the student must have the help of encouragement The awful seismic disturbance at Lisbon in 1755
conscious media of thought. On the contrary, most and inspiration, coming mainly from the teacher. led many scientists to study the subject. Amon
students make their own acquaintance over again Here there must be a wise combination of liberalitythese was Professor John Mitchell, professor o
under new and trying circumstances, each timeand thatdecision. Familiar to the teacher should be a
mineralogy at Harvard. In 1760 he published an
they undertake to "compose," and are better de-variety of models of written and spoken expres-
wide elaborate treatise on earthquakes. His theory wa
scribed as adventurers and literary gamblers than sion to serve as incentive to the pupil. The pulpit,
that the earth has a liquid interior that is covered
as trained workmen, familiar with their tools. the lecture-platform, the ' newspaper, the bystagea thin crust, and that waves of this subterranea
Twenty years of teaching have made me painfullyshould be laid tinder contribution for admoni- fiery lake shake the flexible earth crust and produc
aware of the difficulties to most students, of the meretion. model, and analysis. The natural endowment earthquakes.
.mechanical aspect of literary expression. Many stu-of the student is the best suggestion of the direction Robert Mallet, an eminent authority on this sub-
dents have no habituai automatic control of their his efforts should take, but the effort must ject,beinclines to the thought that the planet is stead-
written or of their spoken expression. They definite are in and unsparing. Above all, no student ily cooling, and hence contracting, and that as con-
a condition of crisis and tension whenever effort of a should be permitted to feel that his lightest word is takes place, new adjustments of the rocks
traction
defined and clearly-aimed sort is required' of them. a matter of indifference. The waste basket is the
are made necessary, and these adjustments are so
They live, in a way, from hand to mouth, occasionally last goal he should picture for his themes, andviolent
the that smaller or greater sections of the earth's
surprised by success, but paying dear for it in sus- Cave of Rumor is the natural public of his spoken crust are shaken with terrific, and in many in
pense and agitation. The easy use of a clear, legible, thought. Earnest serious work in self-culture is with awfully destructive force.
stances,
handwriting, the habitual provision of good pens, quite different from the self-conscious, priggish af- Steam is considered by many geologists as the
properly pointed pencils, efficient blotters, con- fectation, and is easily enough distinguished in chief
aim cause of earthquakes, as it unquestionably is
venient paper are conspicuous by their absence and practice. of volcanoes. Water leaks through from the sur-
among college and high school students. HeresyIn the next place, correction and criticism must face to the heated rocks, or lava, of the interior, and
and schism are more frequent here than sound faith be a normal part of the studenťs experience. It being converted into stęam, an awful force is
on its
and practice. And while these things are so, while should come in a natural and obvious way, first from
generated that must find vent somewhere and some
his instruments of record are a constant fret and an- himself, in the rewriting and recasting incidentway, to aeither in an earthquake that opens up fissures
noyance, it is manifestly useless to expect the inex- serious, practical interest in the expression of genu-
in the earth's crust, or in volcanic explosions terrific
perienced student to write easily and think justly. ine thoughts and suggestions. Next should be the in their severity.
His thoughts splutter with his pen, and his logic advice and suggestion, or formal criticism, of his Baron Humboldt in his "Cosmos" makes this sug-
stumbles with his uncertain spelling and shifting fellow-students. The comparison of points of view gestion: "If we could obtain daily intelligence of the
idiom. He really translates himself unto himself, confirms interest and opinion, and affords new points
condition of the surface of the whole earth, we
and is worried with the sense of unfamiliar and un- of departure for thought. In these ways the stu- should probably arrive at the conviction that this
certain demands, represented by what the teacher, dent is kept from the feeling that writing surface is as is almost always shaking at some point; and
may be expecting of him, or of the safe devicesburdensome,
by foreign, and dangerous as an attack thatofit is incessantly affected by the reaction of the
which he may avoid the disaster of learning by mak- typhoid fever, and, like it, epidemic in certain interior
low against the exterior." It is not at all im-
ing a blunder. situations and trying seasons. At all costs the probable that the planet is always on the tremble at
The every day speech of students is not made work
to of composition must be made, if, indeed, it
some point or other, although the news of percept-
cannot be kept, a matter of course. The aids to
contribute as it should to the freedom of literary ex-
ible and notable disturbances are all that usually
pression. There is too often a gulf fixed between criticism are the, intelligent use of reference books ,
are
dictionaries, and above all, of the writer's eyes and registered.
the daily experience, as it is lived out, talked over,
ears. To take in, record, and comment , upon im- During the Christian era, up to the year 1880, at
and laid away in memory, and even the same experi-
least 7,000 earthquakes have -been recorded, and in
ence at a point of departure for a composition pressions
or of possible future value is the lesson that
theme. Again the student translates - is permittedmust be early learned by all who hope for free andmany instances their history has been carefully*
adequate English expression. And here the note- written. Of these, 230 were very destructive, result-
or encouraged to translate into a spiritless, spineless
product of the classroom, known too often as "Goodbooķ habit is a menace unless it is more conscien-ing in a terrific loss of property or life. In 1876 no
English." The language of the street and of tiously
the employed than is commonly the case. Note-less than 104 were registered.
playground is not the worst basis for English train- books should be kept by order and system, should be FAMOUS STRUCTURES WRECKED.
ing. Indeed, it may be doubted whether there issubject any to inspection and criticism, and should beThe famous Colossus of Rhodes - one of the
other equally good. Slang can be pruned, criticised, the meeting place of intelligent conference between
wonders of the world - was thrown down by an
omitted, reformed, but the stiff formalism of unreal, the student and a sympathetic teacher over thor-
earthquake in 224 B. C.
conventional, straight- jacketed, imitative pedantry oughly significant material. The note-book as the In 794 A. D. the celebrated Pharos, the light-
is likely to be a sin past repenting of in a life-timerubbish
of heap for future cram is a simple abomina-
tion. house of Alexandria, was toppled over by a violent
English. But ordinary speech should be a definite shock.
exercise in English expression. But the best of systems and the best of teachers
The beautiful Church of the Lateran in Rome,
The classroom recitation should be a privilegecan in do little for a student who has made a false
composition of individual idiom. And the teacher start, and refuses to go b§ck to the plain path of of the noblest of the early basilicas, and full of
one

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 362

treasures near-by
of fully $50,000,000
art, worth of property
was wascurred near the region through which the proposed
overthrown
destroyed. Many ofpeculiar
convulsions the wealthy planters lost theirNicaragua canalto
would pass, itthe
may possibly inter- Ita
In 1185 entire fortunes.
England was fere with buildingvisited
a canal in that section, and may b
quake that This recent earthquake in Guatemala may have
destroyed lead to the choice the
of the Panama route,Linco
where it is
Nothing far-reaching
that results in quite another
men said earthquakes
way than that deem are not so numerous, and never so
sacre
these earth
of wrecking property tremors. violent as in Guatemala
and destroying life. As it oc- In and Nicaragua.
1546,
fully convulsed, the famous L
leaf, and the bed of the Jordan
days. DRAWING.- ( V.)
Mount Ararat - where Noah's ark rested - was
shaken in 1840, so that large fissures were opened, BY EMILIE V. JACOBS, PHILADELPHIA.
great landslides occurred, and 3,000 houses were
overwhelmed, occasioning a terrible loss of life. FRUITS AN I) VEGETABLES. III. Shape.
IV. Color.
Drawing from solids must be given only after con-
- APPALLING DISASTERS.
V. Shading.
siderable skill has been obtained in drawing from
The danger from earthquakes is much greater,
the flat. VI. Shelf-line.
It is obvious that a spherical or ellipsoidal
than that from volcanoes. Usually object
the volcano VII. Castthe
cannot be represented well unless shadow.
circle
hangs out some danger signals, by which the people T. Noticing the general shape of the object, let
and ellipse can be approximately drawn.
in the zone of peril are duly' warn ed. But In
there may
this work again is the careful, the pupils decide
delicate in which position to hold the paper,
grading
be no intimation of the approachingofearthquake. horizontally
subjects in the order of their difficulty or vertically. Emphasize that the ob-
emphatic-
One moment everything is quiet and unruffled; the
ally necessary. ject the
In the following list, is to fruits
be drawn in the middle of the paper.
and
next moment everything is quaking. Many times are arranged with this plan
vegetables II. How large isThe
in view. the fruit or vegetable? Com-
100,000 people have been swept intospherical the deathand ellipsoidal objects' are
pare itthewith familiar objects about the room, and let
simplest.
trench in a few minutes. the children show the size with their fingers. As
In one of the many earthquakes in Sicily, when the usual tendency is to draw objects too small, em-
Etna was in convulsion, 15,000 people were gathered
in and about their cathedral observing the feast of
St. Agatha: and in three minutes they were all de-
stroyed, together with the bishops and forty-four
Benedictine monks who were in the chancel.
The disaster at Antioch in Syria in 526 was at-
Carrot parallel to the eye.
tended by the greatest loss of life of any on record.
Antioch lies in a seismic belt, and has been shaken phasize from the beginning that they are drawing
to the ground many times. In 526, at the time of Onion and lemon. "big round oranges," or "fine large lemons."
a great assembly of Christians, the unheraldedThe conical forms, having the circular base III.
notLet
verythe pupils watch attentively as you pass
apparent,
earthquake visited" the city, and 250,000 people per- but rounded as in the radish and your pencil around the outline of the object. Re-
onion,
ished in its overthrow. mark
are but little more difficult. The carrot and about any peculiarities. See how round the
turnip,
In' the province of Tosa, in Japan, about which
685 orange is everywhere. Which point of the lemon is
approach more nearly the cone, are the hardest
ofofthe vegetables to draw. The apple, peach,
A. D., the earth was shaken violently, and a tract largest?andNotice the various little "hills" on the
tomato
land of nearly half -a-mil lion acres was engulfed in appear far down on the list on potato.
account Always
of decide in which direction the fruit
that bete noire, the depression at the top.or vegetable is longest.
the sea. The loss of life could never be correctly
estimated, but it- was believed that it ran up into!.. Orange, płunt, cherries. IV. The pupils select from their boxes the chalk
the hundreds of thousands. 2. Potato, pear, strawberry, cucumber. nearest in color to that of the object. Speak of
other things having the same color, and name it.
In 893, 180,000 persons were buried in the ruins 3.
of Lemon, sweet potato, ear of corn.
4. Radish, onion. Let those selecting wrong colors take their boxes to
their dwellings in India. A thousand years later,
the object* and try to match dt by laying the chalk
2,000 square miles of country at the mouth of5.the Banana, scullion, salad.
6. Apple, tomato, peach. upon it. After the main color has been massed in,
Indus was submerged, as the result of an earthquake.
7. Carrot, turnip, beet. see whether it can be made to better represent thè
In 1139, Persia was ' dreadfully shaken, and
For this color work use chalk, as it will blend andfruit by mixing some other color with the first.
100,000 persons perished. These four points are usually sufficient for a les-
shade better than will the wax crayon.
In 1693, an earthquake in Sicily buried fifty-four son when a first or second year class is drawing a
cities and towns, and 300 villages. Not a trace re- fruit or vegetable for the first time. The four re-
mained of Catania and its 18,000 people. One hun- maining points will be mastered one at a time in
dred thousand persons in all perished in this disas- succeeding lessons upon thè same or different objects.
ter. Do not continue to use the same fruit until all of
In 1703, Yeddo, Japan, was overthrown, and the points are understood, as the class will lose inter-
200,000 lives were lost. est in drawing an orange, for example, four or five
In 1751, the city of Concepción, Chile, was en- times.

tirely swallowed up, and the sea covered its site. V. Try to have the light coming from one' side
Sweet potato and radish.
Another city by the same name was built in the of the room only, avoiding cross lights. Question
vicinity, but this was destroyed in 1835, with Place
its a board across each aisle, resting upon thethe class as to whether both sides of the object look
first desks in the rows. Remove the pupils" from the
exactly the same. Develop the idea that all objects in
25,000 people. Only one house remained standing.
front desks. Place an aisle shelf at the middle of the room are lighter on one side than on the other.
"3 755 was a fatal year for Lisbon, Portugal. The
each aisle also, if the forms are long. Lay a piece
Why? How shall we make one side darker? Illus-
great shock threw down the principal portion of the
of manilla paper upon each shelf, and the object
city, and a part of the city was permanently sunk in
upon it. Be perfectly sure, before beginning the
the waters of the bay at a depth of 600 feet. In six
lesson, that each pupil is so seated as to command
minutes 60,000 persons perished. The waters of view of one object. Never allow a pupil to
a good
the bay receded at first, and then swept back in afrom the object upon the shelf resting upon
draw
tidal wave over sixty feet high. Many other his
cities
desk, as it will be too close .to him. The ex-
beside Lisbon were reduced to ruins. Humboldt
planation of the various points of the lesson must be
estimated that the portion of the earth .shaken by in rotation from each model used, so that each
given Carrot turned to an angle to the eye,

this earthquake was four times the size of Europe.pupil will thoroughly understand the object from trate upon the board the method. The dark side of
The velocity of the seismic shock was 1,760 feet a he is to draw.
which a lemon is dark yellow; of an- orange, dark orange,
second, or twenty miles a minute. The shock There are seven leading points to be consideredetc.
in Get this by putting a little black or brown over
reached Morocco, and 12,000 Arabs were killed in drawing of a single fruit or vegetable. - 'the yellow or orange, as the case may be, and then
the
the city of Fez, while 2,000 houses in the Madeira putting the yellow or orange lightly over the black
Islands were thrown down. or brown. Continue blending in this way until the
Caracas, in Venezuela, was entirely destroyed by desired shade is obtained. The brilliant light spot
earthquake in 1812. In 1822, a great convulsion should be left white, or the color of the paper, from
visited Chile, and 100,000 square miles of territory the beginning, and blended into the color with white.
lying between the Andes and the coast was raised VI. To get the shelf-line, the back one only,
from two to seven feet. "walk" your pencil along the back edge of the shelf,
Authentic details have just reached us of the re- and have the pupils tell you that they cannot see the
Banana and orangQ.
pencil all of the time, the object hiding part of the
cent awful disaster by earthquake at Quozaltenango,
I. Position Qp the paper, shelf-line. Now hold a paper vertically, like a cur-
in Guatemala, by which 2,000 people were buried in
tain, directly in front of the object, the lemon, for
rti m of the city, an$ in $9 city and country,

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