Correspondence.
Coincidence of Charleston Earthquake with a Reported Eruption in the Tonga Group.
To the Editor of the Scientific American:
I would like to call your attention to a reported coincidence, described in a letter in the London Times of December last. An interview with captain and crew of a vessel just then arrived at Sydney, Australia, from Tonga Islands, is given. The captain is represented assaying that while lying off the islands on the night of the 31st of August, 1886, he observed a most terrific eruption of a volcano situated on one of them, accompanied by earthquake shocks, and the vessel received showers of dust and ashes. The occurrence on the same night with the Charleston earthquake on this continent is curious, to say the least. The statement might be acceptable to those of your readers interested in seismic disturbances.
P. Max. Foshay.
Beaver Falls, Pa., February 2, 1887.