The Philosophy of Earthquakes, Natural and Religious / or, An Inquiry Into Their Cause, and Their Purpose

by William Stukeley

9ly, Mr. Johnson in both his letters to me, on the first and second earthquakes, at Spalding, remarks particularly, of their effects being mostly spread to the north and south, and especially felt on the sea coast. We may observe, that such is the direction of Spalding river, which both conducts, and strengthens the electric vibration: conveying it along the sea-shore thence, up to Boston channel; and so up Boston river to Lincoln, as we discern, by casting our eye on a map.

We observe further, that the main of this second earthquake display'd its effects along, and between the two rivers, Welland and Avon: and that from their very origins, down to their fall into the sea. It likewise reach'd the river Witham, which directed the electric stream that way too, to Lincoln. For which reason, as there meeting the same coming from Boston, the shock was most sensibly felt. It reach'd likewise to the Trent at Nottingham, which convey'd it to Newark.

The first electrical stroke seems to have been made on the high ground above Daventry, in Northamptonshire; where the Roman camps are, made by P. Ostorius the proprætor. From thence it descended chiefly eastward, and along the river Welland, from Harborough to Stamford, Spalding, the sea: and along the river Avon, or Nen, to Northampton, Peterborough, Wisbech to the sea. It spread itself all over the vast level of the isle of Ely; further'd by very many canals, and rivers, natural, and artificial, made for drainage. It was still conducted eastward up Mildenhall river, in Suffolk, to Bury, and the parts adjacent. All this affair duly consider'd, is a confirmation of the doctrine I advanc'd on this subject.

10ly, I apprehend, it was not the noise in the air, as of many cannon let off at once, preceding the earthquake, that so much affrighted people, or affected the sheep, the rookery at Kensington, the hen and chickens in Gray's-inn-lane, the pigeons. It could not be barely the superficial movement of the earth, that disturb'd them all at once. I judge it to be the effect of electricity, somewhat like what causes sea sickness; such a sort of motion, as we are not accustomed to. So the earthquake affects all those of weak nerves, or that have nervous complaints; obnoxious to hysterics, colics, rheumatick pains in their joints; several women were seized with violent head-achs, before both the shocks we felt in London. It was this that gave the people a shortness of breath. Mr. Smith from Peterborough speaks of a person that found himself very sick upon it. This made the dog run whining about the room, seeking to get out: this made the fishes leap up in the pond at Southwark; like as the experiment of electrifying the fishes: it makes them sick. And this causes the birds in cages to hide their heads under their wings, because they cannot fly away. Which is commonly observ'd of them in Italy, and countries, where earthquakes are more frequent.

11ly, I observe, the shepherd at Kensington thought the motion of the earthquake, and the sound, was from the north-west to south-east; the like Mr. W. Smith from Peterborough. On the contrary, Mr. Byfield the scarlet dyer in Southwark, thought the noise came from the river below bridge, and went toward Westminster; where it rattled so, that he did not doubt, but that the abbey-church was beaten down.

Dr. Parsons took pains to find out the way of the motion of the earthquake, from the different position of people's beds; but from the contradictory answers given, he cou'd not obtain any satisfaction, as to that point. All this, and what was observ'd from Northampton, of the motion being thought by some, to be upward and downward; by others rather horizontal, or lateral: the counting the pulses, and the like, only points out to us the prodigious celerity, and the vibratory species of the motion of an earthquake. But far, very far is this from being owing to the tumultuous ebullition, the irregular hurry of subterraneous explosions.

12ly, How the atmosphere, and earth, are put into that electric and vibratory state, which prepares them to give, or receive the snap, and the shock, which we call an earthquake; what it is, that immediately produces it, we cannot say: any more than we can define, what is the cause of magnetism, or of gravitation; or how muscular motion is perform'd, or a thousand other secrets in nature.

We seem to know, that the author of the world has disseminated ethereal fire, thro' all matter, by which these great operations are brought about. This is the subtil fluid of Sir Isaac Newton, pervading all things: the occult fire diffused thro' the universe, according to Marsilius Ficinus the platonic philosopher, on the Timeus of his master. All the Platonists insist on an occult fire passing thro', and agitating all substance, by its vigorous and expansive motion.

Before them, Hippocrates writes in the same sense, I. de victûs ratione, that this fire moves all in all. This ethereal fire is one of the four elements of the ancients. It lies latent, and dispersed thro' all the other three, and quiescent: till collected into a quantity, that over-balances the circumjacent; like the air crouded into a tempest: or till it is excited, by any proper motion.