Among the curiosities of the phenomena, was the sinking of a piece of land about 8 feet square, on which was a large peach tree growing, which was about 16 feet high. It went down perfectly perpendicular, and the top branches were left just even with the surface.

Scientific men who have been telling us the cause of the earthquake, have distinguished themselves by showing how good observers may be shallow generalizers. If the hot ball cooled equally, there could be no contraction of the earth's crust. It would remain an arch, no matter how hollow the inside might be without a crack, though the inner cavity might become more hollow with cooling. There might be a separation of layers during the cooling, and the sudden separation by this contraction might make earth tremors. The unequal cooling might make the surface crack; but this seems not to be taken into account. As water is a better conductor of heat than air, the earth surface under the sea would cool faster than the part exposed to the atmosphere, and this might cause a surface crack. The same law on a larger scale, causes a lamp glass to crack.