Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Falb represented his theory in many writings, and perhaps even more the
journalistic and oratorical activity with which he supported his work, are to
thank for the wide recognition that his 'earthquake theory' found—if only,
however, in circles that were not at first able to make a competent judgment
on the question. the Falb theory was all the more able to succeed because
opposing popular accounts were not available.” hoernes responded with a
“popular account” of his own—a witty and accessible essay, which proved a
source of “amusement” to him to compose.
49
Falb's true sin, as hoernes saw
it, lay in publicizing his speculative forecasts. hoernes blamed the press for
helping Falb do so. An anonymous writer in the popular scientific journal
Aus der Natur
likewise attacked the press for allowing Falb to terrorize vul-
nerable populations: “Via the ignorant daily press this putatively new per-
spective has been spread to wider circles, so that even in earthquake-prone
regions it has found a fateful reception, especially for the reason that the
author is a Catholic cleric. A panicked terror seized the inhabitants of the
West Coast of South America, as Falb prophesied a repetition of the frightful
earthquake of the previous year; everyone evacuated, and the prophecy was
not fulfilled.”50
50
the Falb debacle made scientists worry “that public papers,
especially those with a political leaning, are not the forum in which to air
scientific questions.”
51
Scientists became anxious to gain some control over reports of earth-
quakes in the popular press. this question was on the agenda of a 1905
conference of central european seismic observatory directors. the partici-
pants were concerned that the reputation of the “young science” of seis-
mology might suffer if observatories reported distant seisms and no one
came forward to confirm a corresponding earthquake. More disturbingly,
newspaper readers might misconstrue reports of distant seisms as earth-
quake
predictions.
In one case, the
Neue Freie Presse
had presented reports of
an earthquake from abroad as a “remarkable confirmation” of a teleseismic
observation from Belar's observatory.
52
Belar's point was that this confirma-
tion was not remarkable in the least. One simply had to understand how
seismographs picked up waves from afar. Belar and his colleagues voted
against the obligatory reporting of seismographically recorded earthquakes
to the newspapers. they decided that it was best, in some cases, to withhold
information. As we will see, this was a dangerous precedent.
The Inverted Sublime
From the perspective of the nineteenth-century press, earthquakes were good
for business. they could be exploited not only for pathos and melodrama,
