Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the third shock, I thought, 'Well, my boy, you had better be getting out of
this.' each of these thoughts was only the hundredth part of a second in
passing through my mind. there is no incentive to rapid reasoning like an
earthquake.”
60
twain even parodied the bombastic earthquake forecasting
that infuriated nineteenth-century scientists:
Oct. 22—Light winds, perhaps. If they blow, it will be from the “east'ard,
or the west'ard, or the suth'ard,” or from some general direction approxi-
mating more or less to these points of the compass or otherwise. Winds are
uncertain—more especially when they blow from whence they cometh and
whither they listeth. N.B.—Such is the nature of winds.
Oct. 23.—Mild, balmy earthquakes.
Oct. 24.—Shaky.
Oct. 25.—Occasional shakes, followed by light showers of bricks and
plastering. N.B.—Stand from under.
Oct. 26.—Considerable phenomenal atmospheric foolishness. About
this time expect more earthquakes, but do not look out for them, on ac-
count of the bricks.
Oct. 27.—Universal despondency, indicative of approaching disaster.
Abstain from smiling, or indulgence in humorous conversation, or exasper-
ating jokes.
61
twain captured the pseudo-expert's blend of scientistic jargon, portentous
prophecy, willful vagueness, and useless advice. his was perhaps the first
satire of the mutual dependence of seismology and the press.
this comic genre largely died out circa World War One, as the weaker
tremors that were its best source no longer found column space. A late in-
stance from 1926 is telling for the sharper tone of its satire. the Munich
observatory had registered a light tremor and printed a request in the pa-
pers for observations from the public. the German weekly
Simplicissimus
reported, “Incidentally, the entire yield of this appeal of science was a single
report. It came from the foot surgeon Xaver Dorninger from the Au and said
that the reporter was thrown from bed at about half past eight in the morn-
ing by the force of the earthquake and had received a painful bruise on the
back of the head as well as several scratches. this bed-fall produced by the
forces of nature of Xaver Dorninger was, for the material-poor newspapers
of these sad sour-pickle times, a highly welcome sensation. the editors in-
dulged in reflections of multiple columns garnished with cosmic prattle
[
kosmischen Schmuss
], and demonstrated as clear as daylight why the shocks
must have been felt most strongly precisely in the Au and nowhere else, and
