Reaction of British Colonies in America to the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake - A Comparison to the European Response

Abstract

The Lisbon earthquake produced split reactions among some European naturalist-theologians such as Elie Bertrand and William Stukeley. As preachers, they referred to the wrath of God, as naturalists, they discussed natural causes of earthquakes. Bertrand gave a summary of current theories on earthquakes but remained skeptical and preferred to record related events in Switzerland. Stukeley proposed a theory according to which earthquakes were caused by electricity. John Michell, Woodwardian Professor at the University of Cambridge, referred only to natural causes, relying on the notion of subterraneous fires. He explained that, according to his observation of anticlines, combustible matter lied deeply buried and pent up in flat countries, whereas in mountains strata containing such material occurred close to the surface so that vapors could easily escape through the vents of volcanoes. The reaction to the Lisbon earthquake in newspaper articles, earthquake-sermons and pamphlets printed in the New World appears unanimous: earthquakes are caused by God, although he may act through natural causes. Benjamin Franklin did not formulate any theory and John Winthrop seemed unable to separate science from religion in his lecture on earthquakes, although he emphasized natural causes, as generally accepted in Europe. An anonymously published article on agitations of the sea and related earthquakes in November 1755 proposed an alternative to fire and vapors for countries without volcanic activity. The author, Dr. John Perkins, physician in Boston, proposed that earthquakes may be caused by settling of land in mountains. He argued that the upper parts of lands consist of harder and less pliable material than the lower parts which are yielding and water-soaked. Underground waters carry away parts of this lower substance and the resulting caverns collapse when the overlying heavier material sinks into the lower one. Displacement of this material may spread toward the ocean thus transmitting earthquakes of great intensity to the ocean basin; alternatively the spreading may be stopped by an obstacle and cause the rising of coastal areas. Perkins found alleged proofs of such raised areas in Pine-Plain and Hampstedt-Plain on Long Island. His contribution is important and should be included among the early earthquake theories presented in the British colonies of America.