Before we leave the important phenomena which we have considered not so much
in their individual characteristics as in their general physical and
geognostical relations, I would advert to the deep and peculiar impression
left on the mind by the first earthquake which we experience, eeven where it
is not attended by any subterranean noise.*
[footnote] *[Dr. Tschudi, in his interesting work, 'Travels in Peru',
translated from the German by Thomasina Ross, p. 170, 1847, describes
strikingly the effect of an earthquake upon the native and upon the
stranger. "No familiarity with the phenomenon can blunt this feeling. The
inhabitant of Lima, who from childhood has frequently witnessed these
convulsions of nature, is roused from his sleep by the shock, and rushes
from his apartment with the cry of 'Misericordia!' The foreigner from the
north of Europe, who knows nothing of earthquakes but by description, waits
with impatience to feel the movement of the earth, and longs to hear with
his own ear the subterranean sounds which he has hitherto considered
fabulous. With levity he treats the apprehension of a coming convulsion,
and laughs at the fears of the natives: but, as soon as his wish is
gratified, he is terror-stricken, and is involuntarily prompted to seek
safety in flight.
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