Another curious phenomenon connected with the large waves of certain earthquakes is that they may be very marked for one thousand miles round their origin, and may be perceived on the exactly opposite side of the earth (though, of course, much reduced in size), but cannot be recorded on the earthquake instruments of the regions in between. For example, an earthquake originating near New Zealand may be recorded in that country, but not in India, Egypt, West Asia, or east of Europe, though in Britain it may make itself evident on the seismometer's record. The phenomenon may be compared to a water wave running down an expanding estuary. At the mouth of such an estuary it may have become so flat that it is no longer recognisable. Should it, however, run up a second estuary, we can imagine concentration taking place, so that near the top of the second estuary it would eventually become recordable on instruments. In these antipodean survivors we see the final efforts of a dying earthquake. It is only occasionally that the precursors and the followers of these large waves have sufficient energy to reach their antipodes. They die _en route_.
From the earliest times philosophers have held that the causes of earthquakes were associated with the contact between fire and water. Plato, Aristotle, Strabo, and Pliny all held that water and air penetrate into the earth through hollows, fissures, and crevices, thus developing in the heated interior great vapour, a part of which is expelled from volcanoes. Aristotle correctly associated seismic sea waves with earthquakes, and even Homer assigned these great disturbances of the sea to Poseidon's trident, which was also the means employed for raising up islands from the sea bottom. The withdrawal of the water from the shore after an earthquake and its return as a great wave were familiar to Aristotle, and are implied in his description of the sinking of Helike in 373 B.C.
Before leaving the subject of earthquakes we may quote some passages from Mr. John Milne on the influence which these great disasters have exercised on the emotions. Immediately after the Kingston earthquake we read of the dazed and almost insane condition of the people. Many were affected with an outburst of religious ecstasy, thinking the last day had come. The negro population camped on the racecourse and spent their time in singing hymns. Somewhat similar scenes took place in Chili; men and women ran hither and thither, mad with terror and devoid of reason. Amid shrieks and sobs and the wailing of a multitude an "Ora pro nobis" or a "Pater noster" might now and then be heard. In early civilisations underground thunderings have so far excited the imagination that subterranean monsters or personages have been conjured into existence, and these in many instances have played a part in primitive religions. At the time of an earthquake in Japan the children are told that the shaking is due to the movement of a fish which is buried beneath their country, and in Japan we find references to this fish in the pictorial art, pottery and carving, literature, and everyday conversation, all of which would be unintelligible if we did not know the story of the earthquake fish. In other countries the subterranean creature will be a pig, a tortoise, an elephant, or some other animal.