Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1915 — "HICCOUGHS OF THE SEA” [ARTICLE]

"HICCOUGHS OF THE SEA”

Scientists Explain Frequent Reporta of Cannonading Heard In the North Sea.

Paris. —The frequent reports, which subsequently were not confirmed, that heavy cannonading had been beard in the North sea, have led to an investigation by scientists. It was thus disclosed that the reports of detonations were authentic, although no firing took place. < Scientists who were on the lookout for a repetition of this phenomenon were rewarded by hearing loud detonations off the coast on a day when it was known that no naval action whatever was in progress. This phenomenon was noted along the French coast, off the Department of Pas-de-Calais. Abbe Moreux of the observatory at Bourges came to the conclusion that these loud reports were simply what the Belgians call “mistpoeffers,” or explosions of fog. They are called “hiccoughs of the sea” th iZolland, and sometimes are referred to as marine bombs. The same phenomenon has been observed on the banks of the great lakes and on the great plains of the Delta of the Ganges. After the theory that these detonations were produced by artillery had been discarded, it was thought possible that they were the result of electrical discharges. Finally Abbe Moreux noticed that the appearance of this phenomenon was generally simultaneous with reports of explosions of firedamp in mines. # 1 The electrical action of the sun upon the surface of the earth, the abbe says, provokes movements favorable to the expansion of Imprisoned gases whereever there are fissures in the crust These gases, -liberated from their prisons, explode and cause at the same timq explosions of firedamp and earthquakes. The abbe pointed out that earthquakes are always preceded by noises resembling distant detonations of artillery. Vibrating shocks originating in the interior of the crust of the earth may produce sonorous waves which are quite perceptible if the atmosphere is in repose. Abbe Moreux says that meteorological conditions do not, as has been supposed, cause the phenomenon, although they may favor its production.