o stories of the Fairmount are found to be so
seriously damaged that they will have to be rebuilt, while the other
twelve stories are uninjured.

Various explanations are being made of the surprising resistance shown
by the skyscrapers. The great strength and binding power of the steel
frame, combined with a deep-seated foundation and great lightness as
compared with buildings of stone, are the main reasons given. The iron,
it is said, unlike stone, responded to the vibratory force and passed it
along to be expended in other directions, while brick or stone offered
a solid and impenetrable front, with the result that the seismic force
tended to expend itself by shaking the building to pieces.

Whether there is any scientific basis for the latter theory or not, it
seems reasonable enough, in view of the descriptions given us of the
manner in which the steel buildings received the shock. All things
considered, the modern steel building has afforded in the San Francisco
earthquake the most convincing evidence of its strength.

From Golden Gate Park came news of the total destruction of the large
building covering a portion of the children's playground. The walls
were shattered beyond repair, the roof fell in, and the destruction was
complete. The pillars of the new stone gates at the park entrance were
twisted and torn from their foundations, some of them, weighing nearly
four tons, being shifted as though they were made of cork. It is a
little singular that the monuments and statues in the city escaped
without damage except in the case of the imposing Dewey Monument, in
Union Square Park, which suffered what appears to be a minor injury.

In this connection an incident of extraordinary character is narrated.
Among the statues on the buildings of the Leland Stanford, Jr.,
University, all of which were overthrown, was a marble statue of Carrara
in a niche on the building devoted to zoology and physiology. This in
falling broke through a hard cement pavement and buried itself in the
ground below, from which it was dug. The singular fact is that when
recovered it proved to be without a crack or scratch. This university
seemed to be a central point in the disturbance, the destruction of
its buildings being almost total, though they had been built with the
especial design of resisting earthquake shocks.

Such was the general character of the earthquake at San Francisco and in
its vicinity. It may be said farther that all, o