Little Rock native Conevery Bolton Valencius, author of The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes, was the featured presenter at the 33rd annual dinner meeting of the Society of the History of Medicine and Health Professions. The group gathered Sept. 18 on the 12th floor of the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
A business meeting and wine reception preceded the buffet dinner and presentation -- "The Great Shakes: Bodily Experience and the New Madrid Earthquakes." Valencius used a slide show to discuss the series of earthquakes in 1811-12 along the New Madrid faultline, which extends from Illinois down through Missouri and Arkansas. She relayed how those who experienced the tremors described them, including the nausea, distress, giddiness, faintness and apoplexy they induced. These reports played a role in the calibration of the quakes and gave rise to spiritual movements, Valencius said.
Valencius also pointed out that the United States Geological Survey estimates a 7 percent to 10 percent chance of a repeat of the earthquakes along the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the next 50 years ... and that, in the same time period, there's a 25 percent to 40 percent chance of an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 or larger.
The evening ended with a short question-and-answer session.
High Profile on 09/28/2014