G6 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



From the report of this commission, consisting of Professors 

 Pirona and Taramelli, it appears that the valley ofBelluno 

 is occupied by a tertiary formation, and that the earthquake 

 shock was first felt at five minutes before five in the morn- 

 ing, lasting about fifteen seconds, and producing fearful de- 

 struction over the entire region. Two thirds of the city 

 of Belluno was converted into a heap of dust. The move- 

 ment of the earth-shock was from south to north, or. perhaps 

 more correctly, from south-southeast to north-northwest. 

 Many peculiar phenomena, such as the twisting of build- 

 ings, doors, walls, etc., took place, which have been fully ex- 

 plained by Mallet. Chasms were formed 200 feet long and 

 one or two broad, but which subsequently closed. Lakes 

 and brooks were altered, and springs dried up, while others 

 were opened. In some springs there was noticed for twenty 

 or thirty minutes a sulphurous taste, which, however, disap- 

 peared. No investigation appears to have been made into 

 the location of the earthquake centre within the earth's sur- 

 face.- 7 C, X., 289. 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF THE 22D OF OCTOBER, 1873. 



Dr. Lasaulx has made a thorough study of the earthquake 

 that occurred in Herzzogenrath on the 22d of October, 1873, 

 and has found himself obliged to base his studies principally 

 upon observations of the time at which the earthquake was 

 felt. By means of a large number of such observations, he 

 is able to draw curved lines connecting the points at which 

 the shock was simultaneously felt, and thus incloses a cen- 

 tral region directly over that spot within the earth whence 

 the shock emanated. The velocity with which the wave 

 was propagated along the surface of the earth was about 

 ten miles per second. The depth of the centre was found, 

 according to the method of Seebach, to be about six miles ; 

 while an independent computation by Professor Kortung 

 gave a depth of three miles. It is evident, therefore, that 

 the centre was in the solid part of the earth's crust, and the 

 conclusion seems to be justified that the cause of the shock 

 was the formation, or possibly the extension, of one of those 

 cracks or faults that occur so frequently in that neighbor- 

 hood, as revealed by the mining operations. A seismo- 

 chronograph is described by Dr. Lasaulx, adapted to the de- 



