2 4 o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



inventions of our own race, by which a greater number of 

 people have been killed in the short space of a few minutes." 



On the other hand, in some great earthquakes the loss of 

 life has been surprisingly small. At Charleston in 1886, only 

 twenty-seven were killed, though fifty-six more died afterwards 

 from cold and exposure. At San Francisco, twenty years later, 

 the earthquake was directly responsible for no more than 390 

 deaths; and the total number of lives lost at Kingston in 1907 

 is estimated at about 1,000. 



In considering such statistics it is evident that the figures 

 furnish no real test of the destructive violence of an earth- 

 quake. Some of the greatest shocks for many years past are 

 those which have occurred in the sparsely inhabited regions 

 of central Asia. The disastrous character of the Messina earth- 

 quake was chiefly due to the presence of a large and ill-built 

 town near to its origin. The heavy death-rolls of earthquakes 

 in India and China are to be attributed to the dense population 

 of those countries. Consequently, instead of the death-roll, a 

 more accurate measure would be the death-rate or the pro- 

 portion deaths bear to the whole population. For instance, in 

 Charleston during the earthquake of 1886 and more recently 

 in San Francisco, the death-rate was considerably less than 

 1 per cent. In the Ischian earthquake of 1881, it amounted to 

 2\ per cent, at Casamicciola. In the Andalusian earthquake 

 of 1884, the highest death-rate at any place was 9 per cent, and 

 in the Riviera earthquake of 1887 not more than 14 per cent. 

 Though attracting great attention from their occurrence in well- 

 known districts, these earthquakes belong to a group characterised 

 by a comparatively small loss of life. 



In contrast with the above figures, many of the Italian earth- 

 quakes are characterised by an unusually high death-rate. In 

 the Ischian earthquake of 1883, the death-rate at Casamicciola 

 was 41 per cent. ; in the Sicilian earthquake of 1693, it rose to 

 50 per cent, at Ragusa and to 67 per cent, at Catania ; in the 

 Neapolitan earthquake of 1857, it was 50 per cent, at Saponara 

 and 71 per cent, at Montemurro ; in the first great Calabrian 

 earthquake of 1783, 59 per cent, at Bagnara and yy per cent, at 

 Terranova ; whilst in the Norcian earthquake of 1703, the 

 highest death-rate at any place was 81 per cent, at Avendita. 

 The corresponding figures for the Messina earthquake are not 

 yet accurately known; at Canitello the death-rate was 44 



