114 PLINT's NATUEAL HISTORY. [Book II. 



CHAP. 83. (81.) — SIGNS of an APPROACHiisra eaiithqhake. 



There is no doubt tliat earthquakes are felt by persons on 

 shipboard, as they are struck by a sudden motion of the 

 waves, without these being raised by any gust of wind. 

 And things that are in the ressels shake as they do in houses, 

 and give notice by their creaking ; also the birds, when they 

 settle upon the vessels, are not without tlieir alarms. There 

 is also a sign in the heavens ; for, when a shock is near at 

 hand, either in the daytime or a little after sunset, a cloud 

 is stretched out in the clear sky, like a long thin line^ The 

 water in wells is also more turbid than usual, and it emits a 

 disagreeable odour^. 



CHAP. 84. (82.) PRESERVATIYES AGAINST EUTURE 



EARTHQUAKES. 



These same places^, however, aiTord protection, and this is 

 also the case where there is a number of caverns, for they 

 give vent to the confined vapour, a circumstance which has 

 been remarked in certain towns, which have been less shaken 

 where they have been excavated by many sewers. And, in 

 the same town, those parts that are excavated'* are safer than 

 the other parts, as is understood to be the case at Naples in 

 Italy, the part of it which is solid being more liable to injury. 

 Arched buildings are also the most safe, also the angles of 

 walls, tlie shocks counteracting each other ; walls made of 

 brick also suffer less from the shocks*. There is also a great 



^ This observation is taken from Aristotle, Meteor, ii. 8. 



^ Pha^nomena of tliis liiiid have been frequently noticed, and are not 

 difficult of explanation. 



2 "In iisdem;" " lidem, inquit, putei inclusum. terra spii'itum libero 

 moatu einittentes, terrse motus avertunt." Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 406. 



* " Quae pendent." M. Ajasson translates this passage, " qui sonfc 

 comme suspendues." Hardouin's explanation is, " Structis forniee ca- 

 meris imposita sedificia intelligit ; quod genus cameraruui spiraraenta 

 plerumque habet non pauca, quibus exeat ad Hbertatem aer." Lemaire, 

 i. 407. 



^ Many of these cu'cumstances are referred to by Seneca, Nat. Qnsest. 

 vi. 30. On the superior security of brick buildings, M. Alexandi-e 

 remarks, " Muri e lateribus facti difficihus quam csetex'i deliiscunt, undo 

 fit ut in urbibus muniendis id constructionum genus plerumque pro?- 

 feratur. Ex antiquso Italise palatiis tempUsve nihil fere prseter immensas 

 lato-um moles hodie superest." 



