12 REPORT—1850. 
tions ; but he quotes from ‘Gemma Cosmocritica,’ lib. ii. cap. 1, an account 
of two earthquakes in Flanders in the years 1554 and 1569.—p. 204. 
On the magnitude and duration of earthquakes he gives several facts :— 
About the year 369, under Valentinian, and in 1116, nearly the whole world 
was shaken, and in 1601 Asia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Gaul: ‘uno fere 
momento feruntur tremuisse.”—p. 205. 
Of the duration he judiciously says, “incerta etiam est et inconstans.” 
The earthquake of 1601 was forty days, that in Italy of 1538 fifteen days ac- 
cording to Fallopius, and again in 1570, one lasted for two whole years, accord- 
ing to Fabricius of Padua. Averrdes says Spain shook for three whole years 
in his time. Aristotle says forty days was a usual time: “ Sepe solennes 
fuisse.” It is remarkable that this early author well distinguishes between 
the total duration of the earthquake and the time of and intermittence be- 
tween the several shocks—a distinction so much neglected by modern nar- 
rators. Fromondi enumerates several presages of earthquakes, and then 
classifies their effects into nine species in cap. 7; but his division is bad, 
mixing up primary, secondary, and doubly secondary effects without di- 
stinction. 
Passing chapter Sth as not bearing on physical questions, the chapter 
9th is perhaps the most remarkable in Fromondi’s book. In this he seeks 
to show the strong analogy that subsists between the effects of mines charged 
with gunpowder, and even of bombshells, when exploded, with those of 
earthquakes ; and he gives a curious diagram to illustrate his views (p. 219, 
Antwerp Edit.), which however he does much more forcibly by referring to 
the effects observed at the blowing up of the bridge over the Scheldt at 
Antwerp by the Duke of Parma, by means of a lighter full of powder floated 
in under it and so exploded, and the blow of which was felt over great part 
of Holland; and again by those observed in 1546, on occasion of the blow- 
ing up by a stroke of lightning of a tower at Malines, containing much gun- 
powder, when part of the town walls were shaken down by the blow, and the 
water so emptied out of the neighbouring river that the fish were found at a 
distance on dry land. 
‘Del. Terreemoto dialogo del. Signor Lucio Maggio, Gentilhuomo Bo- 
lognese.’ 4to, Bolog. 1571. A curious book with much observation, and a 
digest of all the ancient and then current opinions. Lib. i. gives a discussion 
of all the conceivable causes of earthquakes. 3 
In lib. iii. he enunciates eleven signs or presages of earthquakes, viz. 
1. Stillness of the air. 2. Gloom and obscurity of the sun, haze, &e. 
8. Eclipse of the sun. 4. Unusual conduct of animals. 5. Muddiness of 
wells. 6 and 7. Motions and swellings, or odours of the sea without any wind. 
8. Various sounds in the earth and air. 9. The appearance of columns of 
smoke or of exhalations in the air. 10. Comets. 11. Certain appearances 
of the sun on the night preceding the earthquake. These were partly 
the learned, partly the popular notions of his time in Italy, and continue 
nearly unaltered as matters of popular belief in that country to the present 
day. 
One of the most remarkable tracts or works on earthquakes which I have — 
discovered is that ““ Francisci Travagini, super observationibus a se partis, 
tempore ultimorum terreemotuum, ac potissimum Ragusiani: Physica disqui- 
sitio, seu giri terre diurni indicium.” 4to, Lug. Bat. 1679; and also a Vene- 
tian edition of 1683: a copy exists in the British Museum. It seems to be 
about the earliest attempt to found a physical theory of earthquake motion, 
and presents a singular instance of that coasting along very close to a truth 
