Prof. Ferrara on the Earthquakes in Sicily in 1823. 159 



the water from the interior, and thrown up by the sea, together with the 

 labour of men, has gradually filled up the lateral spaces, and extended the 

 peninsula with this transported and alluvial earth, and formed the present 

 soil. It is now composed in part of calcareous rock, and in part of mud 

 or alluvial earth ; both are traversed by canals and large conduits for the 

 circulation of water for common use, and by common sewers communicat- 

 ing with the neighbouring shore. The adjacent parts present a surface 

 composed of calcareous tufa, and an earthy aggregate, tender and friable ; 

 but, deeper down, it is more durable, and partly siliceous. 



In the night of the 1st of September 1726, continues Professor Ferrara, 

 an earthquake destroyed, or very much injured, all the buildings situated. 

 on the muddy soil; and many, which were out of repair, or badly con- 

 structed, placed on rock. Earth of the nature of the first, is less capable 

 of receiving motion from a shock than the last, since it possesses less re- 

 sistance. But facts show that this advantage is more than compensated 

 by want of stability in edifices raised upon it. At Messina, in 1783, all 

 the buildings upon a plain, and upon earth thrown up by the sea, were 

 destroyed, while those on the neighbouring hills were not moved. The 

 same happened at Calabria, and, in 1805, in the district of Molise. In 

 this account we should notice the cavities made in the earth. They were 

 esteemed by the ancients as preservatives against earthquakes, not by af- 

 fording an outlet to the subterranean vapours, as some have thought, but 

 by interrupting or diminishing the course of the shock. 



Most of the injury, says our author, was done by the second impulse of 

 the shock, when the spear of the vane on the new gate was bent, and the 

 water in the basin in the Botanical Garden was forced violently up one 

 side. Immediately after the shock, he remarks, the apparent injuries 

 were not very great, but the blow was given ; and the long and abundant 

 showers of rain which succeeded continued to develop and increase the 

 injuries, and now, though not very many buildings are entirely destroyed, 

 yet there is scarcely one which has not received some damage. Here fol- 

 low some notices of the dreadful consequences which befell many of the 

 inhabitants, from the falling of the timbers, and stones, and walls ; of the 

 vases from the piazzas into the streets and many other things which it is 

 unnecessary to mention more particularly. Nineteen persons were killed, 

 and twenty-five wounded; in the earthquake of September 1, 1726, four 

 hundred were killed and very many wounded. 



Messina, which suffered so much in 1783, although violently moved by 

 this last shock, experienced from it no bad effects ; for this noble city has 

 risen from her ancient ruins, robust and majestic. Catania, in 1818, was 

 convulsed in a terrible manner, but its inhabitants were enabled to con- 

 template without a tear all the little injury sustained by their beautiful 

 fabrics.* 



• After the fatal earthquake of 1693, in Catania, by which 16,000 persons 

 perished, the people began to build of one story, and always after the plan of bar- 

 racks, lint, as the fear passed from their minds, they raised their houses two sto- 



