604 ■ PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIOUfS. [aNNO 1 693-4. 



water sprung forth as overflowed a great space of ground, which to those that 

 were near it had a sensibly sulphureous smell. 



In the plain of Catania, from one of these narrow, but very long, clefts, and 

 about 4 miles ofl^ the sea, the water was thrown out quite as salt as that of the 

 sea. In the city of Noto is a street of half a mile long, built of stone, which 

 at present is settled into the ground, and quite hanging on one side, like an 

 inclining wall ; and in another street, before the Assent del Durbo, is an open- 

 ing large enough to swallow a man and horse. 



Great rocks were loosened and thrown down from the mountains every 

 where. And in the country of Sortino, inhabited by about 5000 persons, a 

 great number perished in the houses, which were beaten down by the rocks 

 in their way, as they rolled down from the hills. At Syracuse and other places 

 near the sea, the water in many wells, which at first were salt, are become fresh, 

 and fit to drink. The fountain Arethusa for some months was so brackish, 

 that the Syracusans could make no use of it, and now that it is grown sweeter 

 its spring is increased to near double. In the city of Termini all the running 

 waters are dried up, but the hot-baths were augmented by a third part of what 

 they were before the earthquake. A fountain in the very moment of the earth- 

 quake threw out its waters tinged of a blood red for 3 hours, and then it dried 

 up, leaving many holes in the mud at the bottom, through which real ashes 

 were thrown out; and the next day the waters returned to the former quality, 

 without the least alteration. The south winds blew very much, which have 

 always been impetuous in the most considerable earthquakes. And from the 

 11th of January to this 14th of September there have been considerable and 

 strong south winds, preceded by a noise like cannon at a great distance, some 

 of a longer, some of a shorter continuance. It has been observed, that in 

 less solid ground, such as chalk, sand, or loose earth, the damage was incom- 

 parably greater than in rocky places. The effects on human bodies have been 

 various; such as foolishness, but not to any great degree, madness, dulness, 

 sottishness, hypochondriac, melancholic, and choleric distempers. Fevers have 

 been common, with many continual and tertian, malignant, mortal, and dan- 

 gerous ones in great numbers, with deliria and lethargies. The small pox has 

 made great destruction among children. And in short, every age and condition 

 has had its share in so universal a calamity. 



The number of persons destroyed by this earthquake in the several towns of 

 Sicily, amounts to 59963 out of 254936, the whole number of the people 

 before this accident, that is very nearly the fourth part of the population. 



