288 



NA TURE 



[January 7, 1909 



ing, not from a single focus or centrum, but from a 

 number of centres of greater intensity, the greatest of 

 ivhicli lav close to the coast and for the most part be- 

 neath the sea. Moreover, it was no mere earthgna/ce, 

 but one of those great disturbances by which the whole 

 world is shaken, which penetrate deep into its sub- 

 stance, and result in a permanent alteration of its 

 shape. This would be sufficiently proved by the great 

 sea wave which washed the shores of the Straits of 

 Messina and the Tyrrhenian Sea, which swept oyer 

 Messina and Reggio' with a height of 30 feet, which 

 caused three deaths at Catania and reached at least 

 as far as Malta. This wave could only have originated 

 in a great displacement of the bed of the sea, the 

 nature of which is indicated by the narrative of the 

 captain of the Hvpewetl : according to him, the boat, 

 which was passing through the Straits at the time of 

 the earthquake, seemed to leap into the air, as if a 

 mine had exploded underneath her, and immediately 

 afterwards a mountain of water was heaped up to 

 starboard and rushed furiously towards Messina, while 

 soundings showed that the bed of the sea had risen ten 

 feet. This last statement requires confirmation, and 

 onlv careful and extended surveys can define the extent 

 and nature of the displacements which have taken 

 place; but, even without these details, the breakage 

 of all submarine cables, no less than the sea wave, 

 show that the earthquake must have been accompanied 

 by the production, under the sea, of a " fault " or 

 dislocation of the surface, such as is not an infrequent 

 accompaniment of very great earthquakes. _ _ . 



The most interesting and important question raised 

 by this earthquake and its predecessors of 1905 and 

 1907 is whether the region may now look for respite 

 or whether it is becoming unfit for human habitation, 

 a question the answer of which requires a consideration 

 of what is known of the cause of earthquakes and the 

 past historv of Calabria. Whatever may be the ultim- 

 ate cause of an earthquake, there seems little room 

 for doubt that it is of the nature of a gradually in- 

 creasing strain, leading, in the end, to sudden rupture 

 and the setting free of forces of which we still know 

 little. Sometimes this strain will grow until the relief 

 ccmes in a single great earthquake, with nothiiig 

 visible or noticeable as a preparation or warning; in 

 other cases we have had what, after the event, have 

 been recognised as preparatory shocks. -As an instance 

 may be taken the Japanese earthquake of 1891, which 

 gave rise to displacements along a fault-line 65 

 miles in length, and was preceded by minor earth- 

 quakes at either end of the line of this fault ; it has 

 been suggested, and the suggestion is plausible, that 

 these gave partial relief to the growling strain, but 

 that the ultimate effect of this partial relief was to 

 equalise the strain along the line of the fault until 

 finallv no partial relief was any longer sufficient, and 

 a general vielding resulted in the Mino Owari earth- 

 quake and fault. 



Similarly, the shocks of 1905 and 1907 might be re- 

 garded as preparatory to the greater earthquake of 

 igoS, and the supposition gains weight from the fact 

 that they affected respectively the northern and the 

 southern' portions of the area in which the recent earth- 

 quake took its origin; but this interpretation suffers 

 from the absence of any certain test by which we may 

 know the preparatory shocks from the earthquake of 

 which it is the forerunner, and be certain that the 

 last of the trio is not itself preparatory to a still greater 

 shock. .Some light seems to be thrown on this ques- 

 tion by the earthquakes of 1783 ; on February ., of that 

 year a severe and destructive earthquake ravaged 

 much the same region as the shock of 1905 ; it was 

 followed next dav bv an even greater earthquake, 

 which, like the last, destroyed Messina, and was 



XO. 20-J5, VOL. 7q] • 



accompanied by a great sea wave; other lesser but 

 still destructive shocks took place on February 7 and 

 March 28. It will be seen from this that the events 

 of the three da3-s of 1783 were not unlike those of the 

 three years of 1905-8, and the analogy bears closer 

 examination, so we may conclude that, as the great 

 cataclvsm of 1783 was followed by a sixty years' respite 

 from destructive earthquakes, and the lesser one of 

 1638 bv a twenty-one years' respite, so the disaster of 

 1908, though it will be followed by a series of after- 

 shocks, some of which probably will be severe, 

 may reasonablv be expected to inaugurate a long 

 era of comparative repose during which the population 

 will have time to recover. But so long as it consents, 

 or prefers, to huddle together in towns and villages 

 which, however gratifying to the artist's eye, are 

 villainouslv built, and designed in defiance of every 

 precaution which should be taken in an earthquake- 

 shaken country, so long will every earthquake of any 

 degree of severity result in loss of property and of 

 human life. ' R. D. O. 



Few precise particulars as to the physical characteristics 

 and effects of the Italian earthquake have appeared in 

 the daily papers. We are glad to notice that Prof. Ricco, 

 director of the observatory at Catania, has been instructed 

 bv the Italian Government to study the causes and effects 

 of the disaster. The following extracts, chiefly from re- 

 ports in the Times, have been selected from a mass of 

 descriptive material relating to the earthquake. 



Sea Wave. 



An olliccr of the Italian torpedo-boat Saffo, carrying 

 bread to Messina, has given the following account of the 

 catastcophe ; — 



" At 5.20 a.m. we noticed the sea suddenly rising until 

 it attained an enormous height, giving a violent shock to 

 ourselves and all the shipping anchored in port, finally 

 hurling itself with a deep rolling noise towards the quay, 

 overturning a bridge and smashing to pieces most of the 

 ships. 



" A moment afterwards the surface of the sea appeared 

 covered with wreckage and cargo, cases of paraffin oil, and 

 boxes of fruit. .\n exceedingly dense cloud covered the 

 city. 



" Only at dawn was it possible to form an idea of the 

 disaster. .Almost the whole city was reduced to a heap of 

 ruins. In the midst of all this ruin were still standing the 

 walls of the Town Hall and the Trinacria Hotel. The 

 streets were completely obstructed in several parts of the 

 city, which were now reduced to ruins. Red flames arose, 

 accompanied by huge columns of smoke." 



The captain of the Russian cruiser Admiral Maharoff 

 states that the great shock lasted 37 seconds, and was 

 followed by four huge waves, while minor shocks con- 

 tinued to be felt during the whole time that his crew 

 were engaged in the work of rescue. 



The sea wave which followed the earthquake invaded 

 Reggio so far as the Corso Garibaldi, namely, more than 

 10 metres above sea-level. The houses near the sea were 

 flooded up to the first storey, and several were washed 

 away by the waves. Twenty-nine miles of railw.ay have 

 been destroyed, and all the stations near Reggio are in 

 ruins. 



A man who was just embarking on a ferry-boat to go 

 from Messina to Reggio when the shock occurred describes 

 how the level of the water seemed suddenly to descend 

 until the ferry touched bottom, and then rose to a great 

 height again — ho says eight yards — hurling the ferry-boat 

 on the landing pier, which smashed it to pieces. 



Meteorological Conditioks. 



On Sunday, December 27, heavy rain fell in the afflicted 

 district, the downpour during the night being torrential. 

 hX about 5.15 a.m. on December 28 three distinct and 

 long earthquake shocks are said to have been felt at 

 Messina. Onlv a liule rain fell on that day, but there 



