420 



NA TURE 



\]\ larch 3, 1887 



same effect as those on November 28, 1884, and Septem- 

 ber 5, 1886. In length it extended to the east along a line 

 leaving the plains of Lombardy at Lomellina, and passing 

 by the district of Alessandria to the Riviera di Levanto, 

 and westward over all the Western Alps, proceeding 

 towards Switzerland as far as Geneva and beyond, and to 

 Paris and Corsica. The telluric movement proceeded 

 from the Lepontine Alps on the north to the Gulfs of 

 Lyons and Genoa on the south, extending, but more 

 feebly, through Tuscany to Rome. 



" (2) The movement had its greatest intensity in 

 Liguria, in Southern France, and in Piedmont, where 

 it shook the whole of our plain, and penetrated into all 

 the Maritime, Cottian, Graian, Pennine, and Lepontine 

 Alps. 



" (3) This time the centre of the strongest intensity 

 was in the Gulf of Genoa, along the line dividing the 

 place where the Apennines join the Alps, and extending 

 from Savona to Mentone. It was within this space that 

 people lost their lives in several localities, such as Savona, 

 Noli, and Mentone, and everywhere as far as Marseilles 

 there were numerous disasters and buildings thrown down. 

 The movement of the soil, not so violent, but equally disas- 

 trous, spread over the mountainous country which extends 

 from the Altare Pass to Millesimo, Mondovi, and the neigh- 

 bouring regions. The shock was severe, but it did no 

 considerable damage, in a portion of the province of 

 Coni, as also in the provinces of Alessandria and Turin, 

 it being very intense on Mont Cenis. It was slighter in 

 the plains and in the valleys of the province of Novara. 



" (4) In the places where the earthquake was most 

 intense the principal shocks were three in number, and 

 with a slight difference, depending probably on the differ- 

 ence of clocks, correspond to the times indicated by the 

 seismic instruments of our Observatory — namely, the first 

 at 6.22 a.m., the second at 6.31, and the third at 8.53. In 

 the places near tlie centre of motion slight shocks occurred 

 at intervals all through the day. The severest and most 

 terrible shock was the first, which was undulatory in 

 several places, oscillatory, and perhaps rotatory. It was 

 several times prolonged and accentuated. Here at 

 Montcalieri, as at Turin and elsewhere, it had three 

 principal repetitions, plainly evidenced by the courses 

 traced by our registering seismograph. These augmenta- 

 tions of intensity were mistakenly regarded by some as so 

 many distinct shocks. 



" (5) The dominant direction of the first undulatory 

 shock was from west to east, with slight deviations at 

 intervals from west and north-west to east and south-east, 

 and with oscillatory and very slight vibrations. The two 

 other shocks were also undulatory, and the last was rather 

 more intense than the second, btt without reaching the 

 intensity of the first. The second and third had about 

 the same direction as the first. 



" (6) The earthquake in places where it was severe and 

 very severe was accompanied by rumblings. 1 may add, 

 in conclusion, that about 2 o'clock this (Thursday) 

 morning our most delicate seismic instruments signalled 

 very slight fresh shocks, undulatory, and from north-west 

 to south-west." 



The fullest and most accurate details as to the succes- 

 sive shocks have come from the more important towns 

 in the western Riviera. Mr. W. J. Lewis, writing to us 

 from the Hotel des lies Britanniques, Mentone, on Satur- 

 day, the 26th of February, says that some slight vibrations 

 seem to have been felt there about midnight and 3 a.m. 

 before the great shock. " This last," he continues, 

 " occurred apparently a few minutes before six, just as 

 day was dawning." He was roused from sleep by being 

 violently jolted in bed, which was being shaken with great 

 violence. At the same instant he heard loud noises of 

 apparently cracking walls and ceilings, and the rattle of 

 falling plaster and breaking glasses. " I did not," says 

 Mr. Lewis, " instantly realise my position, but had time 



to consider what was going on, and to conclude that, if the 

 house collapsed under the shock, escape was hopeless, and 

 that there was nothing to be done. This may possibly 

 have taken ten seconds. Needless to say, that when the 

 motion ceased and I found myself imharmed, I was up, 

 seized my warmest clothing, and was down in the garden 

 in less than a minute. The daily Press will have 

 sufficiently described the scenes which have occurred 

 throughout the Riviera. The second shock, of considerable, 

 but much less, force, occurred about ten minutes later. I 

 observed, within a few minutes of this that the hall clock 

 marked 6.15, local time, corresponding to 5.54 a.m., so that 

 I should be inclined to place the second shock at 6.10. 

 A third shock of about the same intensity as the second 

 occurred between 8. 30 and S.45. This last threw down 

 bricks, tiles, &c., which had been displaced by the first 

 shock, and raised the panic to the greatest height." 



According to Mr. Lewis, the early reports of the disaster 

 at Mentone were much exaggerated, but the truth, he 

 says, is bad enough. " The large hotels, especially 

 those in high situations, seem to have suffered least. 

 The whole of the East Bay and, the old town have 

 escaped practically unharmed. The greatest damage has 

 occurred to two-storied buildings placed on the alluvial 

 soil in the comparatively level part lying along the sea, 

 and in the valleys of the Carrei and Borrigo, embracing 

 the main portion of the modern town of the West Bay. 

 Here the relation with the foundation is well marked in 

 the case of two equally well-built houses not more than 

 300 yards apart, viz. St. John's Parsonage and the House 

 of Rest. The former is in the valley, and the foundations 

 were a sotuxe of great trouble at the time of building. It 

 is very much shattered. The other is built on a rock, and 

 has escaped uninjured. Within a radius of a quarter of 

 a mile of the station the inain destruction has occurred. 

 But the houses most wrecked — some score or more — show 

 most conclusively bad building. The large hotels in this 

 injured area — the lies Britanniques, National, Orient, 

 Mediterrance, des Colonies, &c., — most of which are four 

 to five stories high, have suffered injury to lathe and plas- 

 ter, but in few places are the main walls seriously damaged. 

 In the case of these high buildings the intention of raising 

 them to such a height necessitated a firm and solid 

 foundation. I have noticed that the walls in a part of 

 this hotel at a height of six stories have on the top floor 

 suffered no visible damage. In the same way Monte 

 Carlo, built on rocky ground, has escaped uninjured." 



Writing from Nice, a correspondent of the Times, sign- 

 ing himself" Commander, R.N.," says that, on Wednesday 

 morning, about six o'clock, he was awakened by an 

 extraordinary commotion so unaccountable that for a 

 moment he thought an escaped lunatic was shaking the 

 bed in a maniacal outburst of fury. Running to the 

 window, he saw that the shock must have been very 

 severe, "for everywhere the streets were strewn with frag- 

 ments of cornices, mouldings, chimney-pots ; while many 

 houses exhibited dangerous-looking cracks and rents in 

 the walls of the upper stories. Another shock as violent 

 as the first must inevitably have been followed by the down- 

 fall of many buildings. Fortunately, however, none of 

 the succeeding shocks at all approached the first in 

 violence." Another correspondent of the Times — " C. E. 

 de M." — writes from Nice, that he was awakened shortly 

 after 6 a.m. by " a tremendous vibration, which shook the 

 whole house, a large hotel, from top to basement. The 

 bed rocked and swayed violently to and fro like a 

 hammock set swinging, and great masses of plaster fell 

 from the ceiling and walls in every direction, strewing the 

 room with debris, while the paper was literally stripped off 

 the walls, and every second the whole hotel appeared as 

 if it must topple over. ... At S.30 a.m. another shock, 

 though of less violence, seemed to complete the reign of 

 terror which had now set in." 



At Cannes Sir Theodore Martin noted that the first of 



