Earthquakes in Sicily, 223 



peued 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 affording an outlet to the subterranean 

 vapours, as some have thought ; but by interrupting or dimin- 

 ishing the course of the shock. 



The houses were rebuilt in the same situation, and after the 

 same mode ; the fissures of those which were damaged, were 

 as we now observe thern, only covered over on the outside 

 by a slight coating of lime. These very places, and pre- 

 cisely the same houses, were this year laid waste ; and so 

 they will always be in future, unless a more prudent and more 

 reasonable method shall regulate new buildings and new re- 

 pairs. 



Professor Ferrara proceeds to give a very particular ac- 

 count of effects of the shock upon buildings in different situa- 

 tions, which it would be hardly interesting to repeat here. 

 Most of the injury, he says, 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 follow 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. Nine- 

 teen persons were killed and twenty-five wounded ; in the 

 earthquake of Sept. 1, 172G, four hundred were killed and 

 very many wounded. 



In the close of this chapter he remarks — do not these sad 

 facts impress us with the necessity of every attention in the 

 construction of new edifices ? Already have the zeal of the 

 governor, the facilities offered by the senate, and the concern 

 of the active citizens, given a strong impulse to the repara- 

 tion of the disasters. Soon will the shadow of the past ca- 



