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Report on the Messina Earthquake. 



Nearly all the after-shocks observed by the writer were 

 accompanied by sound phenomena. 



Observers at Taormina report having seen luminous effects 

 on the horizon in the direction of Messina immediately before 

 the earthquake, but at Messina all was dark. The sea appeared 

 luminous, possibly because of having been converted into foam 

 by the vibrations. There is no doubt of luminous effects hav- 

 ing been observed immediately before and during other earth- 

 quakes in this region — that of 1905 being accompanied by a 

 strong red glow upon the mountain tops. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 3. Collapse of the embankment. 



The Messina seismograph recorded a part of the movement. 



The loss of life and property was enormous owing to the 

 "rubble" construction of the buildings. 



As has often been noted, those buildings which presented 

 their diagonal to the direction of the earth movement resisted 

 better than those whose faces paralleled or right angled the 

 motion, and those on loose or sloping ground suffered most. 



In Messina the general direction or " throw " of the move- 

 ment was from JST.E. to S.W., and the same was the case at 

 Villa San Giovanni. 



There seems to be no evidence of a geological sinking. The 

 sea has advanced in places as much as one hundred meters, but 



