EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON BUILDINGS. 143 



west of the town. Here the effects of the partial extinc- 

 tion of the wave on the 'free outlaying stratum* were 

 visible in the masses of projected rock. 



Castellucio did not suffer because its well buttressed 

 knoll was end on to the direction of shock, and on account 

 of a barrier of vertical breccia beds protecting it upon the 

 east. 



Pertosa stands on a mound. The destruction was 

 least in the southern part of the town. From the relation 

 of the beds of breccia on which the town stands, and the 

 direction of the wave path, it is evident that the southern 

 part of the town received the force of the shock through 

 a greater thickness of the breccia beds than the other 

 parts did. 



Petina, standing on a level limestone spur jutting out 

 from a mountain slope, suffered nothing, whilst Anletta 

 five miles to the south-west, and Pertosa six miles distant, 

 were in great part prostrated. (1) The terrace did not 

 vibrate, and (2) between Petina and Anletta there is almost 

 6,000 feet of piled up limestone, so that any shock emer- 

 gent at a steep angle had to pass up transversely through 

 these beds. 



Protection of buildings. — In addition to giving 

 proper construction to our buildings, choosing proper 

 foundations and positions for them, something might 

 possibly be done to ward off the destructive effects of an 

 earthquake. We read that the Temple of Diana at 

 Ephesus was built on the edge of a marsh, in order to 

 ward off the effect of earthquakes. Pliny tells us that 

 the Capitol of Eome was saved by the Catacombs, and 

 Elisee Eeclus ^ says that the Eomans and Hellenes found 

 out that caverns, wells, and quarries retarded the disturb- 

 ance of the earth, and protected edifices in their neigh- 

 » The Earth, p. 599. 



