348 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
1873 in no case were they of so pronounced a local ' 
nature as those just recently experienced. When 
the great earthquake of August 27th 1886 occurred, 
which destroyed Filiatra on the Mainland to the 
South-east of Zante, this island was fortunately 
outside the direct vibrative waves of seismic forces 
radiating from the centrum of that shock; which 
covered up six knots of Submarine cable in Lat : 
37°.25, Long: 21°. 11 east of Greenwich; but still it 
did considerable damage and its force was severe 
enough to cause the greatest alarm even in so 
distant a place as Malta. 
From that year until the spring of 1890 there 
were numbers of small shocks but after then and 
up to August 1892 only a very few tremors were 
recorded. On August 16th last year about 12 
small shocks suddenly occurred during the day, 
purely local, and all from East to West. After 
three days of absolute tranquillity they began 
again and although merely pulsations they were 
of a very pronounced character. 
At midnight on August 27th the shock was strong 
and from theu until the still smarter shocks of Sep- 
tember 3rd and 5th the earth seemed always shak- 
ing. Another few days of quiescence were follow- 
ed by a renewal of shocks. This state of things 
continued until the middle of January last-— and 
was again succeeded by a fortnight of perfect 
tranquillity. At 9 p. m. on January 30th a very 
distinct rumbling occurred which was followed by 
a short, sharp shock as if from some falling, mass, 
and then all was still again I noticed after this 
shock a series of small ripples on the sea which 
was previously and subsequently quite calm. The 
night passed very quietly until 5.34 a. m., local 
time, when the whole island began to sway terrifi- 
cally from East to West with a purely undulating- 
motion finishing up by a movement which I can 
only describe as being similar to that of some 
mighty force wrenching out the bowels of the 
earth. This shock lasted twelve seconds and its 
centre was undoubtedly in the sea very close to 
the town and due east of the same. From its apex 
of origin its range of destruction, on the frontage 
of the town, was not wider than two miles spread- 
ing out to about filteen when it reached the villa- 
ges at the base of the range of hills, six miles off. 
The destructive force had a tendancy to incline 
from due East to the North West of the island 
which is about 27 miles in length by an average 
breadth of eight, a subsequent shock taking a 
much lower range. During the whole -lav shocks 
were alarmingly frequent and nnmbere 1 some 
hundreds between the first and nightfall when 
every body went to the open ground in a most 
panic stricken condition. At 1. 56 a in. on 
February 1st another terrific shock took place — 
not so severe as the first but with a range towards 
the southwest and of increasing destructive force. 
This shock lasted 20 seconds and was also suc- 
ceeded by numberless others. After 23 hour- a 
third severe shock occurred and periodically 
during the whole week others, of decreasing in- 
tensity took place. Since the first shock until the 
present date, at least one thousand (including 
pulsations and tremors) have been felt. 
Of course the direct and indirect damage has 
been very great owing to the extensive zone of 
destruction, the scattered nature of the villages 
and to the bad construction of the houses i- gene- 
ral and to their dilapidated condition owing to 
extreme poverty of the island. At least half a 
million sterling is required to rebuild the p!a e 
and as this amount can never be realized n ny of 
the ruins are likely to remain untouched and in, sr 
of the population will have to emigrate. 
In considering the question of earthquake origin 
it is necessary to bear in mind that ad seismic 
disturbances must be divided into two distinct 
classes that is to say, earthquakes tn ti e immediate 
vicinity of ac f ive volcanoes proceeding or subse- 
quent to an eruption, or where Volcanic agency can 
be clearly traced as influencing their distribution 
and into quakes originating in nou-voleanic 
districts. 
To the latter class belong the periodical shocks 
which cause such disaster in Zante and in the 
various other non-volcanic Turco Hellenic regions. 
Before dealing however with these I propose to 
show that although the attendant phenomena and 
frequently the effects are the same in both classes, 
very different laws govern their motion and 
duration. In the first place the earthquakes due 
to volcanic action have a very limited range indeed 
they are only felt in the immediate vicinity of the 
volcanoes themselves. This is explained by the 
fact that the detached masses, the slipping away 
of rocks and earth from the sides and cor e of the 
