Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857/Introductory
INTRODUCTORY.
On the 16th December, 1857, an earthquake of great violence visited several of the southern provinces of the Neapolitan kingdom. Accounts of the formidable extent of the disaster, accompanied by a few imperfect details as to some of its physical phenomena, began to arrive in England, through correspondence and the public press, about the 24th December. The occasion appeared to the author to present an opportunity of observation of the highest value for the advancement of our knowledge of earthquakes, considered as a branch of cosmical science.
On the 28th of the same month he accordingly addressed a letter to Lord Wrottesley, President of the Royal Society, suggesting the importance to science of sending a competent observer, without loss of time, to the convulsed region, and offering, with the approval and assistance of the Society, to undertake the duty. The suggestion was promptly laid before the Council by the President, met its approval, and on the 21st January, 1858, the author received the authority of the Royal Society to proceed.
From the 21st to the 26th January was occupied in obtaining letters and recommendations from the Council and Officers of the Royal Society, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, and some noble or eminent scientific persons in London, to the Government of the kingdom of Naples, its well-known jealousy causing much doubt whether its permission might be obtained for the author to travel into the earthquake districts.
On the 27th January the author left London, stopping a day at Paris, for the purpose of conferring with and receiving any suggestions that those there engaged in geological research might have to offer as to his intended labours; and another at Dijon, in conference with Professor Perrey, the distinguished author of many works on seismology, with a like object. On the 5th February, 1858, he arrived at Naples, where he was detained until the 10th, awaiting the tedious decision of the Neapolitan Government as to whether or not it would permit his journey into the interior. This permission was at length granted by telegraph from the king, then at Gaeta; and, accompanied ultimately by letters of authority to the Intendenti, Judici, Syndici, and Gendarmetie of all the provinces proposed being traversed, enjoining them to give safe conduct and all possib!e assistance to the author and his objects.
Before leaving England he had been favoured by Cardinal Wiseman with an encyclical letter, commending the object of his mission to the good offices of the clergy of all denominations in the interior. This valuable letter he was enabled, after an interview with the Cardinal (Sisto) Archbishop of Naples, to get approved and countersigned by that prelate; and to that document he owes the removal of many difficulties that might otherwise have seriously impeded his progress and means of observation.
The interval caused by the delay of the Neapolitan Government before granting its authorization to proceed, was occupied by the author, partly in providing, with the kind assistance of some British residents at Naples, a suitable and trustworthy staff of persons to accompany him, and amongst these an interpreter who could converse readily in the provincial dialects of the Capitanatas, Basilicata, Bari, and Calabria, and in providing, with the requisite forethought, all the camp and cooking equipage, blankets, food, medicines, and the means of their convenient transport upon mules through a rough and mountainous country, of which large tracts were expected, and were in the end actually found to be, destitute (as a consequence of the earthquake) of either shelter or provisions.
The remainder of the time was employed in making and recording observations and collecting information as to the phenomena of the earthquake, as it was felt in and around the city of Naples, and its immediate neighbourhood, and in seeking for evidence along the shores of the bay, from Pozzuoli to Castellamare, of recent change of level of the land, traceable to the shock. Arrangements were also provisionally made with an eminent French photographer at Naples for his following the probable track of the author, and obtaining a series of photographic views of such scenes and objects as might illustrate the results of the expedition; and the author wrote home requesting the sanction of the Council of the Royal Society to his obtaining the photographs which now are referred to and inwoven with this Report.
Before leaving the city of Naples, Professors Palmieri and Scacchi were consulted by the author, for any suggestions that they might deem desirable to make as to his examination, such as might occur to them from their prolonged familiarity with the seismic conditions of their country, and to be expected from their scientific eminence. He has to thank both for their cordial reception, and especially to record his obligations to Signor Guiscuardi, whose accurate and extensive scientific information and local knowledge were of great service to him in making his arrangements with the Government officials, and whose zealous kindness the author retains in lively remembrance.
The following Report is divided into three principal parts. In the first, the questions proposed for observation or solution are generally stated, and the methods of observation pursued in these earthquake regions to some extent indicated, with some remarks upon the physical and other characteristics of the country itself, in relation to seismical effects. The second part embraces the narration of the observations actually made and information obtained, with some primary discussion of facts in a few instances. And in the third, the facts, so far as they admit of it, are classified and put together, and such conclusions or deductions drown from them as they appear to the writer to warrant.
In these the author will, for convenience and simplicity, write in the first person.