Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/143

 been described, upon some one or more of the injured but not overthrown large and cardinal buildings, the observer has got some clue to the direction of transit of shock, he is completely bewildered; and if he has no clear notion formed on this point, he will be much disposed to coincide at first, with the opinions chattered around him by the principal townsmen, the Syndic, the Judice, the Sotto Intendente, &c., who accompany him, and assure him that the shock was in every direction "tutti, tutti direzioni,"—that it was "orizontale e vorticoso;" and point out, in proof of this, that the buildings have actually fallen in all possible directions, which is undeniable.

A town formed of streets of adjoining and abutting houses, may be viewed, as respects each block of buildings, as a vast cancellated single structure, in which, in certain directions at least, every portion adds stability to all the rest.

The larger the single block of houses, or the longer the line at the sides of a street, if the shock be in the direction



of its length, the less, cœteris paribus, is the injury done; but there are other causes also in play. Those of some