Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857 Vol 2.djvu/252

Rh sentiments of religion, became the cause of greater terror. In the aberrations of nature, the mind also lost its equilibrium. A young man in this vicinity, being awakened by the first sounds, thought he was attacked, seized a pistol in the dark, and fired at the servant, who hastened in terror to him. The pistol did not go off: he rushed at the man with a dagger, and had wounded him slightly, before he discovered his error, when he burst into tears of agitation, and thanked God for having saved him from a double danger. Returning now to Vignola, where, as I have already mentioned, a luminous phenomenon was observed, we are informed that for some days before, the pigs in the pastures of Ariosa were restless, and ate little. On the 14th and 15th, the dried leaves were whirled round in a circle, producing an alarming, crackling, whistling sound, the air being quite still at the time. After the second shock, a charcoal-burner who had been dreadfully shaken in his hut, ventured out, and observed a column of rushing noisy wind coming from the south-west causing the trees to knock against each other. The water in the springs and rivers increased. Crevices more or less deep and wide, even wider than a man could leap, were observed in this mountain, and a landslip of four to five tomoli in extent. I am indebted for this information to a friend of mine, Signor D. Michele Tucci, landowner and physician in this commune. Lastly, we must record, in attestation of the signs given by animals, that in Accettura, several observed on the evenings of the 15th and 16th an unaccountable disquietude among dogs and cats, an unusual howlng and mewing, leading them to foresee the melancholy event.

I do not know whether, besides the phenomena which I have succeeded in collecting, any more, either permanent or transitory, have been observed. Time and study are necessary to complete this imperfect compilation; these at some future day I hope to devote to it, and once more resume the subject.

As philosophy, according to Cousin, is a sea without a shore, so natural science presents to man a series of facts, more or less numerous, which he arranges in groups according to the