evidently in seaports alone
that we can look for very accurate indications of slight changes of
level; and when we find them, we may presume that they would not be rare
at other points, if equal facilities of comparing relative altitudes
were afforded. Grimaldi states (and his account is confirmed by Hamilton
and others), that at Messina, in Sicily, the shore was rent; and the
soil along the port, which before the shock was perfectly level, was
found afterwards to be inclined towards the sea,--the sea itself near
the "Banchina" becoming deeper, and its bottom in several places
disordered. The quay also sunk down about fourteen inches below the
level of the sea, and the houses in its vicinity were much fissured.
(_Phil. Trans._ 1783.)

Among various proofs of partial elevation and depression in the
interior, the Academicians mention, in their Survey, that the ground was
sometimes on the same level on both sides of new ravines and fissures,
but sometimes there had been a considerable shifting, either by the
upheaving of one side, or the subsidence of the other. Thus, on the
sides of long rents in the territory of Soriano, the stratified masses
had altered their relative position to the extent of from eight to
fourteen palms (six to ten and a half feet).

_Polistena._--Similar shifts in the strata are alluded to in the
territory of Polistena, where there appeared innumerable fissures in the
earth. One of these was of great length and depth; and in parts the
level of the corresponding sides was greatly changed. (See fig. 76.)

_Terranuova._--In the town of Terranuova some houses were seen uplifted
above the common level, and others adjoining sunk down into the earth.
In several streets the soil appeared thrust up, and abutted against the
walls of houses: a large circular tower of solid masonry, part of which
had withstood the general destruction, was divided by a vertical rent,
and one side was upraised, and the foundations heaved out of the ground.
It was compared by the Academicians to a great tooth half extracted
from the alveolus, with the upper part of the fangs exposed. (See fig.
77.)

[Illustration: Fig. 76.

Deep fissure, near Polistena, caused by the earthquake of 1783.]

Along the line of this shift, or "fault," as it would be termed
technically by miners, the walls were found to adhere firmly to each
other, and to fit so well, that the only signs of their having been
disunited was the want of corresponden