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London, England, 1857-12-26 00:00:00

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surd and of no value. The most eminent accoun-
tant i 9 the world would be laughed at if he asserted
that two and two made five, yet Liebig's theory,
though less ridiculous, is equally wrong. But
thousands will believe it, without inquiry, on the
mere strength of his reputation, though that can no
more alter natural laws than the accountant's skill
can change the powers of &urea.
Some of our readers, however, may contend that
though in this particular instance Liebig may be
wrong, he is still eminent in science, and that, like
many scientific men, his opinion is unfavourable to
the availability of electro-magnetism as a motive
power in mechanics. This is unfortunately true,
though the same argument might have been urged
with equal force against the introduction of steam
of gas, and of almost all other great modern im-
,
provements. As we have said, scientific men are
eminently conservative—they wish science to ad-
vance, but only in the path which they themselves
have chosen. co much, however, for the reasons
for and against the plan. We do net say that as
yet an electro-motive power has really been made
available, but much has been done towards attain-
ing that groat end, and we believe that the rest
may be achieved.
We do not pin our faith on one intention more
than any other, and only dwell on Mr. Allan's as
being furthest advancei in the path towards suc-
cess. By his application of electro-magnetism he
has certainly made it a motive power valuable in
mechanics. It only remains for him-ifo;SAtain his
electricity cheaply, though to do this we believe he
must resort to other means than those hitherto em-
:prOyed—to means which every_ man of science, in
' speaking or writing on the subject, haszone round
and round about without ever happening on what
WAS really wanted. ,With the French we are in-
clined to the belief that such a power is attainably,
and will ere long, too, be attained. The new-
born science, though still but little known, is gain-
ing on us fist, and advancing with giant strides
into the business of every-day life. It is but a few
years since Sir Humphry Davy employed a thou-
sand pair of zinc and copper plates to do the work
which would now be better done with 12 of the
same agents in a modern battery. What, then,
may we not hope and expect from a series of scien-
tific resear,:hes into the as yet undeveloped secrets
of this marvellous element I—Times.

THE EARTBQUAKES AT NAPLES.

• EVISPAPER
aims
muner
YoviD,Ver,
LA:ti
Vrej'Acjau.
any
antis
Lad:,
grav
lfry have exi,

enorthoug Ind the vii
ascertained ; among them; hi
brigade of gendarmerie. In
Caggiano ruin and death have
known extent. In Salerno ma.
ing two Churches, the intenda
barracks of the gendarmerie, are
Near Salerno a church and' be!'
ing two ladies, In Campagna numerous houses *
cracked, including that of the superintendent
Iu the Basilicata at Polenza the disasters have
been extensive. Numerous buildings have been
thrown down, burying unknown numbers beneath
their ruins. A broken telegraphic despatch froth
Bari and Campo Basso has excited great alarm, as
it would appear to signify that all the inhabitants
of one of these places have been destroyed.

The following letter, dated Naples, December
19, says :—' ' Oa Wednesday evening I was sitting
iu a saloon in our residence here on the Chiata-
moue, situate on the immediate shore of the Bay,
when one of our servants rushed into the root" to
ask what was the matter, supposing that we had
knocked violently at the doer of the room. Imme-
diet- ly the windows and doo.s began to rattle in
the strangest manner. Imagining that it might
proceed from one of those sudden coups de vent so
frequent iu this climate, I opened the windows and
walked out on the balcony. The atmosphere was
still, the mest profound calm prevailed,- not a cloud
could be seen. It was a splendid s-arlight night. I
returned into the saloon, and in a few seconds felt
the floor alternately sinking an 1 rising and affected
like that of the cabin of a vessel which rolls and
pitches. In the next room, where two 3 ouug
ladies had just gone to bed, I heard that they
found it difficult to keep in the bed. The maid
who attended them said the walls were f tiling. I
looked at a laree bronze chandelier suspended from
ihe centre of the ceilit g of the saloon, and, to my
astonishment, saw it swinging exactly like a lamp
suspended in the cabin of a vessel in a storm. The
character of the phenomena was no longer doubt-
ful. I looked at my watch. The hour was a
quarter-past ten exactly. As the most exact means
of estimating the undulation, I observed the
movement of the large chandelier. This is a large
breeze lustre, weighing 4001 b or 5001 b. The dis•
tance from is point ofsuspension to the lowest point
of its axis is alemt 10 feet. Its motion at fist
seemed to be thst of a pendulum, the arc of vibra-
tion of the lowest point being about two feet, but
this immediately changed to the motion of a conical
pendulum ; the lowest point of the axis described a
circle, or rather an ellipse the major axis of which
was about two feet. It appears, therefore, that the
phenomenon began with a tremulous movement of
the foundation of the house, manifested by the
rattling of the doors and window, and that this,
after a short interval, was succeeded by two undu-
lations, propagated, as it would seem, by the coni-
cit swing of the lustre, in two different directions.
All that I have here taken so many lines to de-
scribe t,ok place within two, or at the most three
minutes. Of course, the lustre once thrown into a
state of oscillation continued to swing for a much
mere considerable time.
Such being what I witnessed personally, I ascer-
tained afterwards that similar phenomena were pre-
sented in other apartments of the hotel. The swing-
ing of the lustres was even greater, but this arose
no doubt from the ciraumstance of their being
smaller and their line of suspension shorter. The
bells of the hotel were all set a-ringing. The pendu-
lum of a large house clock standing in the hall rat-
tled against the clock-case. A gentleman lying
asleep upon a sofa on the ground-floor was flung off
upon the floor.
A man-servant of ours occupied a neighbouring
apartment with his wife and two children. The
bed of one of the children was overturned, and a
lamp standing on the table was thrown on the
floor. The population generally . soon after the
shock went out into the squares, places, and other
open spaces. The wealthier classes ordered out
their carriages, in which they passed the chief
part of the night in driving on the Chiaja roa i,
which runs along the borders of the bay wide
enough to keep clear of falling houses. The people
who filled the squaresand other open spaces lighted
fires and passed the night around them. Many
families had chairs and benches brought from their
apartments into the Piazza Reale, the Largo de
Castello, the Santa Lucia, and other like places,
where they set during the night awaiting a recur-
, ranee of the shocks.
In some houses the thin partitions which divide
room from room and the ceilings were cracked ;
some damage lionise' said to hove been done to the
British Hospital.
On the night succeeding the phenomenon(Thurs-
day) the population, imagining that a repetition of
the shocks might be expected about the same hour,
crowded again into the squares and open spaces,
where they peered part of the night.
At the Royal Observatory on theoapo di Monte
two astronomical clocks, the pendulums of which
vibrate ire the plane of the prim* vertical (that is,
east and west), were stopped. Other clocks in the
Observatory, however, continued to go regularly.
The employes of the Observatory estimated the con-
tinuance of the first shock tobe 5, and that of the
second 25 seconds. They considered the direction
of the undulations to be from south to north. They
perceived two otherelight shocks at 3 and 5 o'clock
in the morning of Thursday.
Whether the state of the atmosphere has any con-
nexionwith or dependence upon this class of phe-
nomena is not certainly known. Herethe weather
for six weeks back has been like that of June in
Loudon. The rain has fallen, and the sunshine has
been almost uninterrupted. The sirocco has alter-
nated with the yenta di terra, the ono correspond.
ing to our warm south-west wind, and the other to
our cold north-east. Vesuvius has been very active,
throwing up constantly showers of incandescent
matter which at night presents from time to time
the appearance of what is called the " bouquet" in
artificial fireworks. A slight eruption of lava
took place last weik ; and it has been observed that
the activity of the volcano was considerable abated
for two days before the shock.
It is unfortunate that here we are without the
benefits of the agency of journalism in such cases,
and. have mainly to depend on the information
which is obtained by reports from mouth to mouth.
There is an official journal, but that gives only
such information as the Government chooses to
disclose, and the fear of excitement among an
ignorant, fanatical, and priest-ridden population
termines the Government as a general rule to
supply as little intelligence of what takes place as
possible. Such as it is, however, I wait the publi-
cation of the official journal, which I am told will
make known to-day so much of what has passed in
Calabria as the G iverninent will allow to be pub-
lished. Before I despatch this letter to the post I
shall therefore be able to tell you more.
P. S. As I expected, a few particulars of the
disasters in Calabria are givenin the official journal.
The visitation is undoubtedly far more grave than
is admitted. It appears that the telegraphic wire
has been broke between Eboli and Sala both in the
line of country I havo indicated. News, however,
has been received from the latter place, where the
walls of the prison and barracks havebecm cracked ;
threepersons were killed. At Atessa, a town near
Sala, half the houses are reduced to ruins. In
Padula, another town in that district, more
than 100 houses have been thrown- down,
with an unknown number of persons buried
under them. In La Polls, another town of
that neighbourhood, the disasters have been