Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
feel myself entirely ignorant of these great mysteries that govern worlds or
disrupt them! I would like to know more about them. Is there any particular
topic from which I can extract some science? M. de Quervain recently sent
me a report, I am very grateful to him, since I read it avidly. Would it interest
you to read a letter related to the catastrophe of Messina and reggio? It has
nothing of a scientific or seismological point of view, but is simply an echo
of the misery and human suffering. It was written in the first days, as 60,000
wounded were set ashore at Naples and cared for by the entire population.
My sister who lives in Naples (an interesting region for the members of the
seismological commission!) aided with these arrivals and still visits all the
wretched and helpless. She gave a thrilling account, unfortunately all too true.
It would be kind of you, Monsieur, after having read it, to return the letter to
me (without haste). I would have liked to send it to you earlier; it has been
passed around a large circle of acquaintances, and an indiscreet few kept it too
long. Hence the long delay.
Present events will, I hope, no longer escape my seismological sixth sense;
and, in order to be of service to you, I do not want my seventh like last night,
but reality in full,
without
catastrophes and human sacrifices . . . even so! I
have let you glimpse in these words a cruelty that I certainly do not encourage
in myself. rest assured. But I find that an earthquake should let no one escape
when it begins its destruction. I pity those who survive, [whether] unharmed
or maimed, since all have lost, a little or a lot. And would it not therefore
be better that all perish without exception at the same moment? It is an end
like another, perhaps even better than many others. I have heard—you too, I
think—some very strange opinions raised by this recent catastrophe, I would
even call them auguries! one must always know where they come from in
order to understand and pardon them. The “good Christians” imagine that
God permits and “wants” these things! They are to be pitied for having such a
conception of their God. Above all that, there exists something, as beautiful as
anything in our country, the absolute freedom to think whatever one wants.
Was there anything authentic in these reports issued from the seismo-
logical observatory in Berlin concerning a violent earthquake perceived by
instruments thousands of kilometers away? Do these observations support
those of the recent catastrophes in Persia? As I know that there are no “liars”
worse than journalists, even with quite precise information, I always remain
skeptical about news they send from afar.
Monsieur, I am imposing on your time, which is precious and which
deserves a more noble purpose than that of my lines. Perhaps you will say
that a chatterbox of my stamp deserves to live in Messina or reggio and be
