[69] According to some reports, the earthquake was felt in Italy. At Livorno, the first movements were registered by seismographs at 11.17 A.M. (G.M.T.), and tremors were noticed by some persons at rest at about 11.15 A.M. At Spinea, a sensible undulatory shock from south-east to north-west, and lasting about four seconds, was felt at the moment when all the seismographs were set in motion by the Indian earthquake. In spite of the great distance, the perception of the earthquake in Italy is not impossible, but the records seem to me to refer to local tremors rather than to the very slow evanescent oscillations of a very distant earthquake. [70] All the times in this section are referred to Madras mean time, which is 5h. 20m. 59.2s. in advance of Greenwich mean time. In the next section it will be found convenient to use the latter standard. [71] It may be useful to give references to works in English in which the principal instruments for registering distant earthquakes are described. For Cancani's vertical pendulum, see _Brit. Assoc. Rep._, 1896, pp. 46-47; Darwin's bifilar pendulum, _Brit. Assoc. Rep._, 1893, pp. 291-303, and _Nature_, vol. 1., 1894, pp. 246-249; Milne's horizontal pendulum, _Seismology_, pp. 58-61; Rebeur-Paschwitz's horizontal pendulum, _Brit. Assoc. Rep._, 1893, pp. 303-308. [72] The beginnings of the second and third phases are shown more clearly in the record of the vertical pendulum at Catania, a record, however, that will not bear the reduction necessary for these pages. [73] _Geol. Mag._, vol. x., 1893, pp. 356-360. [74] _Irish Acad. Trans._, vol. xxi, 1848, p. 52. [75] _Irish Acad. Trans._, vol. xxi., 1848, pp. 55-57. [76] _Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857_, vol. i., 1862, pp. 376-378. [77] _Japan Seismol. Soc. Trans._, vol. i., pt. II., 1880, pp. 33-35. [78] _Geol. Mag._, vol. ix., 1882, pp. 257-265. CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION. In this concluding chapter, I propose to give a summary of the results at which we have arrived from the study of recent earthquakes, and this can, I think, be done best by describing what may be regarded as an average or typical earthquake, though it may be convenient occasionally to depart slightly from such a course. Few shocks have contributed more to our knowledge than the majority of those described in this volume; but, on certain points, we gain additional information from the investigation of other earthquakes, and these are referred to when necessary for the purpose in view. FORE-SHOCKS. At the outset, we are met by a question of some interest and great practical importance--namely, whether there are any constant signs of the coming of great earthquakes by means of which their occurrence might be predicted and their disastrous effects mitigated.