16 JANUARY 1909, Page 16

THE EARTHQUAKE.

LTO THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOE.1

Sin,—Do not the accounts of the ebb and flow of the great earthquake waves in the Straits of Messina contain a strong resemblance to Homer's account of Charybdis (see Odyssey, XII., 237-242, Butcher and Lang's translation) P One is led to the conclusion that some Greek mariners, like our own, were passing through the straits when a great earthquake occurred on the same line as the last two visitations, and that Homer's description is derived from their reports or traditions.—I ara