occupied their homes or their beds until day-break, many did not return to them till next evening. By fortunate accident, the streets had been almost deserted on the night of the earthquake, and before the shock, at an unusually early hour; and it was equally lucky that the violence of the concussion was in a great measure over before the people had time to crowd into them again; for so very thick was the shower of large stones which were precipitated from the chimney tops, as well as of slates and tiles, which were shaken in great numbers from the roofs of the houses, that, if the streets had not been empty, many deaths and dreadful accidents must have occurred. The thundering noise made by the stones in falling, added to the other horrors of the night; many of them were projected completely across to the opposite side of the way. It is rather remarkable, that it was chiefly from the newer houses that the stones were thrown; many of the older ones having entirely escaped this dilapidation.

It was not, however, until the morning's light that the most decisive proof of the violence of the shock was displayed. No sooner had day dawned, than the beautiful spire which is attached to the county jail, was observed to have been rent through at the distance of several feet from the top; and the part which was above the fracture appeared twisted round several inches in a direction towards the north west.* This circum

Some persons have been incredulous with respect to the circumstance of the twisting of the spire. A similar fact, is however, recorded in the Philosophical Transactions. Mr. Russel, in giving an account of the earthquake of March 8, 1749, says" In my dining room there was an Indian cabinet, on which was placed some ornamental China, part of which was thrown down on the floor, and smashed. But what was most remarkable, I had two China figures placed on the cabinet, with their faces fronting the west, which were, by the several shocks, turned about, facing the north-west, which I took to be nearly one third of the circumference of a circle. In this situation I found them as soon as I arose in the morning; and I am assured nobody had been in the room before to displace them.

"Since, I was told by some company that were at my house, that a porter was going down Chancery-lane, to call a gentleman to go to the Brentford election, and in his

!stance appears to be very satisfactorily accounted for by a gentleman at Inverness, who remarks, that "the motion of the undulation being communicated to the lower sooner than to the higher parts of the building, those parts of the latter whose cohesion was not suffi ciently strong would naturally be left behind, and projected in a north-west direction." It is not impossible, however, that electricity, which, if not sometimes the cause of the sensation of earthquake, at least appears very generally to accompany such convulsions, might have had some share in producing this injury. Notwithstanding its vicinity to Inverness, and although it was agitated during the great earthquake at Lisbon, yet there is no account of Loch Ness having been affected on the late occasion. But it is not unlikely that it may have displayed some commotion, though from the lateness of the hour it would necessarily escape observation. Three gentlemen who at the time of the earthquake happened to be approaching Inverness from the west, when at a considerable distance from the town, distinctly heard the large bell toll twice. This circumstance was entirely unnoticed by those who were in the streets or houses of the place; people of every description having been too much alarmed, and too much occupied in providing for the safety of themselves and their families, to remark it. It appears to have been admitted by many gentlemen of Inverness, who had resided long in foreign countries, particularly in the West Indies, where such convulsions are very frequent, that they had never before felt so smart a shock.

From Tain, Dingwall, Dornoch, Wick, and all the towns to the northward of this, there were similar accounts to those given of Forres, and the other towns already mentioned. I had several very interesting and intelligent letters from Sutherland. One gentleman describes the sensation he and his party felt to have been just as if they had been all suddenly launched in a boat from dry land to sea. At first he supposed, for way, as he called it, was struck with a blast, turned round on his heel, and fell down, and has not been well since. Also, another person, that was set out on some business, was nearly turned round by the shock."Ed. P. Mag.

a moment, that one side of his chair, and the wall against which he was leaning, had suddenly given way. The hens made a prodigious noise on their roost; and a pointer dog howled for a considerable time afterwards. On looking out immediately afterwards, this gentleman remarked that the night was warm, and quite clear, but rather dark; the atmosphere heavy, and forming one cloud, except on the eastern and south east horizon, where it had the appearance generally observable before sun rise. Another gentleman, who was on the road near Brora, in a gig, writes me that he was not in the least sensible of anything, and was quite ignorant of the shock, until he heard of it on reaching home, where he found his family had been alarmed. A lad, who was standing on a rock in the middle of the country, at the time of the convulsion, declared that it moved up and down under him like a quaking bog.

At Aberdeen, Montrose, Dunkeld, Perth, Pitmain, and the other places intervening between this and the river Tay, the earthquake seems to have been generally felt, with equal violence, making allowance for variety of situation. At Aberdeen, a person who had been present during the earthquake in Lisbon, on June 6, 1807, described the late shock as exactly resembling the commencement of it. In many houses the bells were set a ringing, and the wires continued to vibrate for some time after their sound had ceased. The houses were shaken to their foundations, and the heaviest articles of furniture were moved. A second, but more slight and partial shock, was felt about half-an-hour after the first; and this was also remarked by 'some individuals in almost every quarter where the chief one had been experienced.

At Parkhill, the seat of general Gordon, near Aberdeen, a circumstance occurred which deserves particular attention. The sluice-gate of a piece of water, weighing several tons, was raised from its foundation about twelve inches; and some large stones having accidentally rolled underneath it, kept it up in that situation till most of the water escaped before it could be replaced. Several instruments have been from time to time proposed for measuring the degree of force of No. 42.

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the shock of earthquakes; but here was one perfectly fortuitous, which, though perhaps it did not mark the utmost extent of its energy, proved that the power of the late one had been at least equal to an elevation of twelve inches. In the neighbourhood of Montrose a very amusing occurrence happened. Two excisemen having lain down, in concealment, on the ground, to watch for an expected party of smugglers, when the shock took place, one of them started up, exclaiming to his comrade, "Here they are! for I feel the ground striking under their horses' feet." In the town of Montrose the inhabitants felt their beds move, first in a horizontal direction, and then return to their former situation; after which a tremulous motion was felt, as when a body, after being agitated, settles upon its basis. Some compared it to the slight rolling of a ship at sea. The bells in houses were rung, and the furniture shaken, as in other places, and the greatest alarm prevailed. A vivid flash of lightning was observed to follow after the shock.

The article from Perth speaks of two distinct shocks, the second occurring at an interval of a minute after the first. In other respects the effects there appear to have been similar to, and nearly as powerful as, those at Aberdeen and Montrose. At Dunkeld, a young man, who was stepping into bed at the moment of the shock, was nearly thrown down on the floor; and in one house the liquor in the glasses was nearly spilt by the concussion. A small meteor was seen to pass from east to west just about the time of the earthquake.

A gentleman, who had been for some time on a visit to this neighbourhood, who has resided long in Italy, and who tells of himself that he has always had a kind of luck for meeting with earthquakes, asserts that, whilst sitting at breakfast, about three days before the late shock occurred, he distinctly felt a slight concussion; which, from the recollection of what he had ex perienced abroad, gave him very considerable alarm, but which he did not wish to communicate to his friends at the time. This gentleman was also perfectly sensible of the second and slighter shock, which followed on August 13, at an interval of half an hour

after the more decidedly violent convulsion. In this family, too, we all of us felt this second concussion. But, although we noticed it to each other at the time, yet I then suspected it to be nothing more than the sensation of the first shock, which still remained with us; as one is accustomed to think he feels the motion of the waves of the sea for a good while after he has landed from a ship. There cannot be any doubt, however, of the reality of this second movement of the earth; it having been noticed by some individual or other, and at the same interval of time, in almost every quarter where the more intense shock was experienced.

There is one fact which I conceive to be so peculi arly striking, that I cannot allow it to escape notice, having not only been very sensible of it in my own person, but having also learned, by enquiry of others, that the feeling was by no means a solitary one, but remarked pretty generally by a number of individuals. Immediately after the shock of the earthquake commenced, I felt myself assailed by a kind of faintishness, which did not altogether leave me until I was asleep in bed, about two hours afterwards.* This sensation was perfectly different from that generally attending the apprehension of immediate danger. Indeed no such feeling could possibly be present with me; for I no sooner knew it to be an earthquake than all sense of dread was absorbed in the delight I felt in being so very lucky as to have my curiosity satisfied, by the actual experience of so rare a phenomenon, the extent of which I naturally supposed, at the moment, might perhaps be confined to the narrow district around me. I have known several persons, quite incapable of being influenced by fear of any kind, who have remarked a similar sensation in themselves during the time of a thunder storm. This faintish feeling on the late occasion, was in some people attended by a very slight degree of sickness.

This sensation of faintishness has been felt, in many instances, during earthquakes. Ed. P. Mag.