24 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena, 



fact, as connected with Cambridgeshire, on the cover of the 

 May (1834) Number of this Magazine. In a private letter 

 to the editor, that gentleman observes : — " The gales swept 

 the whole surface of that level country with a force that was 

 never known before." 



During the 31st, the Thames was so low, that persons 

 walked dryshod over the river below London and Waterloo 

 bridges ; but the tide instantaneously returned a foot high, 

 rolling in like a wave ; and, in less than three minutes, the 

 water was deep enough to float the steamers that were 

 aground. This agitation was traced down the river to Rams- 

 gate and other places in the Channel ; and it was, therefore, 

 probably owing to the wind alone. The same thing occurred 

 on June 10-11. 1833. 



That storm I have connected with Vesuvius ; and the hur- 

 ricanes of August with earthquakes and eruptions in Asia, 

 Europe, and America. (M. N, H., vii. 303.) The great 

 objection to this connection is, perhaps, the distance of the 

 locality of the volcanic outburst from the spot affected by the 

 storm. Now, it will be sufficient to show the possibility of 

 this by well-established facts ; and, for that purpose, I shall 

 content myself with stating instances where storms have been 

 traced much farther than the distances supposed in the above 

 examples. 



It is an ascertained fact, that the hurricane of Aug. 1830 

 was traced from the Caribbee Islands to Florida, and thence 

 to Newfoundland : 3000 miles in six days ; having a duration 

 of about twelve hours in each place. Another hurricane of 

 the same month passed from the Windward Islands, and was 

 traced 2500 miles. The Russian ship Kensington suffered 

 in this. The famous hurricane of Aug. 10-11. 1831 travelled 

 2300 miles in six days, from Barbadoes to the northern 

 shores of the Mexican Gulf and New Orleans.* 



A storm was observed, by Dr. Mitchell, in 1 802. It began 

 at Charlestown, on Feb. 21., at 2 p.m., and reached Albany 

 on the 22d, at daybreak; performing 1100 miles in eleven 

 hours. (PhiL Mag., xiii. 272.) These three facts are worth 

 a world of conjecture ; but there are others which also serve 

 to connect the argument by almost positive induction. Mr. 

 Forster [On the Atmosphere, p. 72.) states that thunder 

 storms, on July 30. 1822, occurred simultaneously at Lau- 

 sanne and Vevai, in France, along the Rhine, through Hol- 

 land, and in England, as far as Bridgenorth in Shropshire. 

 The journal of that gentleman shows that, in this respect, 

 1822 paralleled 1829, as well as in others. 



* Redfield, in Amer. Jour., vol. xxvi. p. 1. 



