150 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena, 



they found not a being to question — all was still. No one 

 saw the invader : the sun had gone down before he left the 

 bed to which hitherto he had always been confined : before 

 dawn he had returned to it; but his visit, though unseen, will 

 never be forgotten by the few who heard his approach and 

 survived." (Bury and Norwich Post.) 



The heat of the weather in 1834? has been universal and 

 extreme * ; but there have also been anomalies in its effects. 

 Thus, while the vineyard countries have generally been un- 

 usually productive, Madeira has experienced a failure of nearly 

 half its usual crop. It is mentioned in Silliman's American 

 Journal (xxvii. 179.), that a log of hemlock wood [^4 N bies 

 canadensis] caught fire from the sun, at Winchester, Con- 

 necticut, on August 5. 1834; indicating the presence of a 

 heat in the air equivalent to that felt on the continent of 

 Europe; and I am also informed, by a person entitled to 

 credit, that a gust of hot wind, similar to that which was 

 experienced on Sept. 16. (VIII. 28.), was felt by him, near 

 Highgate, one evening in June last ; and remembered as a 

 puzzling occurrence at the time, though the date has escaped 

 his memory. 



The periods under consideration have also been remark- 

 able for some extraordinary variations in the tides. This is, 

 perhaps, a subject of doubtful character as respects our en- 

 quiry ; but all the phenomena of the natural world give and 

 receive a reciprocal light, and may be usefully canvassed. 



The examples afforded during the storms of June and Au- 

 gust, 1833, have been named in previous papers. On Nov. 2. 

 and 3., also, during the hurricane of that date, the tides in 

 the Thames and along the eastern coast were extraordinarily 

 high, though not spring tides, the wind being at w.s.w. At 

 Ipswich, the tide was 4 in. lower than in Feb. 1825: then 

 16 ft. above the level of the Orwell, and 4 ft. or 5 ft. higher 

 than ordinary spring tides. The barometer stood, on Nov. 4., 

 at 30 in., the thermometer being 48°. (Mr. Bransby, in 

 Ipswich Journal.) On Nov. 2., a similar event occurred at 

 Liverpool ; and, again, on Dec. 31., when the hurricane raised 

 the Mersey more than 6 ft. above its regular level. On 

 Jan, 27. and 29. 1834, the highest tides known for years 

 occurred at Dover and London : from Vauxhall to Deptford 

 all was under water, occasioning great losses of property. 



* As additional examples, it may be mentioned, that the Danube has 

 been unusually low throughout its course; and that the Rhine above 

 Cologne has been scarcely navigable by deep vessels, which have been 

 obliged, so late as November, to discharge their cargoes to enable them to 

 navigate, 



