prevalent Disorders, fyc., with Volcanic Emanations, 155 



cane occurred which destroyed 600 houses in London, and 

 Bow Church ; driving beams, 27 ft. long, twenty-three feet into 

 the ground : and Hakewell, in his Apologie (p. 131.), says 

 that, in the fourth year of William Rufus, the lightning at 

 Winscombe Abbey was so great, that " neither incense, holy 

 Water, nor the singing of the monks could allay it /" 



Now, judging from analogy, the same cause which has pro- 

 duced similar results, at the present period, seems to have 

 operated in the years just enumerated; and, if it cannot now 

 be ascertained whether or not numerous earthquakes then 

 occurred, it is at least certain that drought was present : and 

 drought is sufficient to connect the phenomena and the periods 

 in question, whether they be ancient or modern. 



On reviewing what has been stated in the preceding ob- 

 servations, it will appear that evidence has been adduced to 

 establish the positions which I have incidentally advanced in 

 my former papers respecting the " line of cold between two 

 lines of warmth during the late winter " (VII. 388.) ; and the 

 belief that " the British Channel experienced some submarine 

 convulsion in Aug. and Oct. 1833 V (VII. 202.) ; as well as the 

 cases of " unseasonable cold in certain years." (VII. 300.) The 

 first and the last of these positions have their explanation in 

 my statements respecting the ice in the Atlantic ; and the 

 second, in what has been stated respecting the odour from 

 the sea * off Boulogne, and the sudden elevation of water in 

 Poole harbour. 



The general proposition may, I think, from the direct evi- 

 dence alleged, be strenuously maintained ; for it is impossible 

 to consider the atmospherical phenomena of Aug. 1834, and 

 not allow the tremendous convulsions of Vesuvius to be the 

 true index of their cause : and the same may be said, without 

 undue latitude, of the disturbances of 1833 ; nor can we 

 refuse the evidence offered by the continuation of the gales 

 of September and October, 1834. It may be, that I have 

 adduced some examples which will not allow of more than an 

 implied connection ; and that I have too readily admitted 

 statements which a severer criticism would have rejected : 

 but I am persuaded that a careful inspection of the best 

 established facts among those alleged will furnish full proof 



* Unpleasant odours are among the most common precursors and 

 attendants on earthquakes. Before the convulsions of 1760, the water 

 turned foul, and smelt unpleasantly, in wells both in England and Italy. 

 So, during the sweating-sickness in 1551, a stinking fog covered Europe. 

 The same thing is related of the year 1348. The plague at Cyprus was 

 preceded by a tremendous earthquake, with frightful hurricane ; and, before 

 the earthquake, a pestiferous wind, spreading a poisonous odour. (Hecker, 

 p. 33.) 



