156 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena, 



of the correctness of my argument. There are a multitude 

 of others, not at all alluded to, which might have been fairly 

 appended ; and I shall introduce here one example, to show 

 how accurately the connection between the whole of the phe- 

 nomena in question is maintained on occasions of terrestrial 

 convulsion. On Jan. 31. 1816, there was a dreadful storm, 

 from the w. and s.w., off the coast of Ireland ; during which 

 many transports and other vessels were wrecked and lost. 

 On the two succeeding days (Feb. 1. and 2.), the following 

 observations were made at Lisbon : — A thick fog covered 

 the country ; in an instant, all became light, and a meteor 

 approached the earth, and was dissipated. The thermometer 

 was 60° — 62° ; the wind north. The weather, previously, 

 cloudy, dull, and close, without sun or rain. The wind sud- 

 denly changed to the south, blowing a perfect hurricane, with 

 tremendous rain. Then all became calm and clear and dry. 

 After this, about 1 a.m. on the 2d, occurred two severe shocks 

 of earthquake, lasting about three minutes. These were felt 

 also at Madeira, about the same time ; and by an American 

 ship, 300 miles from the Azores, and about 700 miles from 

 Madeira, which stood on, and appeared as if run ashore, 

 though out of soundings.* At Lisbon, the rain after the 

 second shock was incessant ; and the air was filled with swarms 

 of birds, uttering cries of alarm. It would be easy to multiply 

 statements of this kind ; but, as one general period is acces- 

 sible, namely, that of the Black Death, during which every 

 atmospherical and terrestrial phenomenon traced during the 

 present, which I will call, for distinction's sake, the Cholera, 

 epoch, [was paralleled,] it may be safe to leave all farther 

 illustration to a brief analysis of Dr. Babington's clever trans- 

 lation of Dr. Hecker's celebrated work on that period. 



For the present, I will merely allude to the stress laid, in 

 the American Journal of Science and Art, upon the occurrence 

 of the meteors of 1799, 1832, and 1833, about a particular 

 day in November. This coincidence is again insisted on, in 

 that work, by Mr. Twining, civil engineer and tutor in Yale 

 College, in an " Investigation of the Meteors ; and Remarks 



* I take this opportunity of stating (for want of a better), that there is 

 a shoal laid down in the charts, about 100 miles east of Descadu, a little to 

 the north-east of Guadaloupe, and called Martin's Shoal, in lat. 17° n., and 

 long. 60° 30' w.; which probably owes its existence, as well as hundreds 

 of reputed shoals in the ocean, to some such circumstance as that related 

 in the text. The ship Kingston of Bristol, Capt. Emerson, sailed over it 

 in November, 1826, and experienced Jive severe shocks of earthquake in 

 the course of an hour : the night was calm, and no soundings on the spot 

 with 80 fathoms. The ship Severn has since felt shocks in the same place. 

 There is no doubt, I think, if a shoal really exists, of its volcanic character. 



