prevalent Disorders, fyc., with Volcanic Emanations, 447 



the foot of the Pyrenees by (une grande clarte rougeatre), proba- 

 bly an aurora, from 23d. On the 27th it ceased at 3| a. m., and 

 was followed by shocks preceded by subterranean noises. On 

 Feb. 18. 1756, the shocks were renewed at Aix ; and many months 

 afterwards the springs were more abundant and troubled. On 

 Dec. 23. 1755, an extraordinary burning meteor preceded the 

 shocks at Canigu and Roussillon in the Pyrenees. On Dec. 9., 

 at Einsidler-Hoff and Linden Hoff, the shocks were succeeded by 

 a smell of sulphur. In some places this was accompanied by a 

 vapour, or thick fog, supposed to come from Mont Hiitli. Wine 

 was thickened in high places. At Basle the thermometer rose from 

 6° to li° (18° to 35° R). Barometer at 27- 4 in. (M. de Ba- 

 viere.') At Brienne there was a murmur in the air and under 

 ground also (puffing off the waste steam ?), as of a south wind. 

 The springs were immediately thickened. At Lucerne, the night 

 before, the lake was frozen, and the ice grounded ; and a little after 

 the shock the ice was dispersed by a hot wind, which turned to the 

 s. w. At Lichtenteig there was a smell of sulphur, and a trembling 

 after the shocks. On Oct. 1. 1755, there was an extraordinary 

 fall of snow at Brigue, which suddenly melted by a south wind, caus- 

 ing dreadful damage. The snow was scarcely frozen. AtLucarno, 

 Aug. 14. 1755, the air, after a violent wind, was all at once dark- 

 ened, and the atmosphere became red all over. There fell such a 

 quantity of rain in the valleys, which was snow on the mountains, 

 that in fifteen days it amounted to 47 in., much more than falls 

 there generally in the year. The Lago Maggiore rose 10 ft. This 

 rain was also red, and deposited an earthy red matter an inch 

 thick in every 9 in. of rain. The snow was also coloured red. 

 This was not vegetable matter. In various parts of Switzerland 

 there were sudden eruptions of water, where none had ever 

 occurred before; and springs suddenly dried up. From Dec. 21. 

 to 27., there were continued earthquakes at Brigue ; and snow fell 

 in different places at those times. At Brigue there were shocks 

 on Jan. 2. 7. 12, 13, 14, 15. 18, 19. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 

 27. On the 8th, the weather was intensely cold ; on the 13th, a 

 violent wind all night. The shocks occurred, on the 14th, at 

 2J a.m. On the 19th, the air was very cold. On the 21st, snow 

 and cold. On the 24th, north wind ; dry and cold. [The weather 

 was warmer on the quiet days.] From Feb. 6. to 13. there were, 

 at Brigue, noises every day. On the 14th, slight shock ; snow and 

 cold. On the 15th, very violent shock ; hard gale. On the 16th 

 and 17th, quiet; but winds and fogs. On the 18th, several 

 shocks, followed by a great storm. The Rhone was generally 

 agitated before the shocks ; during them it sometimes boiled, 

 chiefly during the most violent. After sunset, long, dim, and 

 rectilinear clouds traversed from the south to the north. Never 

 was such a storm known at Brigue as during 1755. A south wind 

 did incalculable damage. The days were very hot, the nights cold, 

 whilst the agitations lasted. All the game driven away by mephi- 

 tic vapours. 

 756. Feb. 18. Switzerland, Germany, all Holland, Flanders, greatest 

 part of France, &c, shaken violently by repeated shocks, almost 

 everywhere followed, a few hours after, by a frightful and destruc- 

 tive storm, from s.s.w. At Berne, the thermometer was excess- 

 ively high, the barometer excessively low. The thermometer was 

 12° above freezing (59° F.) On the 19th, it was, at 6 a. m., 10^°, 



