452 Supposed Connection of Meteoric Phenomena, fyc. 



27th was six feet thick on parts which I had passed the pre- 

 vious day, culling some of Flora's choicest gems. The frost 

 on the morning of the 27th was so intense, that several per- 

 sons perished. On the afternoon of the 26th, a man proceeded 

 from Hospital to the St. Gothard, intending to sleep at the 

 inn near the summit of the pass, and only three leagues from 

 Hospital : he was found, the next day, by the postilion, dead 

 and frozen. Two men (father and son), who had started 

 from Wasen to pass the Susten, perished also when about 

 half way up the zigzag road leading from the Hundsalp to the 

 Steinengletscher. When found, next day, by the herdsmen, who 

 were seeking their cattle, the father was quite dead ; but the 

 son, who was about a gun-shot in advance, showed signs of 

 life, and was taken to a chalet, where he died about four hours 

 afterwards. The son of a gentleman of my acquaintance, 

 having taken his degrees in medicine, was enjoying an excur- 

 sion previously to settling himself in practice. Being in the 

 valley of the Vordere Rhein, he set off, on the 26th, for the 

 Canton of Glarus, by either the Panix or Dodi pass (I am 

 not quite certain which). Before starting, he purchased from 

 the innkeeper, for five batzen (7d. English), an ugly young 

 cur dog; without any assignable reason for possessing himself 

 of so vagabond-looking a brute. He commenced his journey 

 in company with two peasants who were going the same way ; 

 but having, when crossing a small bed of snow, trodden on a 

 stone concealed beneath the surface, he slightly sprained his 

 foot, and fell gradually into the rear : the pain increased, and 

 he went still more slowly ; till, being overtaken by the dusk 

 and the storm, he sank down, became insensible, and, remain- 

 ing in this state all night, was covered by the snow to a con- 

 siderable depth. The dog remained by him, and, in the 

 morning, seeing some men passing on the snow at a consider- 

 able distance, he barked, howled, ran towards them, and re- 

 turned showing every sign of distress. They followed him, 

 removed the snow, found his master unconscious of all that 

 was passing, and, by bearing him to the nearest asylum, suc- 

 ceeded in restoring him to life.* 



" On arriving at Thun, I found that up to Aug. 24*. the 

 temperature had been very variable, ranging from 81° to 66° 

 in the day, and from 68° to 53° in the morning and evening, 

 (8 A.M., 10 p.m.), but that no rain had fallen; on the 25th, 

 it was 56° at 8 in the morning, 52° at 3 p. m., and 50° at 10 

 p. M. : the day rainy. The 26th, at the same hours, 51°, 54-°, 



* If, as is very likely, I gave a detail of the circumstances of this storm 

 to my friend Mr. Carne, it is possible lie may have spoken of it in his 

 Letters from Switzerland, which, by some mischance, I have not yet seen. 



