with Meteoric Phenomena and prevalent Disorders. 303 



in violent eruption, and frequently during the latter part of 

 that period ; and that there have been coincidences between 

 those eruptions and earthquakes in distant countries ; as, for 

 instance, those of Nov. 1832. I wish it had been in my 

 power to have rendered the list more complete : other coin- 

 cidences between these volcanic phenomena and electrical 

 appearances might then have been mentioned. But it may be 

 observed here, that the occurrence of meteors in November 

 and December, 1832, witnessed so simultaneously over a great 

 part of Europe, corresponds with the eruptions of Etna and 

 Vesuvius during those months ; and that the brilliant appear- 

 ances of the aurora borealis of the month of September, in 

 1826 and 1827, and Sept. 1828, seen throughout Europe, 

 occurred during the prevalence of earthquakes ; while that of 

 May, 1830, widely observed on the Continent, was coincident 

 also with the activity of Etna and Vesuvius. 



It is during the period here employed that the cholera has 

 been traversing the world ; and it is singular that the period of 

 its first rising into notice was marked by a striking occurrence 

 of volcanic phenomena.* It is not my present purpose to 

 allude here to the examples which might be quoted from 

 India and the islands of the East. An example or two I 

 shall quote by and by. But to all this it may be argued, that 

 countries in which volcanic craters are situated are liable to 

 earthquakes and eruptions ; and that it is not extraordinary 

 that the theatre of ancient convulsions should, in modern 

 times, be visited by similar occurrences. I by no means dis- 

 pute the validity of this argument; but my object has been, 

 not to show that there has been any thing unusual as to the 

 localities quoted, but to endeavour to illustrate a number of 

 striking peculiarities in the kingdoms of nature by reference 

 to a simple fact, the number and universally extending in- 

 stances of volcanic agency during the existence of these pecu- 

 liarities. 



This is all I have attempted to prove : and if the subject 

 be one of mere speculation, and without a correct foundation 

 in science, nevertheless I hope the apposition of the alleged 

 facts is not out of place in the pages of a magazine which 



* The cholera made its first appearance at Jessore in August, 1817. It 

 ravaged Bombay in 1819, traversed the Moluccas in 1822, and in 1830 

 broke out on the shores of the Caspian. Now, in 1816, the islands in the 

 Indian seas were frightfully shaken by earthquakes, and in 1815 occurred the 

 most awful eruption ever known, that of Sumbawa, which produced effects 

 felt over an area of 1000 miles in circuit. In 1819 the country of Bombay 

 was ravaged by the earthquake of Cutch ; in 1822, Sumatra, Java, &c, 

 were the scene of dreadful volcanic eruptions ; and in the end of 1829 

 the countries on the Caspian were shaken by earthquakes. 



