304 Supposed Connection of Volcanic Emanations 



levies its contributions from the whole round of natural 

 phenomena. 



It would be an interesting enquiry to ascertain, by compa- 

 rison of undoubted records, whether any, and what, con- 

 nection exists between the prevalence of former pestilential 

 diseases and such phenomena as I have treated on : but this 

 would require, especially with respect to very distant periods, 

 the study of documents which, perhaps, either do not exist at 

 all, or are altogether unworthy of esteem.* 



It would appear, however, that the year 1822 offers an 

 example connected with the period under consideration. 



That year was celebrated by some extraordinary pheno- 

 mena. 



February 13th, to 24th, Vesuvius was in eruption by a new crater. 

 19th, Earthquake at Lyons, Paris, Geneva, Bellay, Chamberry, &c.f 



October 22d, Vesuvius again in eruption. The account of this latter 

 convulsion, which was of an unusual character, is well detailed in the 

 Journal of Science, by Mr. Poulett Scrope (vol. xv. p. 175. ), of which a 

 similar account is given by Professor Lyell {Principles of Geology, vol. i. 

 p. 340.) More than 800 ft. of the cone carried away, so that the 

 mountain was reduced from 4200 ft. to 3400 ft. 



November 19th, till end of September, 1823 (contemporaneous with erup- 

 tions in Iceland), Coast of Chile and the adjacent country, through a space 

 of 1200 miles, elevated three or four feet, and desolated by a succession 

 of earthquakes. 100,000 square miles of country elevated in level. (Vide 

 Geol. Trans., 2d series, vol. i. p. 41.5.) 



1822. Aleppo destroyed by an earthquake ; country elevated over a 

 tract nearly 600 miles in circumference: 8000 lives lost. Rocks also 

 elevated near Cyprus. 



July 23d, After fifteen years' repose, the mountain of Gunung Beru 

 Api, in Sumatra, in frightful eruption. 



September, Continued earthquakes in the country between that volcano 

 and Gunung Tallung, with noises that seemed to come from each alter- 

 nately : the latter hill smoked, but had been long in repose. 



* It may be here mentioned, that the old chroniclers associate earth- 

 quakes, inclemency of the seasons, famine, and pestilence as the contem- 

 poraneous and united causes of distress to men and animals in England 

 and other parts of Europe, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, 

 about 1053 ; and it is no less remarkable that, to use the words of Dr. 

 Lingard {History of England, vol. iv. p. 70.), " a succession of earth- 

 quakes, which shook the continent of Europe from Calabria to the north 

 of Poland, ushered in the fatal year 1348 ; and though England escaped 

 this calamity, it was deluged from the month of June to December with 

 almost incessant torrents of rain." The historian describes the course of 

 the pestilence of that year, as coming from Cathay (China), through Egypt, 

 Greece, Italy, and France, to England : and in the character of the 

 malady, as well as in its Indian origin, there is more similarity with the 

 cholera than with any thing else. Query, Was it not that disease ? 



Whether the calamities of 1315, which were of a similar kind, had a 

 similar connection, is not so easy to determine, but they were attended 

 by great rains and unusual storms. 



f Vide Bakewell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 61. 



