MR MILNE ON A REMARKABLE OSCILLATION OF THE SEA. 619 



than usual. Farther, from the Royal Society's Meteorological Register, kept at 

 Somerset House, I extract the following : 



31st May 1811 at 8 h 3(X A.M. Barom. 29.47 Wind NNE. Rain, thunder, and lightning. 



SMO'p.M. ... 29.41 ... S. byE. Rain. 



1st June 8 h 3(yA.M. ... 29.69 ... S. Cloudy. 



(13.) On the 8th June 1811, the following phenomenon is mentioned by Mr 

 LUKE HOWARD, as having occurred at Plymouth : " About 4 o'clock the tide 

 again flowed and ebbed several feet in as many minutes, which continued at inter- 

 vals for the space of four or five hours, during which the immense swell, commonly 

 called the boar, drove into the harbours of Sutton Pool and Catwater, at the rate 

 of four knots an hour, subjecting the vessels at anchor there to great danger. 

 The wind was variable, but mostly SW. During the operation of the boar, it 

 thundered and lightened excessively." 



In the Annual Register, 1 I find the same or a similar phenomenon alluded 

 to, as having happened at Plymouth on the 4th June, with these additional par- 

 ticulars, that the boar was accompanied by a violent gust of wind from the SW. ; 

 that the boar was from 9 to 1 1 feet high ; that it occurred at dead low water ; 

 and that the quicksilver in the barometer was observed to sink and rise with a 

 tremulous motion during the progress of the boar." 



There is one circumstance mentioned in this last account, which makes it 

 doubtful whether the phenomenon recorded in it, and by Mr LUKE HOWARD, was 

 one and the same occurrence. According to Mr HOWARD, it continued from 4 till 

 8 or 9 o'clock ; according to the other account, the boar occurred at dead low 

 water. Now, by the Edinburgh Almanac, it appears that, on the 8th June, it 

 was low water at Plymouth about 12 h 35' P.M., not within the limits mentioned 

 by Mr HOWARD. On the 4th June, it was low water at 9 h 35' A.M., and 9 h 57' 

 P.M. ; so that, if the phenomenon mentioned in the two accounts was one and 

 the same, it is probable that it occurred on the 4th June. 



From the Somerset House Meteorological Register, I extract the following : 



4th June 1811 at 9 A.M. Bar. 29.93 Wind SW. Cloudy. 



4 P.M. 29.88 - S. byW. Cloudy. 



5th 8 h 3(X A.M. 29.63 S. Rain. Blew hard all night. 



3 h P.M. ... 29.63 ..- W. by N. Rain. 



8th 8 h 30' A.M. ... 29.86 E. Fair. 



3h 15' P.M. -. 29.75 - S. Rain. A thunder-storm at 6 P.M. 



9th 8 h 45' A.M. ... 29.11 SW. Cloudy. 



Mr LUKE HOWARD mentions, that on the 8th June, " a severe storm of rain, 

 hail, and lightning, took place in Birmingham and the neighbourhood. The hail v 

 or rather pieces of ice, which fell, are described of prodigious size. At Worcester, 

 the storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, took place about 11 A.M., and was 

 most tremendous." 



1 DODDSLEY, vol. liii. p. 62. 



