638 MR MILNE ON A REMARKABLE OSCILLATION OF THE SEA. 



severe storms on the 6th, 7th, and 8th July, not only in Great Britain, but also 

 on the Continent. On the 6th July, there was early in the morning a severe 

 thunder-storm at Brussels, which extended over a considerable part of Belgium. 

 On the 7th July, another thunder-storm passed over part of England, which, near 

 Flint, in Wales, killed a number of cattle, and is described as the heaviest which 

 had ever been experienced. It passed over Manchester, and discharged tor- 

 rents of rain. At Birmingham, as appears from Mr OSLEE'S Register, it was fair 

 and sunshine in the forenoon, whilst, in the afternoon, there were thunder-storms. 

 The pressure of the wind, at 5 h 30' P.M., was 4 Ib. on the square foot. On the 

 8th July, another thunder-storm, equally severe and more extensive, passed over 

 the NW. parts of England, and the SW. parts of Scotland. In Lancashire, the 

 lightning struck and injured a Methodist chapel near Rochdale, and a house at 

 Stalybridge. In and near Glasgow, it killed two men, and set fire to a cotton- 

 mill, and it is generally described as having been much more severe than the 

 storm felt there on the 5th. On the 9th July, a highly electric state of the 

 atmosphere was again manifested, particularly in Lancashire. On the 10th July, 

 there was in the West Highlands a hurricane, accompanied by much thunder and 

 lightning, which, though it pursued a narrow track, blew down immense numbers 

 of trees, and did other serious damage. 



Thus, for six successive days, the atmosphere over and around Great Britain 

 was in a state of extreme disturbance, and of which, probably, all the proofs 

 have by no means been collected by me. Enough, however, have been obtained 

 to create a strong presumption that, early on the 5th July, there was, besides the 

 thunder-storm, the progress of which over England has been traced in this paper 

 another between England and the Continent, which affected the sea of the German 

 Ocean in the same way that the sea of the English Channel was affected by the 

 former. At all events the oscillations of the sea on the 6th, 7th, and 8th July, 

 which were observed along the east coast of Scotland, may fairly enough be 

 ascribed to the disturbed state of the atmosphere on these days, if I have suc- 

 ceeded in connecting the oscillation on the Cornish and Devonshire coasts with 

 the storm which on the same day passed over these counties in its progress 

 northward, or in shewing how, by such a cause, these oscillations may be produced. 

 The German Ocean being, in one or more places, subjected, during each of these 

 days, to the influence of the several storms above referred to, and probably of 

 others also, which are unknown to us, must have been thrown into a state of 

 oscillation, sufficient to have produced the effects described. 



