382 Mr D. Milne on Earihquake-iihocks felt in Great Britam^ 



*' a few minutes after the shock and before it, there was a re- 

 markable stillness and serenity in the atmosphere. The wind 

 then suddenly began to blow, and increased to a breeze dur- 

 ing the night." 



Another correspondent mentions, that " since the late 

 earthquake, several wells and springs of water in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Inverness have been dry. On the high table-land 

 or elevated flat between Leys and Inverness, there was a 

 number of wells which were never without three or four feet 

 of water in the most sultry season, but all of which are now 

 dried up. The Rev. Mr Fyvie states, that the same has oc- 

 curred in the vicinity of his residence at Ro^ebank." 



At Forres, in the county of Moray, as Mr Malcolmson in- 

 formed the author, " The tremor was felt between 10 and 11 

 P.M. — perhaps about 25 minutes before 11 o'clock ; — and as 

 at this time, some in most families were retiring to rest, it 

 was less observed than at another time would have been the 

 case. Most of those who felt it, describe it as if the bed were 

 shaken several times, and, with one exception, no person 

 heard any sound, and very few could form any idea of the 

 direction. Forres is built on a small rising ground of strati- 

 fied sand and gravel, rising to the south east into rounded hills 

 several hundred feet in height of the same material — the 

 ^ drift^ of Mr Murchison. At scarce two miles south, this 

 rests on a spur from the gneiss hill forming the northern side 

 of the vale of Pluscarden. It was more felt in some cottages 

 on the side of the gravel hills, towards the gneiss hills of 

 Raffort, than anywhere else, a noise being there heard by one 

 lady as if of carriages ; the bedroom door burst open, and the 

 vessels struck against each other. A servant's bed in the wall 

 seemed to be falling to pieces. It was also a good deal felt 

 about Raffort itself. It was felt at Nairn, and Mr Stables 

 jun. (a geologist), felt it at Cawdor Cai>tle, which is built on 

 a rock of the ' great conglomerate,' forming the base of the 

 old red sandstone, and a mile from its junction with the 

 gneiss, here, as in other parts of this country, traversed by 

 granite dikes of an age anterior to the sandstone. It was 

 slightly felt at DufFus House, in the great vale of that name, 

 15 miles N. E. of Forres (drift and alluvium on old red sand- 



