188 Scientific Intelligence. — Natural Philosophy. 



rests were shivered and stripped of their leaves and branches : 

 those of gigantic size, which resisted the blast, were torn up by 

 the roots, and hurled to a great distance. Groves were torn 

 from the mountain precipices ; and vast masses of earth and 

 rock precipitated into the valleys with terrific noise, choking the 

 course of the rivers. The fearful sounds in the air and on the 

 earth ; the pealing thunder ; the vivid lightning : the howling of 

 the wind ; the crash of falling trees and rocks, filled every one 

 with affright ; and many thought that the end of the world was 

 at hand. Some fled to caverns for safety, for their frail houses 

 were blown down, and the air was filled with the trunks and 

 branches of trees, and even with fragments of rocks, carried 

 along by the fury of the tempest. When the hurricane reached 

 the harbour, it whirled the ships round as they lay at anchor ; 

 snapped their cables, and sank three of them to the bottom, with 

 all who were on board. Others were driven about, dashed 

 against each other, and tossed mere wrecks upon the shore, by 

 the swelling surges of the sea, which, in some places, rolled for 

 three or four miles upon the land. The tempest lasted for three 

 hours. When it had passed away, and the sun again appeared, 

 the Indians regarded each other in mute astonishment and dis- 

 may. Never in their memory, nor in the traditions of their an- 

 cestors, had their island been visited by such a tremendous 

 storm. They believed that the Deity had sent this fearful ruin 

 to punish the cruelties and crimes of the white men ; and declar- 

 ed that this people had moved the very air, the water, and the 

 earth, to disturb their tranquil life, and to desolate their island. 

 — Irving' s Life of Columbus^ vol. ii. p. 305. 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



8. Relations between Electricity and Heat. — M. Becquerel 

 read a memoir on the relations that may exist between electri- 

 city and heat. The author conceived, that, in order to ascend 

 to the origin of electrical phenomena produced by heat, it was 

 necessary to seek in the bodies which are bad conductors of elec- 

 tricity, properties having some analogy with those which heat 

 developes in tourmahne. The experiments which he made with 

 this object afforded him the following results : — A small cylin- 

 der of glass or gum lac, suspended by a silk thread in the inte- 



