152 Mr D. Milne dn Earthquake- Shocks felt in Great Britain^ 



Headaches were produced, as attested by the Rev. Mr 

 Walker on the 12th October, by Mr Riitherfurd, W.S., on the 

 14th October 1839, and by Mr Young of Crieff, on the 23d 

 October 1839, all of whom ascribe these as the effects of shocks 

 which occurred on these days. 



Nervous sensations of a more indefinite kind are spoken to 

 by various individuals. On the 14th October 1839, at the 

 moment that the shock occurred, an individual, though he was 

 not aware of its occurrence, experienced •' an unusual feeling, 

 which led him to suppose that some illness was impending.'* 

 Mr Robertson, who felt the shock of 16th October at Glen- 

 devon, on the north side of the Ochils, says, — " I remember 

 having just before, felt as if some strange presence had been 

 silently gathering round me, and could not be shaken off." 

 Mr Laurie, the parish schoolmaster of Monzie, says, " the 

 shock of the earthquake on 23d October, affected the nerves 

 disagreeably, and left a painful impression. It reminds me 

 vividly of the shock from an electric machine." 



The conviction of there having been an electrical discharge, 

 was decidedly entertained by a number of individuals. Thus, 

 at Alva, near Tillicoultry, two clergymen felt as if electri- 

 fied. Mr Jeffrey, who felt the shock in the Carse of Falkirk, 

 says, — "I may mention a circumstance which I have not seen 

 taken notice of in any account of the late earthquake, and it is, 

 that I am convinced it was accompanied with an electric shock. 

 I was perfectly calm and collected at the time when it came 

 on, and never had any doubt of what it was, nor was I at all 

 alarmed for the consequences. But the feeling produced upon 

 my body, was exactly similar to what an electric shock has in 

 other circumstances had upon me.'*" Mr Stein, surgeon at 

 Menstrie, near Stirling (in a report not before quoted), says, 

 " I think the atmosphere (on the 23d October 1839) was 

 highly charged with electricity, both before and at the time 

 when the shock occurred." He speaks of " the slightly red- 

 dened or lurid appearance of the atmosphere towards the S. 

 and SE., particularly observable for several evenings preced- 

 ing the shock of the 23d. In the afternoon of the 23d, T ob- 

 served this appearance so distinctly as to mention it. Later 

 on in the evening, this appearance could not be observed, in 



