80 Mr D. Milne on Earthquake-Shocks felt in Great Britain, 



most constant forerunner of the violent and frequent shocks, 

 warranted the inference that they were somehow connected, 

 does not seem to be a sine qua non ; so that the remark of a 

 facetious old man, once well known here as ' Deacon Reid,' 

 will hold good, who, long ago, in the first series of our earth- 

 quakes, had been paying particular attention to the phenomena, 

 and being asked if he had made out whether they affected 

 the weather or the weather them, replied, that he had attended 

 particularly to that point, and all that he could make of them 

 was, that there was 'aye some kind o' wather when they 

 happened.' I may here add, as it was omitted in its proper 

 place, that the only difference I could observe in the circum- 

 stances of the shattered chimneys about Dunira was, that they 

 were all on walls or gables, running S. and N., while those 

 untouched, had the walls on which they stood E. and W. 

 Dykes were thrown down in many places." 



Some of the facts mentioned in Mr Macfarlane's letter, and 

 especially as to those walls which were rent and those which 

 escaped, can be at once explained, when regard is had to their 

 situation. The spot from which, as already shewn, the shocks 

 in the Comrie district emanate, is situated about a mile or 

 half-a-mile to the north or north-east of Dunira ; and, there- 

 fore, shocks affecting the surface of the earth at Dunira, would 

 crack walls running north and south, by lifting one portion 

 of them before the other, — but could produce no such effect 

 on walls running east and west. 



West of Dalchonzie House (situated W.SW. of Comrie 

 about 2 miles), the following effects were perceived by David 

 Robertson, labourer in Comrie, who related them to me. He 

 stated that he was mowing hay, at the above place, and had 

 laid himself down on the ground to take his dinner or rest 

 himself, about 2^ p. m. There were two thumps in the earth, 

 with an interval of a moment between. He felt himself 

 heaved up each time, and he saw the trees shake. There 

 was a rake lying before him within a few feet ; which, on the 

 occasion of the first thump, was thrown up off the ground 8 

 or 9 inches, — and on the occasion of the second thump, 4 or 

 5 inches. The rake was not thrown up perpendicularly, but 



