78 Mr D. Milne on Earthquake- Shocks felt in Great Britain^ 



the shock of 30th July 1841 may be reckoned 8. He adds, 

 that *' it was distinctly double, the latter part, if any thing, 

 more severe than the first : — the noise and shake awful^ at least 

 I felt them so in the house, and those out of doors gave the 

 same account. It is difficult to account for the smallness of 

 its effects on the instruments. Perhaps the vibrations of the 

 ground, though violent, were short and frequent, and thereby 

 interrupted the natural swing of the pendulums. I recollect 

 some person, on the occurrence of one of the former severe 

 earthquakes, describes his feelings as if on horseback when 

 the animal shakes itself Somewhat such were my impres- 

 sions on the 30th, even before I had looked at the instru- 

 ments. It is said here, that there were twelve shocks that 

 day. I felt nine myself. There was one about 8 A. m. pretty 

 smart, and none else till the great one about 2| p. m. Imme- 

 diately after it, there were two or three slight shocks, and 

 about an hour afterwards a loud one. The weather was 

 cold and inclined to stormy, about the time of the severe 

 shock, and for a day or two before and after.'' 



In a subsequent letter, dated 9th August 1841, by which 

 time Mr M'Farlane had visited different places in and near 

 Comrie affected by the shock, he gives some details, which it 

 may not be out of place here to notice. 



A house at Garrichrow (about two miles west of Comrie), 

 *' was so severely handled, that three out of four chimney- tops 

 will require to be rebuilt or repaired, and there is a rent in 

 the west gable of the house." " A man from Comrie, who 

 happened to be working at the time on the hill behind, de- 

 scribes the shock as awful indeed, and he says the trees around 

 him were so much agitated, that he thought they would have 

 been torn up by the roots ; but he cannot remember exactly 

 in what direction they waved, but thinks it was E. and W. 

 The wall of one of the houses of Ross (the neat suburb of our 

 city) was rent, and the miller's house (you'll recollect it), in 

 spite of its numerous abutments, has had its rents much en- 

 larged. This shock, I learn, has been felt as far east, at least, 

 as Newburgh, about thirty-eight miles from Garrichrow, as 

 far to the west as Dalmally — the distance of which I do not 

 exactly know (but probably it may be about the same) — as 



