Mr D. Milne on Eartltquake'Shocks felt in Great Britain. 73 



tion, the concussion would appear greatest at these times, if 

 of the same actual intensity throughout. 



*' The noise by which the shock was accompanied, seemed 

 on the surface of the earth, or immediately beneath it. In 

 another locality, a crackling noise was said to have been heard 

 in the air, and was compared to that which occasionally ac- 

 companies the aurora borealis. By some, the noise was mis- 

 taken for thunder, a supposition at once contradicted by the 

 cloudless aspect of the sky. One gentleman states, that, like 

 the sound of a passing coach, it increased in loudness, and 

 gradually died away. He estimated its duration at 3". To 

 another, it seemed less than 1'. That the comparison of the 

 sound to that of the firing of cannon at sea, or the rolling of 

 distant thunder, conveys a good idea of its character, is proved 

 by the fact, that it was taken by several people at Culdaff for 

 the firing of cannon by a vessel in distress off the Pollard 

 Strand, which is situated to the westward of that place. The 

 night was beautifully clear. All agree in describing it as a 

 fine starlight night. The weather for some time, both before 

 and after, was unusually fine for the month of January. 



" Persons who had, during a residence abroad, experienced 

 a similar sensation, at once pronounced it to be the vibration 

 caused by an earthquake. One lady near Moville, when she 

 felt the motion of her seat, turned pale with affright, and 

 dropped from her hand a book she had been reading. At 

 Goory, the residence of John Harvey sen. Esq., the drawing- 

 room windows were made to rattle. In one instance near 

 Malin, a tea-tray, suspended on a nail, was thrown down. In 

 a place six miles SW. of Malin, some flags in a kitchen floor 

 were shaken considerably, and moved from their places." 



18M January 1840. — The Comrie Register indicates two 

 shocks on this day ; the one at 9^ 46' p. m., the other at 10 p. m. 



Mr Colquhoun of Clathick, a place about three miles east 

 of Comrie, happened to be at home, and, within a couple of 

 hours after the shock, wrote a short account of it, as felt in 

 his house ; from which the following extracts are made : 



" All in the room felt it come, from west to east. We were 

 sitting round the fire, and were alarmed by a very smart 

 shock. The little dog started up terribly confused. The 



