158 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [^Pl*!!} 



one, yesterday afternoon, the city was " frightened from its pro- 

 priety" by a shock of an earthquake — of brief duration and unat- 

 tended by any serious results, but sufficiently violent to give an 

 idea of the destruction which would have been caused had the 

 convulsion of the earth lasted as many minutes as it did seconds. 

 The shock was of a peculiar nature. It was not of the swaying 

 or vibratory species — it was a shaking of the ground precisely 

 similar in effect with that cau ed on a bridge by the passing of a 

 heavy train at a considerable speed. In the houses it was felt to a 

 much greater extent than by persons in the streets — this fact being 

 of course easily explained by the motion communicated to floors, 

 the rattling of windows, doors, furniture, glass-ware, and loose fix- 

 tures. Several persons appear not to have felt the quivering motion 

 of the ground out of doors, and were therefore surprised to 

 see persons rushing into the streets, anxiously enquiring what had 

 occurred. In the houses the rumbling or jarring sound was how- 

 ever, positively alarming. In some instances ornaments and ill- 

 secured panes of glass fell from windows. The shock lasted, as 

 nearly as can be determined, five or six seconds. Of course, on 

 such an occasion, few persons could be found with sufficient pre- 

 sence of mind to count at the moment the duration of the convul- 

 sion, and it can therefore only be estimated by the recollection of 

 the event. 



'' In the upper portions of the city — on the Cape, in the Citadel, 

 and in St. Lewis suburbs — the shock seems to have been most 

 severe. In the Lower Town and St. Roch's, however, it was felt 

 with sufficient force to send thousands of persons into the streets 

 to enquire if another explosion had taken place, if the gas works 

 at Orleans wharf, Palais, had blown up, or if a portion of Cape 

 Diamond had given way and crushed the houses in Champlain 

 street. All these surmises were indulged in at the moment. That 

 with regard to the gas works, however, grew into a rumor that 

 spread like wildfire, and hundreds ran or drove towards the Palais 

 to find that it was unfounded. This rumor was doubtless strength- 

 ened by the fact that many persons fancied that they perceived a 

 gaseous smell immediately after the shock. But the absence of 

 anything like the loud report which characterizes an explosion seems 

 to have led most people to attribute it at once to its true cause. 



" There were none of the signs of the elements which usually 

 herald the coming of earthquakes in southern latitudes. The sky 



