158 J. HOPKINSON 



Peterborough, and referring to it the Eev. P. Dodderidge 

 wrote from Northampton : " There was a Report, that, on the 

 Morning of that Sunday, ... a Ball of Fire was seen " ; and 

 he adds : " On Monday night the Sky in the East was as red as 

 Blood ; and, on Tuesday night, we had absolutely the finest 

 Aurora Borealis that I remember to have seen." 



Mallet states that for some time before the great earthquake 

 of Lisbon many strange meteorological phenomena were recorded, 

 and they followed it for about two months. On 2nd January, 

 1756, at Tuam in Ireland, at 4 p.m., the air being hot and very 

 heavy, an extraordinary light was seen, which diminished 

 insensibly after some minutes. At 7 p.m. there appeared in 

 the atmosphere a sea of flames {mer de flammes), extending 

 from east to west, lasting so for 18 minutes, then taking its 

 course towards the north, and rapidly disappearing. At the 

 moment of its disappearance a very violent shock of earthquake 

 was felt, which, however, only did damage to the village of 

 Ballymoe, some miles from Tuam. The original account of this, 

 partly quoted by Mallet, is in a letter from Tuam in the 

 'Journal Encyclopedique ' for 1st Feb., 1756 (tome i, pt. 3). 

 It was most probably an unusually vivid display of the Aiurora 

 borealis, indicating great electric disturbance. 



On the 24th of February, 1759, there was an earthquake, with 

 Aurora, in Cornwall, thus described in Doddesley's ' Annual 

 Register,' vol. ii, p. 73 : " At ten at night, was felt at Leskeard 

 [Liskeard] in Cornwall, a slight shock of an earthquake, which 

 extended north and south six miles, and about four leagues 

 [east] and west ; it was a vibratory motion, and continued about 

 two or thi'ee seconds. A person, apprehensive of what it was, 

 went out to observe the air, and saw multitudes of blood-red 

 rays converging from all parts of the heavens to one dark point, 

 but no luminous body. The phsenomenon disappeared in 15 

 minutes." 



Mr. David Milne (afterwards Milne Home) contribiited to the 

 ' Edinbiu'gh new Philosophical Journal ' (1841-43) " Notices of 

 Earthquake-Shocks in Grreat Britain, and especially in Scotland, 

 with Inferences suggested by these Notices as to the Natvu-e and 

 Causes of such Shocks." A few extracts from these Notices will 

 now be given, the pages quoted being those of a reprint which he 

 issued in 1887. 



The shock which was felt over a great part of England, on 

 the 18th of November, 1795, extending from Leeds on the north, 

 to Norwich on the east, and Bristol on the south-west, and which 

 did structural damage at Derby, wliere twenty chimneys were 

 shaken off, was attended with remarkable phenomena in the 

 atmosphere, chiefly electric, and it is recorded that a "ball of fire 

 was seen to pass over the town of Derby, when the shock was 

 felt." There, " at the instant of the concussion," was perceived 

 " a remarkable coruscation proceeding from the S.W. quarter of 

 the heavens, and producing a gleam similar to a distant flash 



