160 J. HOPKINSON — 



there was " a sudden and violent gust of wind " with a loud 

 rushing noise. A clergAonan at Alva reported : " When I heard 

 the noise ... I felt very strange, and as if there was something 

 like a shock of electricity over my body, beginning at the feet and 

 going to the head." After the noise had passed away his chair 

 was moved to the west and then to the east. Another clergyman 

 at the foot of the Ochils said : " Before perceiving the shock, 

 or thinking that an earthquake was approaching, I felt, during 

 the continuance of the noise, as if I had been slightly electrified. 

 A quivering sensation pervaded my whole body from the feet 

 upwards." And an observer near Stirling said that he was 

 " confident that it was accompanied with an electric shock." He 

 did not hear any noise, although the shock was violent. (Milne, 

 op. cit., pp. 106-165.) 



2. In other parts of the World. 



If instead of taking British earthquakes only, those of the 

 world were considered, such instances as the above of aerial 

 disturbances accompanying them might be multiplied ten-fold, 

 and much more striking ones might be given. A few only will 

 be very briefly mentioned as examples. 



For the four nights of 23rd to 26th December, 1755, within 

 two months of the great Lisbon earthquake, a reddish light 

 resembling the flames of a volcano was seen from a village at the 

 foot of the Pyrenees, lasting for some hours each night and 

 making the atmosphere hot. When disappearing on the last 

 display, just before 3 a.m. on the 27th, the sky became covered 

 with a dense cloud ; a subterranean noise was heard, lasting half 

 a minute ; in another half minute an earthquake shock was felt, 

 lasting the same time ; and similar noises and shocks succeeded 

 each other, iisually at increasing intervals, and becoming 

 gradually feebler, for six times, up to 5 a.m. (' Journ. Encycl.,' 

 t. i, pp. 128-129.) 



On the same night, but earlier — a few minutes past midnight 

 — in the region of the Lower Rhine, the heavens appeared as if 

 all on fire, and at the same time a similar succession of dvdl 

 noises and earthquake shocks commenced, continuing until about 

 2 a.m., and recurring at 4 a.m. (Mallet's Catalogue.) 



The electric energy which these auroral displays evince was 

 still more pronounced, a little later, in Belgium, in a series of 

 earthquakes which commenced on the 20th of February, 1756. 

 During the most violent shocks lightning was observed, aurorae 

 were frequently seen, and some persons " felt a sensation like 

 that of a strong electric shock." (Mallet, loc. cit.) 



Humboldt in his ' Travels ' gives a graphic account of strange 

 phenomena attending an earthquake at Cumana, in Venezuela, 

 in 1799. From 28th October to 3rd November a dense red 

 mist covered the sky, which appeared as if on fire, and the air 

 felt much hotter than the actual temperature warranted. On 

 4th November, about 2 p.m., large clouds of extraordinary 



