349 



them " down Wall Street," that is from W. by S. Others, again, are confident 

 that the shock came from the N.W. 



It is now of course impossible to determine this point, and therefore I prefer 

 to use the term Westward, leaving the exact point of the compass an open 

 question. 



The duration of an earthquake, like the direction, is a point difficult to 

 determine. Probably the sound and movement which caused so much dismay 

 only lasted four or five seconds ; but from the report of county policemen game- 

 keekers and others, I am inclined to think that slight tremors of the earth took 

 place a^ intervals during the whole of that night. The game in preserves was 

 said to be disturbed in a remarkable manner when there was apparently no 

 movement whatever; at other times a slight motion appears to have been per- 

 ceptible to man. 



Few visible effects were leit by the earthquake: some glass and china 

 articles were thrown down and broken, ceilings were cracked, and so was a strong 

 garden-wall at Holmer. The arched roof in the corridor of the City Prison, on 

 the female side, was cracked to some extent ; and in the County Gaol the arched 

 roof of the corridor on the female side was so shaken that a fissure which had 

 been closed was re-opened and carried to the length of twenty-seven yards. One 

 of the chunneypots belonging to the matron's apartments was thrown down, 

 with some bricks, and the iron braces which tie the sides of the corridor together 

 were so moved, that it seems probable the whole corridor would have fallen if it 

 had not been recently repaked and braced with iron. 



Few clocks appear to have been stopped by the shock : I have only been 

 able to satisfy myself respecting two pendulum timepieces ; and it is curious 

 that the pendulums of these clocks swung m different directions. 



The barometer was not, I believe, affected by the shock, but it was very 

 unsteady immediately before and after the 6th of October, as the followmg 

 readings will show : — 



Sept. 29th-29-85 Sept. 30th-29-io 



Oct. ist— 29-39 Oct. 2nd— 29-' 



,, 3rd — 29"66 

 „ 5th — 2978 

 7th— 29.55 

 „ 9th — 29-32 

 ,, nth — 29-42 



The reading of the exposed minimum thermometer on the night of the earth- 

 quake was (at Hereford) 34-75°- 



For some days before the 6th the wind had been W. and S.W. On the 6th 

 it changed to E., and the weather became exceedingly wet and unsettled. Early 

 on the morning of the 8th a heavy thunderstorm took place near [Hereford ; the 

 lightning being very vivid and the rain heavy. 



4th — 29- 

 6th— 2971 

 8th — 29-41 

 loth — 29-45 

 I2th — 29-12 



