Mr D. jNlilno on Earthijiiake S/ivch, dC' 85 



Every one will peruse with interest this collection of four dissertations, 

 all of which throw light on the questions of which they treat, and indi- 

 cate a rare power of analysis, and very uncommon sagacity. Wo 

 should be glad to see man}' similar pieces on the moral sciences adorn 

 the pao-es of our j)rriodical reviews ; such memoirs, without pretension 

 or borrowed splendour, afford real instruction, and familiarize the reader 

 with all the questions of the science. Thus reduced to less extended 

 proportions than in a long and elaborate work, the science becomes sim- 

 plified under a skilful pen, without contracting anything narrow or 

 mean.* 



Notices of Earthquake-Shocks felt in Great Britain, and espe- 

 cially in Scotland, with inferences suggested hg these notices as 

 to the causes of the Shocks. By David Milne, Esq., F.R.S.E., 

 M.W.S., F.G.S., &c. Communicated by the Author. 



(Continued from Vol. XXXIII. page 372.) 



At Alford Manse, Aberdeenshire, about eighty miles N. E. 

 of Comrie, '• the earthquake was felt at half-past 10 p.m. ; 

 but owing to the great alarm occasioned in the family, there 

 may be an error of some minutes. At the moment of the 

 shock, I was sitting reading at a table, with candles before 

 me, nearly in the middle of the dining-room, with my back 

 directly to the south-west, and face to the north-east. Sud- 

 denly I heard a loud noise behind, and also under my feet, 

 and immediately felt my chair raised up, and inclined forward 

 at a considerable angle under me ; and as I was catching the 

 table with my hands to save myself from what I conceived to 

 be an impending fall, the motion of the chair was as suddenly 

 reversed, and feeling as if I were in danger of being thrown 

 backwards, 1 clung to the table, which I had just seized, to 

 escape a backward ftxll, — but the chair directly settled into its 

 horizontal position Avithout any farther oscillation. As the 

 noise continued, I became instantly convinced that 1 had felt 

 an earthquake, and any danger from it seeming over, I sat 

 still with the view of analysing, at the moment, all the sensa- 

 tions I had experienced, and estimating the character and 



* From Bibliothcque Univcrielle de Geneve, No. 80 ; Sept. 1842, p. 

 2] 0-225 



