88 Mr D. Milne on Earthquake-Shocks felt in Great Britain, 



the concussion appeared to follow the same direction as the 

 rumbling sound in the earth. With regard to the eft'ects of 

 the shock, Mrs C. felt the floor of the drawing-room to rock 

 and the window to shake ; and, in one of the bedrooms, where 

 two of my daughters and a servant were, the floor was felt to 

 be so unsteady, that they were fain to cling to the chimney-piece^ 

 and the doors of the wardrobes and the joists of the roof were 

 heard to creak. The inmates of this room complained of 

 being giddy and sick at the time of its occurrence. No ob- 

 servations were made, as to any walls being cracked. The 

 weather was very wet, the barometer high, and the night ex- 

 tremely dark and perfectly still. I understand that at the Old 

 Manse, our friend David Syme\s residence, at Kinross, the 

 shock was very violent, and four distinct rockings were felt. 



In the town of Kinross, the shock was felt very distinctly by 

 most of the inhabitants, and is thus described by Mr Syme, 

 the sheriff-substitute of that county : — " I was sitting alone in 

 a room on the ground-floor in the south-west corner of our 

 house which fronts the south, when, a few minutes after ten 

 P.M., my attention was attracted by a strange hoarse rushing 

 sound in the south. I laid down my book to listen, and almost 

 immediately heai'd a louder sound, as if of a heavy body falling 

 gently on the floor of the room above, directly overhead, and 

 continuing to roll along towards the other end — the apparent 

 motion being thus from south to north. I was not sensible 

 of any shock or concussion, and did not think of an earth- 

 quake, but was startled by the strangeness of the noise, and 

 ran up stairs to inquire, and found that Mrs S., her mother, 

 and two female servants who happened to be in the drawing- 

 room — a very small room on the second floor in the south-east 

 angle of the house (with one window to the south and one to 

 the east), had the instant before felt the shock of an earth- 

 quake most alarmingly. They heard and saiv the crystal and 

 china-ornaments on the chimney-piece in motion, and Mrs S. 

 felt four distinct rockings. She thought that the east wall was 

 coming to her ; and her mother, who was a little farther off, 

 that it was goingyVow her, and all were sensible of a strong 

 undulatory motion. They think it began at the east side, and 

 that the east wall or gable-end was most affected, but there 



