ON EARTHQUAKES IN GREAT BRITAIN. 97 



3. On the 9th of September 1841, another pretty severe shock was felt 

 at Comrie, at about ten minutes before midnight. Mr. Macfarlane reports 

 concerning it, " The next morning the Association's instruments indicated as 

 follows : — 



" The steeple one was inclined to south three-quarters of an inch. The 

 Comrie House one inclined north half an inch. 



" No damage, that I have heard of, has been done. The weather for the 

 two preceding days was remarkably wet and close, much resembling that 

 in which the shocks occurred in 1839 ; so much so was the sky, that the 

 evening previous I was remarking to some folks here, that it looked very 

 like an earthquake night. But I have more than once observed the same 

 misty and lurid sky without any shock ; so that, after all, the thing may be 

 a mere coincidence." 



The indications of the instruments, mentioned in Mr. Macfarlane's note, 

 do not coincide with those produced by previous shocks, and are in them- 

 selves somewhat perplexing, if they are assumed to have been caused by one 

 and the same shock. Comrie House is about half a mile due north from 

 Comrie Church, and it is difficult to understand how Comrie Church could 

 have moved three-quarters of an inch to the north, whilst at the same time 

 Comrie House was moved half an inch to the south, unless on the supposi- 

 tion that the intermediate ground was lifted up to an extent which certainly 

 would have been perceivable by the inhabitants. 



But it will be seen from the register, that after the severe shock near mid- 

 night on the 9th of September, two other shocks occurred before the instru- 

 ments were examined. It is very possible, therefore, that the indications 

 registered were not the effects of only one shock. 



4. On the 8th of June 1842, two shocks were felt at Comrie between one 

 and two in the morning, by which the horizontal pendulum in Mr. Macfar- 

 lane's house (recently rent) was affected. It indicated a vertical upheave of 

 the ground of fully a quarter of an inch. 



From the foregoing details, it seems probable that the opinion entertained 

 by those acquainted with the locality, that the particular spot from which 

 the Perthshire shocks emanate on the earth's surface, is situated about one 

 mile north-north-east of Duneira House, and about one mile and a half north- 

 west of Comrie, may be correct. It is desirable therefore to have additional 

 instruments placed at Duneira, and in the neighbourhood of it, with the view 

 of approximating still nearer to the exact spot of discharge or emission. Two 

 instruments have been lately sent to Duneira and St. Fillans, from which, if 

 the shocks continue, some useful data may be expected. 



Further, it is evidently desirable to have instruments greatly more sensi- 

 tive than any which the Committee yet possess ; and the Committee would 

 be greatly obliged for any hints which may be given to them with that view. 

 Some of the members of the Committee are now making experiments which 

 promise well : and if the Committee be reappointed, with a renewal of the 

 grant, they hope, even before the earthquaking season (autumn and winter) 

 commences in Perthshire, to be prepared for a correct registration of most 

 of the shocks. 



IV. The Committee wish particularly to call the attention of the Associa- 

 tion to the importance of carrying on meteorological observations at Comrie. 



There seem strong grounds for the opinion entertained by many, that an 



intimate connection of some kind or other exists between earthquake shocks 



and the state of the weather, or rather those various agents which affect the 



weather. Some persons, indeed, maintain, that the shocks are nothing else 



'than electrical discharges from the earth, and are preceded as well as followed 



1842. h 



