88 UEPORT — 1844. 



Mr. Macfarlane observes, regarding the shock of 25th August 1843, in a 

 letter accompanying bis Register, that he had " an excellent opportunity of 

 witnessing the effects of it on many persons, being at the time in the front of 

 the gallery of our church, in the midst of a congregation engaged in public 

 worship. Some became pale, others flushed ; some started, others trembled ; 

 and the momentary perfect silence that followed the awful concussion and 

 sound was really sublime. Alter witnessing this, I am more inclined than ever 

 to ascribe all the various sensations experienced by many on these occasions to 

 the effects of the sudden alarm rather than to those often alleged as the cause, 

 such as electricity, &c. On this occasion somehow I instinctively, as it were, 

 thought the concussion and peculiar sound arose to us from an immense depth 

 within the earth ; and that it actually did so was afterwai'ds confirmed by the 

 fact, that this shock was felt simultaneously over an area of more than 100 

 square miles, and that with nearly equal intensity throughout." 



Mr. Macfarlane reports further in regard to this shock, that it moved the 

 instruments at the following places, and produced on them the effects now to 

 be stated : — 



Kingarth, two miles north of Comrie, inverted pendulum, had point thrown 

 to three-quarters of an inch to north-west. 



Clathick, three miles east of Comrie, spiral pendulum and sand-glass ; sand 

 fell two inches. 



Crieff, six miles east of Comrie, inverted pendulum, had point thrown three- 

 quarters of an inch to west. 



Invergeldie, six miles north of Comrie, inverted pendulum, had point thrown 

 three-quarters of an inch to south-west. 



In regard to the shock of Hth January 1844', Sir David Dundas of Duneira, 

 whose house is situated about two miles W.N.W. of Comrie, writes, — " That 

 shock was attended with a louder noise and a longer-continued dying-away 

 rumble than many of them, and the quake was not so severe as I have expe- 

 rienced, though quite enough to be very disagreeable and make one feel un- 

 comfortable. Since then there has been nothing of any consequence, and I 

 wish I could persuade myself that we shall never have any more." Sir David 

 adds, that " the instrument in his house, a spiral pendulum, was not affected 

 by this or any other shock during the year. It had not been erected at the 

 date of the shock in August 1843.' 



Mr. Stewart of Ardvoirlich happened at the time of this same shock to be 

 at Balquhidder, which is about seventeen miles Avest of Comrie, and he writes 

 that there were " two pretty severe shocks at an interval of from half an hour 

 to three-quarters of an hour, accompanied by considerable rolling noise. I 

 was at the time in Balquhidder Church, and heard and felt them distinctly. 

 On my return home I examined the seismometer, but no perceptible motion 

 seemed to have taken place in any direction, nor was the column of sand in 

 the tube in any degree displaced. No earthquakes have been felt here since, 

 so far as I have heard." 



This shock of 14th January was distinctly perceived at Tyndrum, which is 

 about thirty miles W.N.W. of Comrie. On that day, at one o'clock, an ex- 

 traordinary subterranean noise was felt by the inhabitants of the village, and 

 which was generally I'ecognized by them to be that caused by an earthquake. 

 The innkeeper happened to be in bed unwell, and felt it shake as well as heard 

 the rumbling sound. 



It will be observed, from the effects produced on the instruments by the' 

 shock of '26th August 1843, — 1, that it was only in the village of Comrie that 

 the ground had an upward movement, the movement in more distant places 



