ON REGISTERING EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS IN SCOTLAND. 89 



being horizontal ; 2, that at all the places above-mentioned the movement 

 came from the westward, these being all more or less to the east of the hill 

 from which, according to former observations, the shocks emanate. 



Had the instruments now at Duneira and Ardvoirlich been at that date 

 erected, any effects on them, it might be expected, would have been in an op- 

 posite direction. 



The meteorological observations have been faithfully carried on at Comrie 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Macfarlane, to whose diligence and assi- 

 duity the Committee are much indebted. A complete register of these obser- 

 vations has been rendered to them, of which a copy is herewith sent. 



When these meteorological observations have been carried on for a few 

 years, they will afford some data for ascertaining whether, as has been gene- 

 rally believed, any connexion prevails between the state of the weather or 

 time of the year with the number and violence of the shocks. 



No earthquake shocks have occurred in other parts of the United Kingdom 

 during the last year, in so far as known to the Committee, except one on the 

 12th of June 1844;. The following notices of it have been extracted from the 

 newspapers : — " Earthquake. — A slight shock of an earthquake was felt at 

 Stamford on Wednesday evening, 1 2th June 1844, about seven. Many per- 

 sons were sensible of the tremulous motion of the earth for ten or fifteen 

 seconds. It was accompanied with a noise like distant thunder, and was by 

 some mistaken for that phaenomenon ; but there is no doubt that it was a con- 

 vulsion of the earth. At Tinwell, Ketton, Tixover, Duddington, ClifFe, Ape- 

 thorp, Wansford, CoUyweston, Easton, &c. &c., the shock was distinctly felt. 

 In some of the above named villages various articles were displaced ; at a 

 gentleman's house at Easton, the bell at the outer gate was rung in conse- 

 quence of the vibration produced by it." — Stamford Mercury. " Earthquake 

 in Huntingdonshire. Yaxley, June 14. — A most severe shock of earthquake 

 was felt here on Wednesday evening last, the 12th inst., at about half-past 

 seven o'clock, more particularly on the hill where my house is situate, appear- 

 ing like a park of artillery passing under it, shaking it to the very founda- 

 tion. Scarcely a shower of rain has fallen since the 26th of March." 



The Committee, in accordance with the suggestion in their last year's Re- 

 port, and which they understood met with general approval, have placed a 

 seismometer at Tyndrum, and Lord Breadalbane has given directions to his 

 overseer there that it should be attended to. By means of instruments thus 

 placed on all sides of the earthquaking district, and at different distances from 

 it, additional data for inference will be obtained. 



Stu-ling, 23rd Sept. 1844. 



My dear Sir, — Since sending off the Earthquake Report 1 have obtained 

 some additional information, which I would have introduced into it had I 

 known of it before. I therefore sit down to communicate it by letter to you, in 

 order that you may, if you see fit, take notice of it in presenting the Report. 



You will see from the register, that the two most severe shocks during the 

 last year occurred in August 1843 and January 1844. I met yesterday and 

 today a very intelligent person (Lady Moncrieff) who felt both of these 

 shocks. The first she felt in Comrie House, situated within three-quarters of 

 a mile of the hill, from which all the shocks in Perthshire appear to emanate. 

 The noise and concussion produced by this shock alarmed her so much that 

 she fell from her seat on the floor, and it was a few seconds before she re- 

 covered. She was residing in Comrie House for some months last autumn, 

 and she states that scarcely a day passed without her hearing either the rum- 

 bling noise in the earth or the moaning in the air, produced by this mysterious 

 agent, the nature of which we are so anxious to discover. The second of these 



