68 REPORT—1850. 
successive observations, made with the utmost care and circumspection, will 
be required, in order even to approach the object which is aimed at in re- 
searches of this sort.” (Von Hoff, Gesch. Erdober, Th. iv.) 
2nd. Effects on Animals. 
Hamilton says that during shocks, horses and oxea extended their legs 
widely to avoid being thrown down (an evidence of the velocity of the 
shock), and that hogs, oxen, horses and mules, as also geese, appeared to 
be painfully aware of the approach of the earthquake of Calabria; and the 
neighing of a horse, the braying of an ass, or the cackling of a goose, even 
when he was making his survey, drove the people out of their temporary 
sheds in expectation of a shock. 
All birds appear sensible of its approach, but geese, swine, and dogs more 
remarkably than any other animals; the geese quit the waters before the 
earthquake and will not return to it. Can it be that with their heads immersed 
they are able to hear the first distant mutterings, while these are yet inaudible 
to those who hear through the air, and not as in their case through a liquid ? 
Von Hoff notices “a presentiment (vorgefiihl) which it was thought 
had been remarked in particular species of animals shortly before an earth- 
quake. Even men have sometimes, a short time before such occurrences, 
felt a tendency to headache, giddiness (vertigo), and an inclination to 
vomit. 
“Tt has been remarked, that at such times domestic animals showed a 
decided uneasiness, dogs howled mournfully, horses neighed in an unusual 
manner, and poultry flew restlessly about. These latter phenomena might 
easily be produced by mephitic vapours, which often ascend to the suriace 
of the earth before the breaking forth of the earthquake.” 
The Cirricelli, (possibly our “ Sand-eels,) a little deep-water fish, like our 
white bait, which usually lies buried in the sand, Hamilton says, “came up 
to the surface with many others, and were caught in multitudes ;” this might 
arise either from actual heat ak the sea-bottom and water close to it, or from 
its being fouled by the commotion or by exhalations into it; or they may 
have been startled by the vibrations, as trout are when one stamps violently 
on a river bank. 
There is unquestionable evidence of earthquake shocks (and not of great 
intensity) producing nausea and vomiting in men and women; sometimes, 
as in a school at Philadelphia, numbers were so affected, at the same instant 
awakened from sleep by the shock ; whether this arise from sudden dread 
produced by the unusual and fearful visitation, or be analogous to sea sick- 
ness, has not yet been determined. 
These few particulars constitute nearly all that has been observed of this 
point of our subject. 
3rd. The Barometer.’ 
There does not seem to be any ground for supposing that the period of 
occurrence of earthquakes is marked by any very remarkable rise or fall of 
the barometer just before, nor certainly by any remarkable fluctuations 
during the continuance; on this the New Zealand observations are pecu- 
liarly important, as during the days from the 7th to the 15th of October, 
before the earthquake, the range of the barometer was from 28°97 to 29°25; 
and during the remainder of that month, whilst there were continual shocks, 
its limits were from 28°37 to 29°58; and during the immediate subsequent 
period of eighteen days in November, free from shocks, the barometer re- 
mained steadily at about 293 inches; the limits of variation being from 
29°53 to 29°10 only. 
Humboldt (Relat. Hist.) has shown that the horary oscillations are not 
