NATURAL HISTORY 



511 



had the same precursor in suffi- 

 cient abundance ; such a rainy 

 summer as the past having been 

 hardly remembered by any one. 

 The rain water, gradually perco- 

 lating into the bowels of the earth, 

 may be converted into steam, by 

 a combustion, to which a variety 

 of causes may give excitement. 

 Amongst these, tlie moistening of 

 large beds of pyrites may perhaps 

 be offered as one of the most 

 simple explanations. Our late 

 earthquake, however, may have 

 not improbably had some remote 

 connection with a subterraneous 

 volcanic influence : and an ac- 

 count which appeared from Na- 

 ples, informing us that, on Au- 

 gust 7 last, ^'esuvius was again 

 in action, renders tliis last idea 

 the less unlikely. Although, per- 

 haps, not caused by electricity, it 

 is very evident that this subtle 

 agent was not entirely absent on 

 the late occasion, as may be not 

 only considered apparent from 

 some of the effects produced, but 

 is also proved by the flash of 

 lightning seen to accompany the 

 other phenomena at Montrose. 

 The electric theory of earthquakes 

 has been supported by Dr. .Stuke- 

 ly, in his papers in vol. xlvi. of 

 the Philosophical Transactions : 

 and the Chevalier Vivenzio sup- 

 poses the same cause to liave ope- 

 rated in producing tliose of 

 Calabria in 1783. But I cannot 

 conceive electricity to have been 

 the primary agent in producing 

 tlie shock of August 13 last; 

 otherwise it must have certainly 

 left more unequivocal effects be- 

 hind it. Having, however, en- 

 deavoured in this paper to bring 

 before your readers most of tlie 

 facts and appearances connected 

 Vol. LVIII. 



with the late earthquake, an op- 

 portunity may perhaps be afford- 

 ed to you or them, either to 

 strengthen one or other of the 

 old theories, or to offer some new 

 and still more rational explana- 

 tion of a phenomenon which can- 

 not fail higlily to interest the en- 

 lightened and reflecting mind, as 

 well as to impress it with the 

 most profound admiration of the 

 power of the Deity. 



I remain, Sir, 

 Your obedient humble servant, 



Thomas Lauder Dick.. 



An Essay on the Oopas, or Poison- 

 tree of Java, by Thomas Horse- 

 field, ^M. D. 



(From the Seventh Volume of the Trans- 

 actions of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Java.) 



I have proposed to myself in 

 the following essay^ to offer you 

 a short account of the Oopas of 

 Java. I feel some satisfaction in 

 being able, at a time when eveiy 

 subject relating to this island has 

 acquired a degree of interest, to 

 furnish you with a faithful de- 

 scription of the tree, made by 

 myself on the spot whpre it grows, 

 and to relate its effects on the 

 animal system by experiments 

 personally instituted and superin- 

 tended ; and I flatter myself that 

 the practical inforniation detailed 

 in the following sheets will refute 

 the falsehoods that have Ijeen pub- 

 lished concerning this subject, at 

 the same time that it will remove 

 the uncertainty in which it has 

 been enveloped. 



The literary and scientific world 

 has in few instances bi-cn more 

 grossly and impudently imposed 

 upon than by the account of the 



2 I' Pohoii 



