268 Remarks on the 
little before the fatal accident, a tremulous 
motion of the earth was perceived by a re- 
spectable witness ; and a man in a hayfield, 
who was thrown down, complained of having 
received a violent blow on the soles of his feet. 
In one respect, the circumstances at the two 
places were dissimilar. No rain succeeded 
the explosion in Scotland, where there had 
been a long continued drought ; but the storm 
at Swinton was followed by a very heavy 
shower ; and the four days immediately pre- 
ceding the storm had been showery. 
From a meteorological journal, kept by 
Mr. Hanson, house-surgeon of the Manchester 
Lying-in Hospital, it appears that there were 
four remarkable changes in the pressure of the 
atmosphere, from the second to the eleventh 
of August. On the evening of the sixth, 
there was much distant thunder and lightning. 
On that day, the barometrical column was 
much augmented, and indicated the greatest 
variation in the space of twenty-four hours. 
The range of the thermometer, on the same 
day, was from 68.5° to 55°; and the wind, 
from the 4th to the 8th inclusive, was west. 
On the 10th we had one of the most tremen- 
dous thunder storms ever experienced in this 
part. of the country ; and, during the whole 
month, the most violent and fatal tempests 
raged in almost every part of the kingdom. 
