Whirlwinds. Ill 



in Marazion this day, at 3 P. M., was at a minimum of 29.67, 

 being lower than foi' five days before and twenty-one days 

 after, except at the same hour of the following day, when 

 during a storm it reached a minimum of 29-62. 



In the night preceding the phenomenon above described, 

 two of the Coast Guard of Mount's Bay, while standing on the 

 cliflF between Newlyn and Mousehole, felt a slight motion of 

 the ground, and repeatedly heard a sound like that of thun- 

 der. 



It is remarkable that the earthshocks and extraordinary 

 oscillations of the sea in Cornwall during the present cen- 

 tury whose dates are known (and they are ten in number),* 

 have, with only one exception, happened nearer to the moon's 

 first quarter than to any other. The exception is the shock 

 in the east of the county on the 20th of October 1837, the 

 day before the moon's last quarter. 



3. An account of four Whirhvinds which passed through St Just 

 on the \2th of December 1846. 



At one o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th of December 

 1846, four whirlwinds or waterspouts were observed ap- 

 proaching the coast north-west of Penzance, in parallel lines 

 in the direction of the wind, then blowing a storm from 

 NNE. Three of them having reached the northern shores 

 of St Just, passed through different parts of that parish, un- 

 roofing houses, overturning furze and turf-ricks, and carrying 

 along a great quantity of snow, with stubble, birds, slates, 

 tiles, pieces of wood, and other things, caught up in their 

 progress. Sometimes they rushed along the gi'ound like so 

 many clouds of mist without any definite forms. At other 

 times they assumed the appearance of very elongated in- 

 verted cones reaching from the earth into the clouds. As 

 they advanced, each column revolved on its axis with varying 

 rapidity, which appeared, however, to be greatest when the 



t The dates of the shocks are,— 30th December 1832 ; 20th October 1837 ; 

 21st January 1839 ; 17th February 1842 ; 22cl May 1847. 



The dates of the oscillations are, — 5th .July 1843 ; 30th October 1843 ; 5th 

 July 1846 ; Ist August 1846 ; 2.3 J May 1847. 



