hflhe last Half of the Year ISl*. 193 



Now- York. In the first days of June, the Rhone tunlultuously 

 Imist its banks, at the same moment that the waters of the Rhine 

 and the Aar attained a prodigious height* ;— that the lakes, the 

 rivers and the torrents of Switzerland, the Grand Lake of Con- 

 stance, the Necker, the Mein, the Mense, the VVahl, &c. over- 

 flowed upon all points. The detail of the disasters which they 

 caused is fearful. During three months their Waters Covered 

 whole countries, menaced the foundations of the most solid edi- 

 fices, and scarcely left in some places the roofs of the houses to 

 be seen, while they kept constantly sweeping away trees and 

 flocks, and a vast wreck of things of all sorts. Fields cultivated 

 with the greatest care were converted into morasses; large tracts 

 were turned into deserts of mire ; the finest harvests were every 

 where destroyed. On the 26th, 27th, and 2Sth of August, a 

 south wind which had prevailed for more than a month was fol- 

 lowed by a hot rain, which melted the glaciels in such a man- 

 ner that the Rhine rose anew beyond all former example, and 

 presented until the 23d of September the appearance of a vast 

 lake : the torrents of the Tyrol were swollen higher than their 

 greatest height in 1789 ; aiid the Sill, which falls into the Inii 

 near Inspruck, burst its banks and carried away several bridges, 

 with a vast quantity of trees, houses, cattle, &c. On the 9th of 

 November, a very violent storm burst upon the department of 

 Ardeche, the waters rose to a prodigious height, and committed 

 great havoc in the arrondisseinents of Tournon, Privas, and Ar- 

 gentiere. 



Earthquakes. 

 June 30th. After a stolm accompanied with a hot rairi two 

 shocks very violent were felt at Inverness and in the environs of 

 Loch Ness in Scotland. 



1022 lbs.) of coarse powder; This pr.ietke, which costs jittlci which is ati 

 tended with no inconvenience, which is so simple in execution as to be prao-: 

 ticable every where, and which is supported not only by theory, but by the 

 experience of a great many years, ought to be generally substituted for the 

 ruinous system of conjuring storms by the sound of the church bells. The 

 hiisfortunes which every year befall those who havfe recour.^e to the clocks, 

 may in the end destroy a prejudice which orisxinated in an a;ra when the 

 laws of physics were unknown ; and when fana icsm attributed to the sound 

 of the bells a supreme power, in virtue of the benedictions and unctions 

 which they received from the hands of the priests. At the same time that 

 the villages of Maconnuls adopted the practice of firing mortars, Guenaut- 

 de-Moiitbelliard, the celebrated co-operator and friend of Buffon, havin'x obi 

 served that the hail never formed itself till after violent claps of thunder, 

 proposed to withdraw the electric matter, so as to prevent at the same time' 

 »K)th the explosion of the thunder and the formation of the hail {Journal de 

 PhysKjne, tom. xxi. p. 14G). Guyton-de-MorveaU has further demonstrated 

 the accuracy of this theoiy {Journal de Physii/ue, tom. ix. p. fiO-67). 



• The Rhine rose on the 7th of July, thirty-two centimetres (one foot) 

 above its greatest hcijrht in 1770. 



Vol.51. No.239.;^/arc/i 1818. N July 



