392 Earthquake. — Comets. 



an unpleasant giddiness of the head, and sickness of the stomach, 

 from the heaving of the ground : 



' In one wild roar expired! 



The shatter'd town, the wall thrown down. 



The wave,< a moment backward bent ; 



The hills that shake, although unrent. 



As if an earthquake pass'd !' 



Byron's Siege of Corinth. 

 *•' In campa similar sickness and giddiness was experienced ; and 

 in ignorance until the shock was over, which lasted a minute, of 

 the nature of the noise below the earth, some sat down instinc- 

 tively, others threw themselves down. One was paying work- 

 people in a circle, and upon seeing him squat, the whole follow- 

 ed the example, and sat round him — the very picture of despair. 

 The sensation 1 felt was a giddiness and horror at perceiving a 

 small hillock, close to which I was riding, a short distance from 

 the camp, completely agitated, and at the same time my horse 

 plunged, from the ground moving. This was the case also with 

 an officer I was riding with. I have, on inquiry, ascertained that 

 many years ago, and in the remembrance of the oldest inhabi- 

 tants, an undulating motion has been felt before in Kutch, but 

 never, I hope, will again be attended with such a horrible cata- 

 strophe ; the distress of which has been so great upon the inhabi- 

 tants, that I confess I fall short of abilitv to describe it." 



EARTHQUAKE. 



On tlxe 26tli of May a violent shock of an earthquake was 

 felt at Corneto in Ital\% which damaged several houses, but hap- 

 pily without any loss of lives. The celebrated ancient Gothic 

 cupola of Castello was thrown down, and the church of the Minor 

 Friars, of which it formed a part, was greatly damaged. This 

 shock was felt along a great part of the coast of the Mediterra- 

 nean. . • 



COMETS. 



It is now ascertained that one and the same comet returned 

 to our system in 178(i, 1795, 1801, 1805, and 18|a, It ap- 

 pears that it never ranges beyond the orbit of Jupiter! Its short 

 period, of little more than 3| years, and its mean distance from 

 the sun, which is not much greater than twice that of the earth, 

 coiinect it in a particular manner with the part of the system in 

 which we are placed : of course, it crosses the orbit of the earth 

 more than sixty times in the course of a century. Its elements 

 as seen in 1 S-f^ are as under. 

 Passage of perihelion, mean time at Gotha, Jan. 27, 28977 



Longitude of perihelion 150" 59' 15" 



Longitude of node 334 35 



Inclination 



