400 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Nov. i; 



or non-existence of limits to planetary and stellar 

 atmosphere. 



" It is little likply," prooetxls M. Fnyo, '' that astrono- 

 mers will accept such liypothcses. Doulitlcss they would 

 be woll pleasetl to tiiiiik tliat nature has in reserve for 

 the 8un a resoun-e l>y which his heat may be made to last 

 longer ; but as his linal cooling is, in any case, a catas- 

 trophe still very far oil", they will be consohHl by the 

 thought tliat none among the tilings of this world — not 

 eren the noblest — seem made to last for ever. 



"As for the fundamental experiments of Dr. Siemens, 

 these will lose none of their importance in the eyes of 

 astronomers. It is a tjuestion of a conquest of one of 

 the secrets of living nature, one of the laws of the organic 

 world : they will earnestly desire (i'a/eroiil (/•■< r^inr) that 

 Dr. Siemens should pursue the path so brilliantly cntoied on, 

 though they cannot expect from it any very brilliant light 

 for their own department of research." — From M. Fni/e's 

 Addnns iM-foT'- t/if Paris Acadeimj of Science. 



EARTHQUAKES IN THE BRITISH 

 ISLES.— III. 



(Contiiwied from page 37-1.) 



IN the year 17M, Loch Tay was disturbed in a very re- 

 markable manner. The water receded from the two ends 

 and rose in a great wave in the middle of tlie lake-basin ; 

 then this wave spread itself laterally over the shores, 

 passing high above the usual limits of the lake. This was 

 repeated every day for a week, with less and less violence. 

 It is worthy of notice that the year 1784 was remarkable 

 for the eartlKjuakes which disturbed ditlerent parts of the 

 world. One occurred on the liSth of July, in Armenia, 

 and caused the loss of upwards of six thousand lives. The 

 city of Ezerghan was destroyed by the same shock. But 

 the volcanic ellects observed in Iceland in the same year 

 were yet more remarkable. In fact, Iceland had been dis- 

 turbed more \iolcntly during that and the preceding year 

 than at any former period in the history of the island. 

 "It has been calculated," says Professor Ansted, "that a 

 ■ingle volcano in the wild and untrodden desert lying in 

 the Kouth-<>ast part of Iceland threw out that year fifty to 

 sixty millions of cubic yards of matter. The accounts 

 which have been handed down to us of this event present 

 to us a picture almost too terrible for belief. With a wide- 

 spread destruction of the land, the depths of the sea were 

 invaded, and the fish (the Icelanders' chief means of sub- 

 RiMt<.-nce) driven from the shore. The flames broke out 

 even through the waves in the line of movement, and the 

 *ea. was covered with pumice for 1.00 miles. A thick 

 canopy hung over the island for a year, and the winds car- 

 ried the ashes over Europe, Africa, and America. The 

 very sun was darkrne<l, and showed only as a ball of fire ; 

 while frightful hurricanes, hailhtoriiis, thunder, and lightning 

 add<-d their horrors." 



It is aUo well worthy of notice that the great earthquake 



of Calabria ha/1 Uken place but a year before, and that 



wi,i:.- tl.i, T.:,* convulsion of nature la8t<d, the barometf-r 



' within a tenth of an inch of the bottom 



i the waUirs of many of the Highland lakes 



^ •.ite<l. 



LiU; ij. U.. year I "J*!* a singular inci.lent U,o\i place near 

 tomne. The ice on a lake there was suddenly shivered 

 11***,'^^'.""' ''"'""■'' '"^ '""" * tremendous earthquake on 

 the 30th of September at liorgo di San Hepolchro, in Italy, 

 dunng the cour»e of wht 'h many buildings were wholly 



swallowed up. And, lest we should seem fanciful in as- 

 sociating this earthquake with events which happened in 

 Scotland, we extract the following passage from tJio Scots' 

 .l/(i</a; I Hc, referring to the Italian earthquake. It says: "On 

 the same day three distinct shocks of eartluiuake wore felt 

 at the house of Parson's (Ireen, on the north side of the 

 hill of Arthur's .Scat, near Edin)(urgh." Only four days 

 liefore the county of ^\'ilt.sllil•e had been shaken by a very 

 perceptible shock of earthquake. 



A somewhat severe eartliciuake was felt in Edinburgh in 

 the year ISOl. Singularly enough, the shock was not 

 felt in the Old Town. But" in the New Town the sensation 

 experienced was as though the houses had lioen lifted bodily 

 upwards, and then violently shaken from north to south. 

 Some hours afterwards a house sank so much that the 

 magistrates condennicd it. The gable of a barn near the 

 city fell in upon some reapers and crushed two of them to 

 death. We believe this is the only earthquake which has 

 taken place for many centuries in the British isles in 

 which there has been any loss of life. At Criefl' and 

 Comric the eartluiuake was felt even more distinctly than 

 at Edinburgh ; but no buildings were injured. 



But perhaps the most remarkable earthquake experienced 

 in the British Isles during the present century is that 

 which took place on the evening of August 1.3, 181G. The 

 summer had been remarkable for heavy storms of rain and 

 hail, which caused much mischief to the crops : and a cir- 

 cumstance which had attracted much attention was the 

 want of correspondence between the barometrical indications 

 and the weather, the baromctei- often rising before heavy 

 storms and falling before fair weather. The earthquake of 

 August 1.3 was felt over nearly the whole of Scotland. 

 But its action at Inverness was much mor(! intense than at 

 any other place. Indeed, one is reminded of the narratives 

 of more destructive earthquakes by the account of the scene 

 presented in Inverness on the night of the occurrence. 

 Most of the inhabitants had gone to bed, when suddenly a 

 violent vertical shock was experienced, followed immediately 

 by a trembling which la.sted for about half-a-minute — or 

 longer as some thought. So violent was this earth-throe 

 that many were flung out of bed. "All others who had 

 gone to rest," says the narrative of the (!V(mt, " instantly 

 sprang from their place of repose, and with little ceremony 

 as to clothing, joined the crowds who had rushed into the 

 streets, which innnediat(^Iy became a scene of wild and un- 

 usual terror, no one knowing but what a second shock was 

 immediately to bury them under the ruins of their houses. 

 Under this apprehension many hurried, ill-prepared as they 

 were, out of the town, and spent the greater part of the 

 night in the fields. It was found that already great 

 damage had been done to the Ixiildings. Many were rent 

 from top to bottom ; great numbers of chininey-topa had 

 been shaken down. From a stack of chimneys on the 

 Mason Ix)dge, a coping-stone weighing fifty or sixty 

 pounds was thrown to the other side of the street, a dis- 

 tance of not less than twenty yards." Nothing could more 

 strikingly exhibit the energy of the lateral vibration than 

 the fall of this great stone. It is wonderful that much 

 more serious damoge was not efl'ected by a shock of this 

 nature. 



It was noticed that the old buildings sufTered less than 

 the new during this shock. Tlirer; gentlemtm who were 

 approaching the town from the westward heard the great 

 bell toll twice, but the townspeople, amid tho crash of 

 falling stones and tiles, and the shrieks of terrified women, 

 did not notice the sound. 



When the morning came it was observed that a steeple 

 which had recently Jjeen fixed to the county gaol had re- 

 ceiverl a twiht a few feet from the top. TIk; spire was 



