434 



• KNOWLEDGE - 



[Dec. 1, 1882. 



SDX-SPOT THEORIES. 



THE following extracts from a letter by the editor to 

 the editor of the Si,ui<i<irii will answer many queries : — 

 Sir, — My attention has l>et>n directed to Mr. Archibald's 

 comments on an article in T/i" Standard of November 1'2, 

 respecting the great sun-spot and the aiircira of the 17th 

 init On referring to the article, which I had not before 

 reid, I observe that it speaks of the views of Sir E. Sabine, 

 as •• doubted by some students of these phenomena,'' Ac. 

 The statement is strictly correct Students of the phe- 

 nomena — that is, of sun-spots and magnetic disturliances 

 — tlo not for tlie most part doubt that tliere is a connection 

 of some sort between sun-spots, auroras, and magnetic distur- 

 l'ances;but some of tliiiii (M. Faye, the eminent French as- 

 tronomer and mathematician, for instance) unquestionably do. 

 I he connection between sun-spots jind terrestrial mag- 

 netism is not what is undeistood by the " sui. -.pottery " of 

 which the writer of your leading article speaks with well- 

 merited contempt Almost every astronomer (Professor 

 Voung says e\ery astronomer except Faye — but Faye has 

 a following) admits the connection between sun-spots and 

 the condition of the earth's magnetic elements ; but I know 

 of no astronomer of standing who believes in the sug- 

 gested connection between sun-spots, and storms, rainfall, 

 famines, and so forth, m detail, though many may believe 

 tliat for the wliole earth, or over large areas, sliglit changes 

 may arise, akin to the observed fact that the temperature 

 of the earth as a whole varies as the sun-spot period 

 progresses. 



The only ([uestion really of interest is, whether any 

 weather predictions of the least value can be made on 

 systems deduced from sun-spot ol>servations. This idea 

 was thrown out, it is well known, as a reason for a .special 

 endowment of research ; but it was, and is, rejected utterly 

 bj- the scientific world, even by many who are by no means 

 opposed to the principle of endowment When it was 

 submitted to the Council of the Astronomical Society, in 

 1^72, only four supported the appeal for endowment thus 

 Wckitd, three of these immediately retiring from the 

 Council (stating the rejection of their views as the reason). 

 In somewhat the .same proportion that the Astronomical 

 So.ifty was then divided on the question the astronomical 

 world may now Ije divided. 



But I doubt whether even a twelfth of the astronomers 

 of our time favour " sun-spottery " ; and those astronomers 

 who do arc chiefly men whose astronomy has been l)ut the 

 routine work of large observatories, who.se opinions about 

 astronomy would be aljout as valuable as a tailor's views 

 aVxjut anatomy. For the rest two or three met«'orologist.s, 

 a few logicians (always the most illogical of men), very 

 few physiciirts, and one or two who are astronomers among 

 chfiniste and ch.-misU among astronomers, are the chie? 

 advocate* of the modem astrology. 



RiciiD. A. PitocToa 

 London, Nov. 24. 



^*r Drfdm 

 ' Tlim Pm> forthrM Mm>|i*l • 

 TV> pKiwttk. Or/, ud if' 

 Tk» «m in llfiihilii 



Tlt«M (nioU onilai) i 



arrrlty mm I 



Ilao firUti olhar btHiD,, iba Pkattom ud ITinJoo." 



RuDpIt Boi, with all tha kindi, It. Id. l.y Poai. 



M lluaa -ril. so. .bo aarn wrola »«for« ; 



«4 Ibow .b<> tt.,y, wrou now wrila iha mora."— Oto. Timei. 



Pilrtltn <ff Pm ani Pnkoldir: 

 IAC5ITKS * CAMKKOX, M, Bi.»i.Hn..iT, KoiMcwin. 

 ■i>in to ■!• Muim't Oonnumnt OrricEa (ihi. I7;n.) 



EARTHQUAKES IN THE BRITISH 



ISLES.— IV. 



'■PHE next earthquake which seems to merit notice is the 



1 one which occurred on Oct 1*3, 1839. For a fort- 

 night before, sliglit earth-tremors had been experienced at 

 Comrie, in Perthshire ; but the shock, which took place 

 on the 23rd (though it seemed to have spread from this 

 neighbourhood as a centre), was felt over nearly the whole 

 of Great Britain. 



A gentleman who felt the shock at Monzie gives the 

 following graphic description of what was experienced at 

 that place : — " At thirteen minutes past ten in the evening, 

 we heard a sound like that of a numerous body of cavalry 

 approaching at full gallop along a grassy sward. Wh(!n 

 this had continued a few seconds, we felt two or more 

 abrupt concussions, as if a solid mass of earth had struck 

 against a body more ponderous than itself and rebounded. 

 The rattling of furniture, coiiil)ini:d with the subterranean 

 thunder, and tlu^ reeling of what we had hitherto deemed 

 f<rra Jirmn, communicated at this moment a feeling of the 

 terrific which made the stoutest heart quail. The sound 

 ))assed oH' as before, far to the east, carrying fear into 

 other districts." The terror was so great at Comrio that 

 the people ran out of their houses, and assembled for 

 prayer in the secession meeting-house, where religious 

 exercises were continued until three in the morning. Two 

 distinct shocks were felt while the people were thus 

 engaged in prayer ; but neither of them was so intense as 

 the first. 



We might quote many instances of the energetic action 

 of this shock, but we shall content ourselves with two, 

 which appear to us the most remarkable. A great dam 

 has been formed on Cringate Muir for the supply of water 

 to the manufactories on the Carron. Thi; reservoir had 

 been carefully surveyed l>y two of the best engineers in 

 Scotland, yet it was burst by the shock of this earthquake, 

 and great damage was done to proj erty by the rush of 

 water into the vale below. The other effect of the earth- 

 quake is perhaps yet more remarkable. We quote from 

 the Wilti/^Ks (Edinburgh newspaper) of .Jan. 22, 1840: — 

 " A small tract of boggy land in Morayshire, which, during 

 the winter seasons of at least the last hundred years has 

 been invariably more than half under water, has remained 

 dry ever since the earthquake of last October ; and several 

 wells in the neighbourhood of Inverness, which derive 

 their springs from fissures in the old red sandstone of the 

 district, are only now slowly beginning to yield part of their 

 wonted supply." 



The earthquake which took place in the autumn of 1863 

 will be in the remembrance of most of our readers. It is 

 chiefly interesting inasmuch as it bears so close a resem- 

 blance to the earthcjuako of October 30, 1868. On the whole 

 it would appear to have been the more violent of the two. 

 The district over which the disturVjance ext«!nded in 

 1863 was also somewhat more extensive than that 

 over wliich the effects of the later earthquake were 

 (experienced. 



In 18G3, the region of most violent action was in the 

 neighlwurhood of Koss (Herefordshire) and Abergavenny. 

 Tliere, effects were experienced which showed that a very 

 moderate increasf! in the energy of the subtf^ranean action 

 would have rendered the earthquake a destructive one. 

 The Golden Valley in Herefordshire, along the I'anks of 

 the river Dore, was violently shaken. In fact,'tliis earth- 

 quake seems to have affected in a particularly marked 

 manner the beds of certain rivers in the West of England. 

 The valleys of the Wye, and those along which flow some 

 of the tributaries of that river, were much shaken. A 



