368 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO J7I8- 



An Account of a fiery Meteor seen, in Jamaica, to strike into the Earth', with 

 Remarks on the Weather, Earthquakes, &c, of that Island. By Mr. Henry 

 Barha?n, F. R. S. N° 357, p. 837- 



About the year 1 700, as I was riding one morning about 3 miles north-west 

 from St. Jago de la Vega, I saw a ball of fire, appearing to me of the size of a 

 bomb- shell, swiftly falling down with a great blaze. When I arrived where it 

 fell, I found the people wondering at the ground being broken in by a ball of 

 fire, which, they said fell down there 1 observed there were many holes in 

 the ground, one in the middle of the size of a man's head, and 5 or 6 smaller 

 holes round about it, of the size of a man's fist, and so deep, especially the 

 largest, as not to be fathomed by what long sticks they had at hand. It was 

 observed, that the green grass was perfectly burnt near the holes, and a strong 

 smell of sulphur remained thereabouts for a good while after.* 



We had a very rainy night before^ with much lightning and thunder, which 

 is frequent in Jamaica, often killing cattle in the fields. These claps are much 

 louder and stronger than any in Europe, f nd our showers of rain are also more 

 violent. We have lightning all the year round, but our great rains are in the 

 months of May, August, and October. 



Our island is full of mines, and I question not, very rich. It is very subject 

 to earthquakes, several happening every year, especially after great rains, which 

 fill up all the great cracks in the surface of the earth : for in a very dry time, 

 they are so very large, deep, and gaping so open and wide, that it is dangerous 

 to ride over some parts of the Savannas, for fear a horse should get his legs 

 into them. Our earthquakes make a noise or rumbling in the earth, before we 

 feel the shake ; and seem to run swiftly to the westward. 



An Attempt to prove the Antiquity of the Venereal Disease, long before the 

 '■ Discovery of the JVest- Indies -, in a Letter from Mr. TVilliam Beckett, Surgeon, 



to Dr. James Douglass, M. D. F.R,S. Dated Lond. Feb. 4th, 17 J 7-18. 



N° 357, p. 839- 



The undertaking I am at present engaged in, has unavoidably obliged me to 

 consult, among others, many old physical and surgical books, written by my 

 own countrymen : from these I derive the opinion, that the venereal disease was 



* Here is another instance of the fall of a flaming meteoric body, striking into the earth. See 

 p. 100 of this volume. In this instance as in several there mentioned, the body was ignitedj flew 

 with great rapidity ; struck the ground in a marshy situation, having burst into several pieces just be- 

 fore it entered the earth, a* appears by the pieces striking near each other. 



