384 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1739- 



seas break against a rock in a storm, but never saw a greater ferment caused by 

 the boiling of the waters. It staid about a quarter of a minute in the water, and 

 then mounted again into the air. and went rattling away, but with much less 

 violence. He heard it for about a quarter of a mile, and lost it. It came 

 against the wind, and not faster than a man may walk. The froth and foam 

 on the water remained 30 hours after. 



The other Account. By Sam. Shepheard, Esq. P. 289. 



On Tuesday, Aug. 15, 1732, between 11 and 12, the sun shining very 

 bright and hot, without the least cloud, the wind so calm, that the water was 

 as smooth as glass, Mr. Shepheard was in a little room next the garden, about 

 40 yards from the canal, when he heard a very surprising noise of fire, as if a 

 very large quantity of oil had been thrown into a great bonfire, burning in its 

 greatest rage. He stepped immediately to the window, which was open, where 

 he saw the middle of the canal, which in the dry season had sunk about 6 

 inches, in extreme agitation, as rough as the Thames in a storm, foaming and 

 smoking, and forced up, to appearance, full 2 feet above the surface, but it 

 might be far more, the window being much higher than the canal ; and the 

 man, who was at work, protests he saw the water, like the spray of the sea, 

 above the dwarf-trees, which must necessarily be 5 or 6 feet. The duration of 

 the phenomenon might be half a minute, and it made such a stench in the 

 house, as if a gun had been fired in it. 



The canal bears east and west, and the man says he heard it coming from the 

 west, bringing the leaves of some tall trees from an adjacent field in its passage; 

 but he could not discover any material or substantial body to fall in the water, 

 where the hissing was very loud and violent ; neither was there any lightning or 

 thunder before or after, but the day remained bright, still, and hot. The 

 space of the canal that was affected by it, might be 12 or 15 yards. 



A Catalogue of the Fifty Plants from Chelsea Garden, presented to the Royal 

 Society hy the Company of Apothecaries, for the Year 1738, pursuant to the 

 Direction of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. Med. Reg. et Soc. Reg. Frees. By 

 Isaac Rand, Apothecary, F. R. S. Hort. Chel. Prcef ac Preelec. Botan. 

 N''456, p. 29]. 



This is the 17th presentation of this kind, amounting to 850 plants. 



