5)4 PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. [aNNO I 74 1 . 



An Earthquake at Scarborough, Dec. 1Q, 1737, communicated by Maurice 

 Johnson, Esq. N° 46l, p, 804. 



The ends of several inclosures or fields behind the clifF, on the back of the 

 spa, sunk down very low into the ground, making a large valley of a vast 

 length, and considerable breadth, with 5 cows then grazing on it, the weight 

 of which shook and opened the hill behind the house, after a frightful manner, 

 and forced up the sands 1 00 yards in length on each side the space, and 27 

 broad, to the height of 6 yards, and in some places 10 yards high. 



The pier, entire as it was, moved sideways out of its place, and rose up 

 about 5 yards in the air ; the house fell down, and at the same time took fire. 

 The flag-house, and wooden rails, which were about the mouth of the well, 

 were forced up in the air above 10 yards high, so that it is thought the spa- 

 water is entirely lost for ever.* 



No persons were hurt, the people of the house getting away in time. 



An Examination oj" Sea-water frozen and melted again, to try what Quantity of 

 Salt is contained in such Ice, made in Hudson s Straits by Capt. Christopher 

 Middleton, F. R. S. N° 4dl, p. 806. 



Dr. Hales, in his learned paper lately read at the Royal Society, where he 

 proposes a method of rendering sea-water fresh, and wholesome to drink, men- 

 tions a diversity of saltness of the water at the Nore in the mouth of the 

 Thames, and the water taken up in the Mediterranean Sea, this containing 

 -JL- of salt, the former ^. Mr. Boyle, in his Observations on the Saltness of 

 the Sea, says, that about Holland the salt in the sea-water has been found to 

 be -^. In the English Channel, he found sea-water Vt heavier than conduit- 

 water, and, by immersing a lump of sulphur in it, he found the difi^erence W ; 

 but bv distillation ad siccitatem, he found the salt to be -^, and in another 

 trial -jV- It is certain the sea differs in saltness in different parts. It is in ge- 

 neral observed, that in hottest climates the water is the saltest. At Mosam- 

 bique Mr. Boyle relates an instance of a ship drawing two handsbreadth less 

 water than usual. On the contrary, when salt water freezes, it has been 

 thought to let fall all its salt ; the ice of sea-water, and the water melted from 

 it, tasting fresh, and being good for boiling meat and peas in. Capt. Middle- 

 ton, being in Hudson's Straits in July 1738, took ice from under the sur- 

 face of the sea, which he incited till he got 40 quarts of water, which he eva- 

 porated to dryness, and out cf that quantity had only 6 ounces of salt, or about 



part. 



• The spa was soon after recovered as good as before. — Orig. 



