18 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO J 750. 



A Catalogue of the 50 Plants from Chelsea Garden, presented to the Royal So- 

 ciety by the fVorshipful Company of Apothecaries for the Year 1748, pursuant 

 to the Direction oj Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. &c. N° 494, p. 359. 

 [This is the 27th annual presentation of this kind, completing to the number 



of 1350 different plants.] 



A Surprising Inundation in the T'^alley of St. John's near Kesivick, in Cumberland, 

 August 22, 1749, in a Letter from a Young Clergyman to his Friend. Com- 

 municated by John Lock, Esq., F.R.S. N° 494, p. 362. 

 This remarkable fall of water happened at 9 o'clock in the evening, in 

 the midst of the most terrible thunder, and incessant lightning, ever known 

 in that part in the memory of the oldest man living, the preceding after- 

 noon having been extremely hot and sultry. And what seems very uncommon, 

 and difficult to account for, the inhabitants of the vale, of good credit, affirm 

 they heard a strange buzzing noise like that of a malt-mill, or the sound of wind 

 in the tops of trees for two hours together before the clouds broke. From the 

 havock it has made in so short a time, for it was all over in less than 2 hours, 

 it must have far exceeded any thunder-shower that we have ever seen. Most 

 probably it was a spout or large body of water, which, by the rarefaction of the 

 air, occasioned by that incessant lightning, broke all at once on the tops of these 

 mountains, and so came down in a sheet of water on the valley below. 



This little valley of St. John's lies east and west, extending about 3 miles in 

 length, and half a mile broad, closed in on the south and north sides, with pro- 

 digious high, steep, rocky mountains : those on the north side, called Legburthet 

 Fells, had almost the whole of this cataract. It appears also that this vast spout 

 did not extend above a mile in length ; for it had effect only on 4 small brooks, 

 which came trickling down from the sides of the rocky mountains. But no 

 person, that does not see it, can form any idea of the ruinous work occasioned 

 by these rivulets at that time, and in the space of an hour and half. At the 

 bottom of Catcheety Gill, which is the name of the greatest, stood a mill and a 

 kiln, which were entirely swept away, in 5 minutes time, and the place where 

 they formerly stood, now covered with huge rocks, and rubbish, 3 or 4 yards 

 deep. One of the mill-stones cannot be found, being covered, as is supposed 

 in the bottom of this heap of rubbish. 



In the violence of the storm, the mountain has tumbled so fast down, as to 

 choak up the old course of this brook ; and it has forced its way through a 

 shivery rock, where it now runs in a great chasm, 4 yards wide, and between 8 

 and 9 deep. In the course of each of these brooks, such monstrous stones, or 

 rather rocks, and such vast quantities of gravel and sand, are thrown on their 



