224 Proceedings of the Boycd Physical Society. 



The little brooklet of Baldie's Burn rises almost beneath 

 the Common Edge Hill, 1500 feet high, which looks down on 

 the sudden twist to the north-west which the Devon makes in 

 its course near the Pool of Muckhart. This was the farthest 

 course of the ravages of the flood ; but nowhere were better 

 evidences seen of its extraordinary power. The brooklet can 

 be stepped over during most of its course, and but in two 

 places, its descent partakes of the precipitous. Where it 

 crosses the Muckhart road is a wright's workshop with dwell- 

 ing house, and two labourers' cottages, and a triangular space 

 of ground covering about a quarter of an acre. This was 

 covered by stones and boulders, some placed one above 

 another, and many a foot and half in longitudinal diameter ; 

 while the gardens were silted over with gravel and the 

 houses flooded. The bridge withstood the shock, though with 

 difficulty. Higher up the hill above Westerhall steading is 

 another fiat, and on it an island of large boulders some twelve 

 feet long was suddenly formed. The ravages of the flood 

 occurred at the same hour as the disasters of Tillicoultry and 

 Dollar. 



The peculiarity of this flood was the short space in which 

 the damages were effected. The head wave which cut out 

 thirty feet of roadway at Dollar, and made the great embank- 

 ment, lasted only a quarter of an hour ; and the normal state 

 of things was resumed in about an hour after. The power of 

 the flood did not depend on the rainfall. Mr Coyne, C.E., 

 superintendent of the Edinburgh Waterworks, states that in 

 1876 a sudden spate at Harperrig reservoir did great damage, 

 carrying off walls and embankments. It lasted an hour, and 

 as the rainfall is measured by the resident keeper, it is known 

 that much heavier falls have since occurred with no damage 

 to the city property. Given a rain cloud of sufficient height 

 to strike the Ochils at 1500 to 1000 feet, then there is suffi- 

 cient hydraulic power to lift thousands of tons of gravel, sand, 

 and boulders. 



Our records of seasons like that of 1877 are very incom- 

 plete. Wet seasons may follow those of extreme cold, like 

 that of 1875, or that of 1831. Very considerable alterations 

 may thus have been formed at the base of these hills without 



