268 Profefor WitLiams on Earthquakes, 
_ cerning this earth which was thrown up, the Rev. Mr. Lowel, 
minifter in Newbury, mentions an uncommon circumftance; 
*« One thing (fays he) I may add, which is'very remarkable, 
* and which may be depended on : that about the middle of 
. ** April, that fine fand, which was thrown up in feveral places 
- ** jn this parifh, at the firft great fhock, October 29, hada very 
** offenfive ftench ; nay, was more naufeous than a putrifying 
- ** corps ; yet, in a very little while after it had no {mel at all. 
n How long - it was before it begun: to have this ftench I am 
** not certain. I know it had it not at firft : “and, I believe, it 
- ** was covered with fnow till a little while before.— T here is no 
** fmell now."* Thefe accounts refer to matters fo eafy to be 
. known, that there is no room to fufpect that the authors (both 
gentlemen of a philofophic tafte, as well as of eminence in their 
particular profeffions) could be miftaken. And it feems high- 
“ly probable, from their obfervations, that the fand which was 
ema out by the earthquake, contained fome very noxious, 
^. i 
ill-feented vapour, or efluvia ; which, fo long as there was 
= AN. ds 
ma EX 
-nott w confine it, paffed away in quantities too {mall to be 
perceptible to the fenfes : but when it. was kept together by 
the now, gathered in fuch quantities as ftrongly to infe& pl 
: dx moaet de fapw vg it ir erty to evapo 
ags > 
i how EON E S. qr 
--— hs ~ ae Pees, SS bi "an 
P TALET dd t 
t4 
HIC 4 
f ; PO^TVIES 
4* 
n E atl y after the EA A there” was “fad a ‘tink, | or r ron 
v » that the family could fcarce bear to be in the houfe for a ar 
night. The like is'alfo confirmed from other places. Periéhs 
alfo ai p that pue s m 
€, they 
#* perceived flathes of light.” . Phil. Tranf, No, 437 d 
` * Letter to Dr. Colman. "Phil. Trait NS 409. Y HO2OS n6 vi Lem 3 98 ac 
ih ia 
