32 



NA TURE 



[May 8, 1884 



another rent in an opposite direction at an angle of exactly 32 . 

 The brick shaft of the mill stands by itself, and is about 40 feet 

 high. The upper part, ten feet from the top, is broken right 

 through, evidently by the swaying motion, and is twisted round 

 on the lower part one inch and a half towards the south-east. 

 The size of the chimney at this part is 3 feet 9 inches square. 



In view of Mr. Topley's suggestion that the earthquake may 

 have some connection with the underlying ridge of Palaeozoic 

 rocks, it would be interesting to know if any shocks were felt in 

 the Boulonnais and the Ardennes, J. E. Taylor 



Ipswich Museum 



At the Cross Farm, East Mersea, on April 25, 1 was shown in 

 the garden two places where water, it was said, spouted up shortly 

 after the shock on the 22nd. They were about ten yards apart 

 on a freshly dug piece of ground on a slight slope, and the woman 

 who lived in the house close by informed me that after the shock 

 she had observed water spouting out from them, and that it con- 

 tinued to do so until after her dinner, which was at one o'clock, 

 when it ceased. There was enough water she said to cause a 

 small stream to run down from each place towards her house, 

 where they formed a puddle ; her husband tasted the water and 

 told her it was brackish. There was still evidence of the truth 

 of this statement : the earth at each spot was damp, as was also 

 a small channel which the water had made running down the 

 slope. It appeared as if a small underground water-pipe had 

 burst and the water had been forced above the surface. Cross 

 Farm, I believe, is about a quarter of a mile from the sea, and 

 perhaps twenty feet above its level. Edward Newton 



Lowestoft, May 5 



This village lies partly on the lowest beds of the Chalk, and 

 partly on the Gault ; it is between N, lat. 51 49' and 5'° 5°'> 

 and W. long. 0° 40' and o° 41'. The shock was felt at the church, 

 and at two cottages where are invalids in bed. The church is 

 on rising ground at the edge of the chalk platform which lies 

 below the Chilterns, some two miles away from them. I was 

 on the scaffolding erected for repairs to the church. At a little 

 past nine — it could hardly have been later, I think, than 9.15, 

 if so late — I felt the church give what seemed like a fierce 

 shudder. This seemed to begin on the east, rather to north, 

 and travelled westwards nearly. By shudder I mean that a sort 

 of vibration began, which almost instantly increased in intensity, 

 reached a climax, and then rapidly decreased and died away. 

 It seemed to me to begin slightly north of east, because I 

 remember feeling (for what reason I can hardly say) that the 

 cause was hidden from me behind the east end of the church. 

 I was on the south side, some eighteen feet from the south- 

 east corner. A moment after a whirlwind followed, which 

 began, as I find, near the top of the slope north-east of the 

 church, and followed the churchyard wall which bends round 

 the churchyard to south-west. In a cottage on the junction of 

 the Chalk and Gault (or very near the junction), according to 

 the result of inquiries I have made of an invalid there, the 

 pictures on a wall lying north-west and south-east waved from 

 and to the wall, but seemed also to move along it somewhat, 

 i.e. north-west and south-east. Flower-pots on a table rocked 

 in a direction almost east and west, and a window facing the 

 south-east shook ; her bed also, lying north-west and south-east, 

 waved, and seemed as if giving way. This took place, she says, 

 a little after nine. In a cottage on the Gault where another 

 invalid was lying, a window facing south-west rattled, a pic- 

 ture shook on the wall on which it is fixed, and the bed, lying 

 south-east and north-west, also waved. This was, she thought, 

 at nine, but the time must have been later. She noticed that 

 the wind was still. No noise was heard except the clatter 

 caused by the rattling of the buildings.; but at a mill on the 

 Icknield Way. near Tring, lying at nearly lat. 51° 48', and long, 

 o" 40', a rumbling was heard. Frederick W. Ragg 



Masworth Vicarage, Tring, May 6 



Black Rain 



The following paragraph from the Field of May 3 will pro- 

 bably interest those of your readers who have seen my note in 

 the last numbei of X wure (p. 6) : — 



"Black Rain. — Yesterday afternoon (April 28) a violent 

 thunderstorm raged over the district between Church Stretton 

 and Much Wenlock, Torrents of rain fell, seemingly a mixture 



of ink and water in equal proportions. One old man here says 

 he never saw anything like it but once. I certainly never saw 

 such a coloured rain, and I intend to have a bottle of it analysed. 

 Even this afternoon the little brooks are quite black, and the 

 ruts in the roads look as if ink and water had been poured into 

 them. — Rev. R. I. Buddicombe, Ticklerton, Church Stretton." 



An analysis of the rain which fell at Stonyhurst showed that 

 the impurity was almost entirely carbon. S. J. Perry 



Stonyhurst Observatory, Whalley, May 4 



The Remarkable Sunsets 



Because of the volcanic hypothesis that has been proposed 

 to account for the red sunsets of the past fall and winter, other 

 instances where similar phenomena have been seen after like 

 eruptions are of interest. 



Graham's Island, which arose off Sicily in 1831, attracted 

 attention from July 19 to August 16, but was most active on 

 August 7, according to the account given by John Davy in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1S32. The same writer says (p. 

 252) : — "In the month of August a singular appearance was 

 witnessed in the heavens, many evenings successively, both here 

 and in Sicily. Soon after sunset the western sky became of a 

 dark, lurid red, which extended almost to the zenith, and con- 

 tinued gradually diminishing in extent and intensity even beyond 

 the limit of twilight." 



A few days after this eruption, August II and 12, on the 

 clearing away of a hurricane, the sun appeared blue at the Ber- 

 muda Islands {Amei: Journ. Sci. xl. p. 323) ; on August 13, 14, 

 15, at Mobile, in the southern part of the United States, the 

 rays of the sun were pale blue or violet, varying to sea green 

 {Amer. Journ. Sci. xxi. p. 19S). 



In the month of October the sunsets were prominent enough 

 in the vicinity of Washington to attract popular inquiry. At 

 Alexandria, Virginia, October 12, the heavens continued to 

 reflect a very red light for a long time after the sun had set. 

 October 13, at midday, the sun had a silvery appearance, and 

 its rays gave a ghastly appearance to the countenances of persons. 

 Between 3 and 4 p.m. it appeared greenish blue (Niles Register, 

 October 1831). L. G. Carpenter 



State Agricultural College, Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A., 

 April 17 



It may interest readers of Nature to learn that on the occa- 

 sion of a rain-storm at 5 p.m. on the 26th ult. at Crowle, an 

 agricultural village a few miles eastward of this city, the rain- 

 water was so greatly discoloured and loaded with an ash-like 

 matter as to present, until after subsidence, a deep black hue, 

 when caught in vessels placed for the purpose. Again, on 

 Saturday last, the 3rd inst., on the occurrence in this city of 

 rain-storms during a half gale from the north-west, there remained 

 after the storms, on the panes of windows exposed to the north 

 west, a considerable film of dust which had fallen with the rain. 

 While writing it may be mentioned that the phenomenon 

 described as red sunrises and sunsets has prevailed here, before 

 and after sunset, ever since November 9 last ; of late, in gradually 

 decreasing tone and variety of colour, and extent of sky area. 

 The coloration at this date is of a russet hue, and there is a 

 steely glare. J. Ll. Bozward 



Worcester, May 5 



Rotating Thermometers 

 In reference to the Froude thermometer, to which attention is 

 drawn in your last number (p. 6) by Mr. Hazen, I feel con- 

 fident that if its merits were better known it would be uni- 

 versally employed, not only as insuring among all observers 

 absolute uniformity in the record of the temperature of the air, 

 but as affording the only satisfactory means of determining the 

 degree of saturation by means of the wet and dry bulb. Nothing 

 is more perplexing to the meteorologist than the selection of his 

 screen and of an appropriate site. The system of whirling a 

 thermometer rapidly through the air effectually dwarfs all 

 external influences from the rapidity with which renewed 

 particles constantly impinge on the bulb, and it is well known 

 that in the case of the wet bulb the indication is greatly affected 

 by the presence or absence of wind. I found this to be practi- 

 cally the only means of determining the temperature and 

 humidity in a steamer at sea. The only objection was the in- 

 convenience and risk of whirling small thermometers on a string, 



