7, 
>. 
Fan. 25, 1883] 
Gresham Committee reported that they had agreed with the 
Mercers’ Company upon a scheme by which the open area of 
the Royal Exchange should be roofed over at a cost of 10,000/. 
Does this mean that the funds of the Gresham Estate are par- 
ticularly flourishing just now, or that they are to be burdened 
with a new liability which will indefinitely postpone the time 
when there may be a surplus to be devoted to that advancement 
of science which Sir Thomas Gresham had in view in forming 
Gresham College? It is not long since some of the bonds, which 
represent money borrowed on the Gresham Estate for the build- 
ing of the Royal Exchange, were advertised for repayment out 
of its surplus annual income, which afforded a hope that a good 
time for the scientific part of Sir Thomas Gresham’s bequest 
might be drawing nigh. The public would be glad to know 
whether this hope is to be falsified or not. W. B. 
January 20 
Siwalik Carnivora 
May I ask space to thank your correspondents for their answer 
to my previous inquiries concerning collections of Siwalik fossils 
in England, (many of which I have not yet had an opportunity 
cf visiting,) and to add that I am now about undertaking the 
description of Siwalik Carnivora for the Indian Government ? All 
remains of this order are very scarce, and in general fragmentary, 
and every specimen is, therefore, important. If any specimens 
exist in any provincial collections, I should be very glad of any 
information regarding them, and if possible of the opportunity 
of describing them in my forthcoming memoir. Any specimens 
sent to me, to the care of Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S., British 
Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W., will be 
thankfully received, and duly returned after comparison and 
description, if necessary. RICHARD LYDEKKER 
The Lodge, Harpenden, Herts, January 17 
Earthquakes 
EARTHQUAKE phenomena are extremely rare in this highly 
favoured part of the world; but we had a very decided shake 
near the close of the year 1882. It occurred Jast night (Sunday, 
December 31) at about five minutes past ten o’clock, Halifax 
time, as nearly as can be determined at present. My observa- 
tion was made at -Lucyfield, ten miles north from the city of 
Walifax ; the house stands on a rounded hill formed of unaltered 
drift, overlying slate rock, and at an elevation of about 350 
feet above sea-level. 
The air was perfectly still. There was a sudden rumble as of 
heavy waggons on a hard road at some little distance, then the 
sound became louder, I may say deafening, as of heavy loaded 
waggons running close to the wall; or of a heavy railway train 
cunning through a reverberating cutting ; then the noise seemed 
overhead as if caused by rolling heavy furniture on the upper 
floor ; there was a slight vibration of the building, as if some- 
thing large and heavy had struck the roof, icicles fell from the 
eaves, fragments of plaster fell down behind the lathing of 
the walls, and there was a sound like a sudden gust of wind upon 
the windows and walls outside (there was no wind however). 
Suddenly noise and vibration ceased, and all was perfectly still. 
Passing outside, to look for some cause for these remarkable 
phenomena, nothing particular was noticeable. The country 
was covered with a thick white mantle of snow, the air was per- 
fectly calm, there had been no rain drops, nor hail, but a faint 
flash of lightning (unaccompanied by thunder) occurred about a 
minute and a half or two minutes after cessation of the shock. 
For two or three days prior to the shock, the temperature did 
not fluctuate much. The thermometer stood at zero centigrade 
(32° F.) at sunset on the 31st and has not varied much since ; it 
was within a degree of the same at sunset of the previous day, 
but went downat night, rising again in the morning. During 
the day (31st) the sky was clear with some light fleecy clouds, 
wind northerly, but veered round to south-west about sunset, and 
the sky became overcast with clouds ; later the clouds seemed to 
clear away, but the air became foggy, and was so at the time of 
the shock. (About Truro I am informed the sky was ‘‘clear 
and starry.”) The air had been in a highly electric state during 
the afternoon and evening. 
The earthquake shock lasted, as nearly as I can compute from 
recalling circumstances, something less than a minute, certainly 
more than half a minute, but probably not more than a whole 
one. I cannot indicate with any degree of certainty the direction 
NATURE 
293 
of oscillation; so far as a retrospect of circumstances and 
sensations indicate, the apparent movement was from south-west 
to north-east. 
Most persons in the city of Halifax to whom I have spoken 
to day observed the shock more or less distinctly, but it does not 
appear to have been nearly as violent in the city as in some other 
places. I ascertained from the conductor of the morning railway 
train that the shock was felt more or less severely all along the 
journey traversed by his train this morning, viz. from Truro to 
Halifax, a distance of sixty-one miles. At Shubenacadie, nearly 
thirty miles from my point of observation, flower-pots in the 
railway station house were toppled over on the window-sill 
and rolled upon the floor, 
I have jotted down these particulars, thinking they may possibly 
prove of some interest if compared with the observations of 
others at different points. GEORGE LAWSON 
Dalhousie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, January 1 
A SHOCK of earthquake was felt in this district on Tuesday, 
January 16, about 5 p.m. Comparatively few persons perceived 
it, but to those who did it was a striking phenomenon, The 
following report has been handed to me by a trustworthy 
observer :— 
“About 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16, I was standing in a 
room, leaning against the foot of an iron bedstead, and facing a 
window, in front of which, on a table, was a cage containing one 
of the small African parrakeets known as love birds. The room 
was perfectly quiet, when this bird, which had settled itself for 
the night, surprised me by craning out its neck and flattening its 
plumage with every appearance of alarm, without any sound or 
movement on my part, or anything in the room which could 
possibly have frightened it. Immediately afterwards the iron 
bedstead I was leaning against, as well as the floor, trembled 
sufficiently to make me wonder what on earth was going on, 
especially as I heard no sound sufficient to account for it. The 
trembling ceased in a few seconds, and, while I was still won- 
dering, returned in a greater degree than before, lasting this time 
about five seconds. The feeling I experienced was similar to 
that of standing on a bridge while a load was passing over. The 
second time I speedily came to the conclusion that it was caused 
by an earthquake.” GerorGE F. BURDER 
Clifton, January 20 
I sHALL feel obliged if you will put on record in your columns 
that an earthquake was felt at Hastings by my sister and myself 
in separate rooms, on Tuesday morning last, the 16th inst., at 
g} minutes past 9 a.m. The undulatione were between E.S.E. 
and W.N.W., and lasted about 4 seconds. 
R. H. TIDDEMAN 
H.M. Geological Survey, 28, Jermyn Street, S.W., Jan. 20 
The Sea Serpent 
BELIEVING it to be desirable that every well-authenticated 
observation indicating the existence of large sea serpents should 
be permanently regi-tered, I send you the following particulars. 
About three p.m. on Sunday, September 3, 1882, a party of 
gentlemen and ladies were standing at the northern extremity of 
Llandudno pier, looking towards the open sea, when an unusual 
object was observed in the water near to the Little Orme’s Head, 
eS eee 
——————— 
travelling rapidly westwards towards the Great Orme. It 
appeared to be just outside the mouth of the bay, and would 
therefore be about a mile distant from the observers. It was 
watched for about two minutes, and in that interval it traversed 
about half the width of the bay, and then suddenly disappeared. 
The bay is two miles wide, and therefore the object, whatever it 
was, must have travelled at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It 
is estimated to have been fully as long as a large steamer, say 
200 feet; the rapidity of its motion was particularly remarked as 
| being greater than that of any ordinary vessel. The colour 
