414 
NATURE 
[Afarch 23, 1871 

felt soon after eleven o'clock. At Singleton Brook, near Man- 
chester, the first shock was felt at precisely six miuutes to eleven, 
A resident says that the windows of his house were violently 
shaken, as though a heavy vehicle was passing along the road. 
About five minutes past eleven the noise was again heard, ac- 
companied, as before, by a tremulous motion, ‘his time the 
effect was much more marked and continuous. At first the 
impression produced was merely that of trembling, which lasted 
for perhaps two seconds. This was succeeded by a slight pause 
of about half a second, and then the beds were distinctly felt to 
roll from side to side, exactly like the heaving ofa ship at anchor, 
and with the same sharp and sudden check to the motion. The 
time occupied by the secund shock was about four seconds. Iin- 
mediately before the first shock a h.aviness in the atmosphere 
had been noticed, as if there were a sudden change in the tem- 
perature. A similar effect was produced, according to concurrent 
testimony, in the neighbourhood of Bowdon, A decided shock 
was experienced at Leeds, and from accounts received fiom York, 
Wakefield, Doncaster, and other places, it seems to have been 
pretty generally felt over the southern part of Yorkshire. The 
accounts obtained from a variety of sources in Leeds show that 
it was felt in nearly every part of the borough. The statements 
vary slightly as to the exact time of the occurrence, but it must 
have taken place from eleven to a quarter-past. There were 
two motions, the first being very slight—so slight that no notice 
would probably have been taken, but for a more decided one 
which followed, and the result of which was that windows were 
violently shaken in their frames, and in some houses articles of 
crockery displaced. At Ulverston and Lancaster the shock was 
felt. Furniture in houses was thrown over, and people shaken 
and considerably alarmed. Two distinct shocks were experienced 
in the neighbourhood of Kendal; the first at about 6,20, the 
second at about 11.15. The first was not violent, and it does 
not appear to have been generally noticed, but the second was 
everywhere felt, and created great alarm. It lasted abvut ten or 
twelve seconds, and was felt at a distance of sixteen miles from 
Kendal, on the borders of Yorkshire. It appears to have taken 
a south-westerly direction. Several witnesses state that at the 
time of the occurrence they observed an unusual swell in the 
waters of Windermere lake. During the evening the atmosphere 
was very calm and foggy, like that preceding a thunderstorm. 
At Preston the shock was very keenly felt, and it created very 
much confusion and alarm. In our Correspondence columns will 
be found several other letters descriptive of the unusual phe- 
nomenon. 
M. DECcAISNE, director of the Yardin des Plantes at Paris, 
writing to the Gardener's Chronicle, thanks the English horti- 
culturists for their offers of assistance, and asks especially for con- 
tributions of Pandanacez, Nepenthes, Cyclanthex, Orchids, and 
Verns, ‘*‘ But,” he asks, ‘‘ who will restore to us the Malpighiacea: 
which our illustrious predecessor, Adrien de Jussieu, got to- 
gether with so much pains? Who can tive us back the old 
plants which were deposited here by such men as Aublet, Com- 
merson, or Du Petit Thouars? For many years our stuves.must 
bear the traces of these cruel losses. The effect,” he adds, ‘‘ of 
the shells on the monvcotyledonous plants was very singular, 
and different in diferent cases. Thus the Pandanacex, Cyclan- 
the, and Draczenas had thcir leaves and young stems completely 
cut off by the explosions of the shells, white the Bromeliacex 
were uninjured alike by the concussiou and by the cold, which 
destroyed contiguous plants of other families.” 
WE learn from New Zealand that a fine display of Aurora 
was seen in that colony on the 24th and 25th of October last. 
It is not a little remarkable that while on the 24th Lyttleton was 
almost totally burnt down and the colonial papers attributed the 
btood-red appearance of the sky to the reflection of the fire, 



many pe:sons in this country actually supposed the appearance 
of our display to arise from the burning of Paris. 
One of the smartest shocks of earthquake known for some 
time in New Zealand was felt at Wellington at a few minutes past 
twelve on the night of the Ist of January last. 
THE Marlborough College Natural History Society has issued 
its report for the half-year ending Christmas 1870, showing that 
it continues to prosper and to do good work. The most interesting 
papers printed; at length are one by Mr. F. E. Hulme, “ On 
Mosaic, Ancient, Medizeval, and Modern,” containing a history 
of the art, with a very good illustration; and a prize essay by 
Mr. J. L. Fuller, ‘‘ On the Identification of Lirds’ Eggs ;” in 
which an empirical mode of classification and recognition is given, 
which will be useful to collectors. As an appendix is printed the 
commencement of a very careful second edition of a “ Flora of 
Marlborough,” by the Rev. T. A. Preston, which is carried on 
as far as the completion of Thalamiflorz. 
THE Winchester and Hampshire Scientific and Literary Society 
has issued its first annual report, a promise, we hope, of good 
things to come. Although the first meeting was only held in 
November 1869, under the presidentship of the Rey. C. A. 
Johns, the society now numbers over a hundred members, and 
seems to have set itself to do useful work in local and general 
natural history and physical science. Thirteen papers were read 
before the society during its first session ; and a list of plants col- 
lected during the year in the immediate neighbourhood of Win- 
chester is promised with the next report. We would remind 
those who have to compile this list that grasses are flowering 
plants, although a sentence in the report before us would seem to 
imply the contrary. ‘The rapid spread of these local natural his- 
tory societies is a very healthy sign of the increase of the study of 
science in the country. 
Tux lute numbers of the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological 
Society, of which two, published together, have just appeared, con- 
tain, as usual, valuable contributions from Dr. Buchan, In No.27 
he gives his second notice on the Rainfall of Scotland, treating 
of the central districts from the Firths of Porth and Clyde to 
the Grampians. The former notice referred to the southern 
counties. The paper shows that the precipitation in the upper 
valleys of the Forth and Tay is about 90 inches, or 20 inches 
more than at the wettest siations in the South. The maximum, 
91°90 inches, was observed at Glengyle. It also appears that 
the amount does not depend on the level of the gauge uearly as 
much as on local conditions. At Leng, at the height of 325 feet, 
the amount is 66°37 inches, whereas on Ben Ledi, at the height 
of 1,800 feet, it is only 58°43 inches. The last number contains 
a most important paper on the Mean Temperature of these islands, 
based on the Registrar General’s Reports, and on observations 
from a few foreign stations, The means are taken from the 
maximum and minimum readings, and in some cases are for 
thirteen years, in others for less; but all have been reduced to 
the probable thiiteen-year means. Daily range has been dis- 
regarded. ‘The paper is illustrated by twelve monthly and a 
general chart. The results have been carefully discussed by Mr. 
Buchan, and, whenever possible, with reference to sea tem- 
perature. The results for Ireland are of less value than those 
for Great Britain, owing to the paucity of observations. The 
paper is specially to be welcomed, as Dove’s Tables give but 
little information for the United Kingdom. The numbers con- 
tain some other short papers and the usual tables. 
Wirt reference to the flowering of the hazel, the Gardener's 
Chronicle calls attention to the singular fact that male catkins 
often appear in January, which have completely withered away 
before the female flowers and a second crop of male catkins 
appears some weeks later, and pertinently asks, what can be the 
object of this first crop of catkins? 
