158 



November 12, 1855. 



A paper was read by the Master of Trinity on the Intellectual 

 Powers according to Plato. 



Also, Prof. Sedgwick gave a lecture on the Classification and 

 Nomenclature of the Pakvozoie Rocks. 



November 26, 1855. 



A paper was read on the Earthquake in Switzerland in July last, 

 by the Rev. O. Fisher. 



The 25th of July, 1855, on which the first and most severe shock 

 was felt, was a very wet, close day, and the little wind stirring came 

 from the S.W. 



In the Miinster Thai the earthquake began by a rumbling vibra- 

 tion like that caused by a carriage run under an archway, gradually 

 increased for about four seconds, and then suddenly ceased. The 

 oscillation seemed to be from E.S.E. to W.N.W., but would be 

 affected by the build of the house. 



In the church at Bienne two stones fell from the groining thirty 

 or forty feet into the organ pipes, to a point between 2 and 2-£- feet 

 N. by E. of the point vertically beneath their first position ; and 

 allowing for the direction of the building, this would give the motion 

 of the earth about from N.E. to S.W. This wave may have been a 

 reflexion caused by the wave entering the Jura from the valley. 

 Another shock was felt at Bienne, at 10 a.m., on the 26th. 



The great shock was felt at Strasburg, slightly at Lyons in a 

 direction from E. to W. ; likewise at Chambery, Alessandria, and 

 Genoa. The account given by Plana in the Times does not seem 

 very intelligible, but as far as can be made out from the stopping of 

 the clocks, it gives the direction of the shock at Turin about 30° W. 

 of S. Chiavenna, the western shore of the Lake of Constance, and 

 Schaft'liausen seem to fix the limit to which it was felt towards the 

 east. The area shaken was therefore an oval, having its largest 

 dimension about 300 miles N. and S., and its shortest 250 miles E. 

 and W. 



At Geneva the shock appeared to be directed to E.N.E. At Thun 

 it appeared to come from Frutigeu. At Kandersteg, at the north 

 foot of the Gemmi, the shock was N. and S. At Interlaken the 

 shocks were more severe ; and at Ormont, Canton Vaud, the oscil- 

 latiou came from W. to E., preceded by a noise which lasted for an 

 instant only, and the roof of a house fell in. It seems that nearer 

 the centre of the oval the intensity of the shock was greater. At 

 the baths of Leuk a chimney was thrown down and the walls cracked ; 

 but on ascending the valley of the Rhone the evidence of disturbance 

 became rapidly more marked up to Visp, where only seven houses 

 remained habitable. At the little inn, the " Soleil," the flag pave- 



