C. Davison — British Enrthquahes of 1889. 365 



I am indebted to Mr. E. T. Omond, Director of the Ben Nevis 

 Observatory, for the only information I have been able to obtain 

 with reference to this eartliquake. " It was," he says, " sufficiently 

 strong to make part of the wooden roof creak, but was, as far as 

 I know, not noticed in any other part of the country." The few 

 inquiries that I have been able to make confirm this remark, and I 

 think we may therefore conclude that the epicentrum cannot have 

 been very distant from Ben Nevis. The great fault, which crosses 

 Scotland from Inverness in a south-westerly direction, passes at the 

 surface within a short distance from Ben Nevis; and being, in 

 other parts of its course, closely associated with recent earthquakes, 

 may possibly, by a slip, have given rise to the Ben Nevis shock. 



]n connexion with this earthquake may be mentioned a slight 

 shock felt on June 19, 1889, at 7h. 40m., at Invergarry, a place 

 26 miles N.E. of Ben Nevis, and also close to the same great line 

 of fault. Mr. John Grant, of Invergarry, was kind enough to 

 send me a note of this shock, and also a list of several others 

 felt between Jan. 1, 1888, and Jan. 19, 1890. I have followed the 

 rule laid down by the Swiss Seismological Commission, of not 

 treating as undoubted earthquakes those which rest on the authority 

 of one observer only ; but, at the same time, I think it is evident, 

 from the opportunities which Mr. Grant has had for these obser- 

 vations, that this is a somewhat exceptional case. I add here his 

 list of the earthquakes felt at Invergarry during the year 1888, as it 

 has an obvious bearing on the seismic history of the district : 



1888. 



Jan. 5, 5h. 30m., four vibrations, strong enough to shake lamps, 

 dishes, etc. (Intensity IV.) 



Feb. 2, 5h. 5m., one vibration, like the passing of a heavy 

 carriage.^ 



Feb. 29, 20h. 10m., one vibration, like a carriage passing. 



March 1, 9h. 15m., the same. 



April 4, 9h. and llh., like a light carriage passing. 



May 20, 18h. 10m., the same. 



July 3, 14h. oOm., the same. 



Oct. 22, 13h. 25m., the same. 



4. KiNTYKE Earthquake: July 15, 1889. 



Time of occurrence, about 18 h. ; Intensity, V. Epicentrum, about 

 3^ miles S.E. of Clachan. 



Disturbed area. — I have only succeeded in obtaining records of this 

 shock from eight places ; but the information received from these 

 and other places is sufficient to enable the boundary to be drawn 

 with a fair approach to accuracy. Thus, the shock was not felt at 

 Campbeltown or Southend, nor on the west side of the ridge of 

 Gigha Island. In Arran, the Rev. J. Johnstone informs me, it 

 " was felt from Pionmill right by the Crawhill and Lochranza, 

 passing through the glen that enters Lochranza from Sannox." 



^ This earthquake was felt over the greater part of northern Scotland. 



