Dr. C. Daviwn— British EarthqtMhes, 1893-99. 173 



a series of slii^ht shocks. On the 3rd irist. he was sitting in 

 a railway carriage placed in siding at Severn Junction station. 

 At 2.15^ p.m. he felt a sensible upward movement of the seat (as 

 if pushed from below) and saw the carriage sway. The movement 

 was from south to north, i.e. at right angles to the railway, and was> 

 repeated four times in about six seconds. At 2.17 p.m. there were 

 two weaker movements. There was no train at the station, and the 

 air was calm. Ice in the neighbourhood waa said to have been 

 cracked at the time. On Jan. 4, at 11 a.m., a heavy plant stage in 

 a greenhouse at Itton Court, near Chepstow, was seen by two 

 gentlemen to move four times. On Jan. 5, between 2 and 3 (?) p.m., 

 and again on the 6th a little earlier, a rumbling noise was heard on 

 the Black Mountains near Llanthony Monastery. On Jan. 14, 

 at 6.o5 p.m., a shock, lasting more than a second, was felt at 

 Colesford (in Gloucestershire, a few miles from Monmouth) by 

 a gentleman who had had experience of earthquakes in Ja[)an. 



Much fuller evidence than is here given would be required to 

 establish the seismic character of these disturbances. An earthquake- 

 shock strong enough to cause a sensible upward movement like that 

 felt on Jan. 2 would be noticed over an area of many square miles, 

 and could not fail to have attracted the attention of other persons. 

 The rumbling noises near Llanthony may have been due to other 

 natural or to artificial causes. It is clear that they cannot be placed 

 in the same category as the Glen Garry earth-sound of Dec. 11, 

 1893, or the Fort William earth-sound of Jan. 9, 1895. In only 

 one case were there two observers, and they were in the same house. 

 I think, therefore, that the evidence is insufficient to enable us to 

 regard them as other than doubtful, if not spurious, earthquakes. 



Isle of Man: May 5-6, 1893. — A number of shocks were felt at 

 nearly regular intervals on the days noticed, but there can be little, 

 if any, doubt that they were due to the firing of heavy guns from 

 H.M.S. " Neptune " (see Nature, vol. Ix, 1899, p. 139). 



Coinrie : Feb. 27, 1894. — Keports of an earthquake on this day 

 appeared in several daily papers, but were at once contradicted in 

 the two journals published in Crieff, It is certain that an earth- 

 quake felt also, as alleged, at Ardoch and Buchanty (more than 

 8 and 10 miles, i-espectively, from Comrie) would have been widely 

 observed. The weather, moreover, was stormy, and several peals 

 of thunder were heard at the time at Comrie. 



West Cornwall: May 29, 1896. — According to a paragraph in 

 the Standard for the following day, a slight earthquake-shock was 

 felt in West Cornwall at 6.55 a.m., and men on their way to work 

 at the Camborne Mines felt the vibrations distinctlj'. I made many 

 inquiries in the district, but none of my correspondents had met 

 with, or heard of, any observer of the supposed earthquake. I do 

 not think, therefore, that any reliance can be placed upon the report. 



Through the kindness of several correspondents I have received 

 reports of supposed earthquakes, but as I have been unable to obtain 

 corroborative evidence, I have confined myself to noticing those 

 which are recorded in journals that future seismologists would be 

 likely to consult. 



