CONNECTION BETWEEN STOEMS AND SUN-SPOTS. 395 



hundreds of others that are buried in the mighty past — that the years, or 

 periods of sun-spot,_actually, taking them one with another for centuries, . 

 have been just as fi'uitful of violent storms as the present one, and that the- 

 solar radiation has not materially ditfei'ed from its present intensity, increas- 

 ing and decreasing at regular intervals only, it recurring maxima and 

 minima affecting the earth as its meteorological history has shown and w& 

 have experienced in our own time. 



In A. D. 234, a terrific cyclone visited Canterbury, England, that threw 

 down two hundred houses and killed a number of families. In 277. a violent 

 tempest raged at London, destroying many lives and much property. At 

 Winchester, in 301, a destructive hail storm passed over that place, during- 

 which hailstones fell that were larger than hen's eggs. In 420, during a 

 severe storm at Cai'lisle, a number of houses were blown down, and a great 

 many people killed. In 349 a terrible hail storm extended over the greater 

 part of Britain, killing many people and large numbers of cattle. In 459' 

 a most destructive storm visited London, which destroyed hundreds of houses, 

 and killed two hundred and fifty of the inhabitants. Another in Lincoln in 

 701 blew down over one hundred houses. At Cambridge, in 919, forty houses- 

 were destroyed in a tornado. In London again, in 944, fifteen hundred 

 houses were blown down by the force of the wind. In 1055 London was re- 

 visited with another terrible storm, and four hundred houses were demolished.. 

 On the 5th of October, 1091, a violent storm extended over the whole of 

 England, carrying terrible devastation in its course, but was especially 

 severe in Gloucestershire, where it destroyed all the churches and many 

 other buildings. On the 17th of the same month, in the same year, a storm 

 passed over London, throwing down fifteen hundred houses and unroofing- 

 Bow Church. In 1194 a violent storm almost desolated a great part of Den- 

 mark and Norway ; many lives were lost and houses overthrown ; the grain 

 in the fields was destroyed by hailstones as large as hen's eggs. It thun- 

 dered and lightened for fifteen consecutive days, with a succession of terrible 

 tempests. In 1233 the chimney of the chamber where the Queen of King, 

 Henry III and her children lay was blown down, and the whole apart- 

 ments at Windsor shaken. This storm was accompanied "with such thunder 

 and lightning as had not been known in the memory of man.". In 1251,. as- 

 King Edward I and his Queen were talking together in their bed-chamber, 

 a flash of lightning struck in at the window, passed by them, killed two of 

 their servants present, but did their majesties no harm. In 1285, when 

 Edward III was on his march, and within 84 miles of Chartres, "there hap- 

 pened a storm of piercing wind that swelled to a tempest of rain, lightning 

 and hailstones, so prodigious as instantly to kill six thousand of his horses 

 and one thousand of his best troops." In 1479 a storm passed over Hunting- 

 donshire, in which the hailstones measured eighteen inches in circumference. 

 In 1510 a storm of fearful violence in Italy "destroyed all the fish, birds and 

 beasts" in an immense area of country. On new year's day, 1515, a terrific 

 storm in portions of Denmark rooted up whole forests, and -blew down the- 



