540 



Mr. Fox admits that the non-mechanical deposits in mineral veins 

 may be due, in part, to infiltration from the enclosing rocks ; but \t 

 appears to him, that such deposits might have been derived in almost 

 indefinite quantities, by the circulation or ascension of currents of 

 heated water from the deeper parts of the original fissures. He says, 

 that water in this state possesses very great powers as a solvent, and 

 would therefore become highly charged with earthy and metallic salts ; 

 but that in ascending it would lose its temperature, and consequently 

 deposit the solutions against the sides of the veins. 



He is of opinion, that the arrangement of the ore in different rocks, 

 cannot be due to simple chemical affinity only, because the accumula- 

 tion of the metallic masses is not found, in Cornwall at least, to depend 

 on the nature of the containing rock, the ore of a given metal being 

 sometimes found in granite, sometimes in elvan, sometimes in killas. 

 This preferment of one rock to another he conceives may have re- 

 sulted from the relative position of the mineral masses, but to be 

 chiefly due to electricity. 



Extracts from two letters " On the Earthquake in Syria in January 

 lastj'' addressed by Mr. Moore, his Majesty's Consul-General at 

 Beyrout, to Viscount Palmersion, and communicated by J. Back- 

 house, Esq., and the Hon. W. T. H. Fox Strangways, F.G.S., Under 

 Secretaries of State, were also read. 



The first letter, dated Beyrout, Jan. 2nd, 1837, announces that the 

 earthquake was felt in that city at thirty-five minutes past four o'clock 

 in the afternoon of the preceding day. It was accompanied by a 

 rumbling noise, which lasted about ten seconds, and appeared to pro- 

 ceed from the north. No buildings were thrown down in the town, but 

 seven or eight without the walls, and one or two lives were lost. In 

 the neighbourhood of Beyrout the course of the river Ontilias was 

 suspended, and mills built on its banks were deprived of water for 

 some hours. When the stream returned it was turbid, and of a red- 

 dish sandy colour. 



During the day of the earthquake the atmosphere was close and 

 charged with electricity. Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at fi6°, 

 but five minutes after the earthquake it rose to 70°. Four or five mi- 

 nutes after the shock the compass was still agitated. The oldest 

 inhabitants did not remember so severe an earthquake. 



The second letter was written also at Beyrout, partly on the 9th 

 of January, and partly on the 23rd. It contains detailed accounts of 

 the damage which had been done to numerous towns and villages. 

 At Damascus, four minarets and several houses were thrown down j 

 and at Acre, part of the walls and some buildings. Saffet was en- 

 tirely destroyed, and nearly all the population, amounting to between 

 four and five thousand, perished. The ground near the city was 

 rent into fearful chasms, and up to the last accounts shocks were 

 felt daily. Tiberiad was also entirely destroyed, except the baths ; 

 and the lake rose and drowned many of the inhabitants. The 

 dispatch contains a list of thirty-nine villages which had been totally 

 destroyed, and six partially; and Mr. Moore says, it had been ascer- 

 tained that the earthquake was felt on a line of five hundred miles in 



