278 



A LAKE PHENOMENON. 



[I6c 



I Lave thus, as far as the present state of philological know- 

 ledge permits, endeavoured to represent the original lai gu igi 

 of Italy, and to draw from the consideration "I their remains, 

 conclusions which seem to explain the ethnographical history of 

 the races anciently inhabiting the peninsula. In advancing his 

 speculations, a student must necessarily labour under a feeling 

 of diffidence, the natural result of the difficulty and comparative 

 uncertainty of such inquiries. Thus, whether we see reason to 

 agree with, or to differ from, other scholars, we feel convinced 

 that all parties arc as yet only on the threshold of philological 

 and ethnological truth, and that the door will not he opened but 

 to the patient and modest inquirer. The secrel storehouse of 

 the great harvest of philology, and therefore of ancient history, 

 is vet to find; we must content ourselves if we are allowed to 

 glean a few scattered ears on the deserted Geld. Our aim must 

 be to notice the position of these remains, the direction which 

 the track of the harvesters seems to have t;.ken; that with sure 

 though unequal steps we may follow them from field to held, till 

 ■we reach the great depositary itself, and are able surely to ascer- 

 tain the relations of the great tribes of the old world with one 

 another and with ourselves. 



And mjw the Earth receives thee | with 16ving upon bosom, 

 SoipiO, great Cornelius, [ mighty sou of Publius. 



This ancient metre is well described by Macaulay (Preface to " Lays 

 of Ancient Rome,") and by Donaldson (•■ Vanonianus," ch. VI.). It 

 seems to have existed in Italy from the earliest limes, as it may be tiaced 

 in the Eugnbine Tables. Perhaps our children, when they sing tbe fame 

 of the " Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie," are not aware that 

 in some old Umbrian village, which, 



" Like an eagle's nest, hung on the crest 

 Of purple Appennine," 



some good three thousand years ago, they hushed their children to sleep to 

 the same tune. 



A lialcc Phenomenon . 



The " Niagara Mail," of May 3d, describes at some length a 

 remarkable phenomenon which occurred on the 25th of April 

 at the head of Lake Ontario, near the mouth of the Niagara 

 river. Below is the "Mail's"' description of this singular occur- 

 rence : 



" In alluding in our last to the remarkable case of two persons being 

 drowned (one of whom was James Foster, an old sailor, and not a pensioner, 

 as we heard), we had not time to do more than chronicle the bare fact, 

 without enlarging on the singular phenomenon which caused their death. — 

 Since then, however, we have made minute inquiries into the circumstances, 

 and remain satisfied that, the sudden and extraordinary overflow of the 

 Lake, which occurred on the 25th ult, originated in some subaqueous con- 

 vulsion , winch took place in the bed of the Lake. 



The facts of the event of the 25th, as far as noticed, seem to be as fol- 

 lows : — About a quarter or half-past six o'clock, p.m., a thunder storm 

 came up from the north-west, with a few flashes of lightning, and a heavy 

 shower, accompanied by a strong squall of wind for" a few minutes, the 

 weather being quite calm just before the gust, and the same after it. The 

 fishermen who were on the beach, seeing the squall come on, hurried to 

 get in their seine, when suddenly there appeared, rolline in upon them, an 

 immense wave from the north-west. The height of this wave could not 

 have been less, we judge, than from six to eight feet, although it is difficult 

 to ascertain correctly. It came rolling on the smooth lake with sreat velocity, 

 carrying all before it, and sweeping some of the fishermen into the Two-mile 

 Pond, and dashing others of them high up against the bank, by which, 

 as we related, two persons were unfortunately drowned. The water came 

 and returned three times in succession, and "then settled down quite calm, 

 as it had been before this commotion. It was noticed, moreover, that tie 

 wave brought up and cast upon the beach a quantity of logs and sunken 



drift 'A""' 1 which bad appaii ndy lain long ai the bottom of tbe lake, show- 

 ing clearly that the movement must have come from the bottom. Then 

 was no wind blowing to cause such an unprecedented and rapid swell of 

 the water, the like of which I on ibis side of the lake, 



although something similar occurred at Cobourj u cou] i ago, 



and a similar phenomem taken place in .Mud Lake 



within a few yeans. 



[| i evidi ni i" ue that there has been an earthquake in the bed of the 

 Lake, at no great distance from land, although Ini re was not the slightest 



tremoi liced on shore. These occurrences, taking place as ftaej 



would seem n> ii d he bed of the Lai i sub- 



terranean disturbance than thi main land, and may undergo agitation at 

 times, " ithoul the fad being noticed by dwellers on its margin ; bul when 



■ earthquake was fell here about eighteen months ago, the rush of wa 

 upon the shore for a shorttime wa lie disturbanci in 



that ca^e being, in all probability, further off, preventeda great and sudden 

 ii e of water like that on the 25th. 



It has been shown, in support of a certain theory, tbat byfarthe greatest 

 number of earthquakes have occurred about the new or full of the moon. 

 This theory may receive another case in its support, by : i eration 

 that the event above recorded took place withinthirtj new 



moon. We leave the matter as one worthy of philosophical consideration." 



The subject of lake convulsions is one of acknowledged diffi- 

 culty, and in the present slate of our knowledge of those pheno- 

 mena, we need not hesitate to record all events which may have 

 some connection with such mysterious visitations, or in submit- 

 ting to the consideration and discussion of scientific men the' ries 

 which appear to involve the true explanation of their origin and 

 recurrence. 



As having a possible bearing upon the late lamentable event, 

 we may record the occurrence of a whirlwind which was ob- 

 served in the neighbourhood of Toronto, at a few minutes after 

 one o'clock p.m., on the same day — the 25th April. 



Attention was first drawn to the whirlwind by the falling of 

 a vast number of dead leaves, on Dundas Street, about half a 

 mile north-west of the Lunatic Asylum. A narrow belt of air, 

 apparently not exceeding two hundred and fifty yards in width, 

 was first observed to be filled, as it were, with innumerable dead 

 leaves, tumultuously tossed about, chiefly in an upward direc- 

 tion, and at a considerable elevation. Above this moving stratum 

 of leaves several yellowish coloured detached clouds, apparently 

 of fine particles of sand and dust, were whirled on in the same 

 direction as the leaves, which was from the north-west to 

 the south-east. The leaves and clouds of dust had been noticed 

 for three or four minutes before any signs of wind at the surface 

 appeared. The first indication of the approaching vortical shaft 

 of air was seen in the topmost branches of a number of large pine 

 trees west of the Hon. S. B. Harrison's house, near Dundas 

 Street. The motion produced in the uppermost branches was 

 very violent, but it did not appear materially to affect the lower 

 branches or smaller trees. The tops of small pines and cedars, 

 two or three hundred yards east of the tall pines before noticed, 

 were much twisted, but still comparatively little effect was ob- 

 served at tbe surface until the chief force of tbe whirlwind had 

 passed over the spot where these observations were made. The 

 effect of the whirlwind was not distinguishable for a greater 

 breadth at the surface than between two and three hundred 

 yards; at a considerable elevation, however, after the passage of 

 the vortical shaft at the surface, the air above seemed filled for a 

 much greater breadth, and to a great altitude, with detached 

 cloud masses of dust and leaves. The idea conveyed by the 

 whole phenomenon was that of an enormous revolving inverted 

 cone of air moving in an inclined direction with great rapidity 

 and violence from north-west to south-east, the apex of the in- 

 verted cone being of small diameter (about 200 yards), the base 

 of far more imposing dimensions. 



