Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 405 



of Durnoch Firth. This information was contained in a letter 

 from the Rev. J. M. Joass, of Edderton, communicated by Sir R. I. 

 Murchison, V.P.G.S. 



5. " On the Outburst of a Volcano near Edd, on the African coast 

 of the Red Sea." By Capt. L. R. Playfair, R.N. 



At Edd, lat. 13°57'N., long. 41°4'E M about half-way between 

 Massouah and the Straits of Bab-el-Mandel, earthquake-shocks 

 occurred on the night of the 7th of May or the morning of the 8th, 

 during about an hour. At sunrise fine dust fell, at first white, 

 afterwards red ; the day was pitch-dark; and the dust was nearly knee- 

 deep. On the 9th the fall of dust abated ; and at night fire and 

 smoke were seen issuing from Jebel Dubbeh, a mountain about a 

 day's journey inland ; and sounds like the firing of cannon were heard. 

 At Perim these sounds were heard at about 2 a.m. on the 8th, and at 

 long intervals up to the 10th or 11th. The dust was also met with 

 at sea ; and along the entire coast of Yemen the dust fell for several 

 days. Several shocks were felt on the 8th at Mokha and Hodaida. 



6. " Notice of the occurrence of an Earthquake on the 20th of 

 March, 1861, inMendoza, Argentine Confederation, South America." 

 By C. Murray, Esq. 



At about i to 9 o'clock, the first shock, preceded by a thunder- 

 clap, destroyed the city of Mendoza, killing (it is said) two-thirds of 

 its 16,000 inhabitants. Altogether there were eighty- five shocks in 

 ten days. The land- wave appears to have come from the south-east. 

 Several towns S.E. of Buenos Ayres felt slight shocks. No earth- 

 quake took place in Chile ; but travellers crossing the Upsallata 

 Pass of the Cordilleras met with a shower of ashes ; the pass was 

 obstructed by broken rocks ; and chasms opened on all sides. At 

 Buenos Ayres, 323 leagues from Mendoza, and elsewhere, it was ob- 

 served in watch-makers' shops that the pendulums moving N. and 

 S. were accelerated; those moving E. and "W. were not affected. 



7. " On the Increase of Land on the Coromandel Coast." By 

 J. W. Dykes, Esq. In a Letter to Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S. 



In the districts of the Kistna and Godavery, the land presents a 

 parallel series of ridges and hollows near the coast, not in relation to 

 the rivers but to the coast-line. These may have been formed by 

 sedimentary deposits similar to what are now taking place on the 

 Coromandel coast. By the strong currents alternately running N. 

 and S., according to the monsoons, lines of sediment parallel with 

 the coast are formed ; and by the occasional interference of winds 

 and tides dams are thrown across the hollows, and the latter soon 

 become filled up. These parallel bands of coast-land become, in 

 time, upheaved, and more or less affected by atmospheric agencies. 



LI I. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



OX A NEWLY DISCOVERED ACTION OF LIGHT. 

 BY M. NIEPCE DE ST. VICTOR.. 



WHEN the freshly broken part of an opake porcelain plate was 

 exposed to a strong sun for two or three hours, and then placed 

 on choride of silver paper, after twenty-four hours' contact the silve r 



