972 Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. [No. 156. 



that the peculiar rushing or whizzing sound previously alluded to, is 

 an indicationfof the^discharge of electric matter, such a sound being 

 familiar to those who have ever watched the phenomena of electric 

 discharges in the laboratory. 



5. Meteorological Phenomena accompanying shocks. 



«, Barometric observations on the state of the Barometer during 

 earthquakes in India, are few in number and not decisive in their 

 results. In relating his account of the shock of the 23d January, 1832, 

 Lieutenant Burnes notes, " the atmosphere had indicated nothing 

 unusual before the earthquake, nor did the Barometer undergo any 

 variation before or after it. ■' During the Calcutta earthquake of the 

 11th November, 1842, an interesting Barometric phenomena was 

 observed in St. Xavier's College, where the mercury rose and fell 

 repeatedly to the extent of seven or eight tenths of an inch during 

 the shock; " again, during the same shock, an observer on board the 

 ship " Southampton" in describing a peculiar luminous appearance that 

 accompanied the earthquake remarks, " the Barometer had slightly 

 fallen previous to this, whether from the preceding rain or caused by 

 the earthquake it is for others more capable to judge ; I am inclined 

 to think from the latter." It is difficult indeed to say whether the 

 movement in this case was merely a result of the earth's movements, 

 or of atmospheric disturbance, but from the quantity of rain that 

 accompanied the shock, it is probable it was due to the latter. The 

 following notices however throw considerable doubts on the Barome- 

 tric movement in this case, and shew that it certainly was not general ; 

 Mr. Piddington remarks, " it did not occur to me to examine the 

 Barometer, but I found no difference afterwards at home, and a friend 

 who has an excellent Simpiesometer assured me that no effect was 

 produced upon it, he having examined it immediately afterwards, so 

 that in slight shocks the atmosphere seems to have no share." 



Arranging the materials given in the general Tabular view of 

 Indian earthquakes, (part II, p. 63,) so as to exhibit the relation of 

 the number of shocks to the months of the year, we have the following 

 general results : — 



