The Causes and Phenomena of Earthquakes. 75 



naturally be suggested that in the far interior there is no likeli- 

 hood of any sound occurring of actual artillery or cannon. 



The application of this argument will be made further on. It 

 is advisable, however, to show by examples quoted from the pub . 

 lished catalogues of the 6000 or 7000 earthquakes before men. 

 tioned and from other sources, the high probability of the fact 

 assumed. 



At G-laris, in Switzerland, 7th May, 1682, a report like that of 

 a large piece of ordnance was heard. On 24th March, 1697, 

 when Acapulco, in Mexico, was destroyed, the shocks were 

 " accompanied by a loud noise like the firing of cannon." In the 

 Canton of Crlaris, in Switzerland, 10th February, 1703, half-an- 

 hour before, " a great noise was heard in the air." At Eglisau, 

 on the Rhine, 3rd August, 1725, the shocks were preceded by " a 

 loud noise like the discharge of a piece of ordnance." On 1st 

 September, 1726, at Palermo, "a loud noise was heard in the air." 

 On 12th December, 1751, at St. Domingo, " noises like the ex- 

 plosion of cannon were heard." And on 9th March, 1753, in the 

 mountains of Piedmont, Switzerland, and Savoie, the same noise 

 as of cannon was also heard. 



In January, 1757, during an earthquake at Lisbon, an explosion 

 like that of a cannon is reported in the Gazette de France as 

 having preceded it. Again, on 7th March, 1756, at Odivillas, 

 near Lisbon, the shock was accompanied by a noise " like 

 the report of a cannon, repeated many times by an echo." So, 

 on 1st September, 1763, in the Moluccas, " a subterranean noise 

 was heard like the firing of cannon." (An. Reg. vi., 96). 



On 5th October, 1784, at the Fortress of Rheinfels, on the 

 Rhine, the shock felt was " accompanied by a loud explosion like 

 the report of a cannon." 



A great earthquake on 6th April, 1790, over a considerable part 

 of Turkey, was " accompanied by a noise like the discharge of a 

 thousand muskets." 



The Lisbon earthquake of 27th November, 1791, ended with 

 an " explosion like the report of a cannon." Persons drawing 

 water from a well at Cumana, in South America, on 4th Novem- 

 ber, 1799, heard a noise " like an explosion of gunpowder." In 

 the Ural on 28th July, 1800, shocks were each time preceded by 

 an " explosion like that of a six-pounder, the noise lasting more 

 than two seconds." 



On 7th August, 1802, during shocks at Cahors, in France, a 

 loud explosive noise was heard, and for 40 leagues round a 

 similar occurrence happened at Yitre (Hie et Vilaine), on 11th 

 February, 1805. 



On 26th July the same year, a double explosion " as of cannon 

 was heard " from Vesuvius during the great earthquake of Cala- 

 bria. On 26th December, same year, a "loud explosive noise" 



