480 



MR ROBERT COCKBURN MOSSMAN ON 



1826 



1826 



1827 



1827-28 



1833 



Waterspout 



Meteor 

 Axxrora 



Relapsing Fever 



1828 



Dysentery, 



1828 



Typhoid 



1828 



Meteor 



1829 



Enteric Fever 



§30-31 



Smallpox 



1832 



Cholera 



Influenza 



May 14. At 10.30 a.m. the unusual phenomenon of an aerial water- 

 spout was observed in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. A light dusky 

 cloud of a funnel shape was seen in the N.W., clearly relieved from a 

 darker cloud behind. It was evidently transfusing the contents of a 

 very dense and dark black cloud into one immediately below, with which 

 it formed the only connection. At this time the lower extremity of the 

 waterspout was bent from the direction of the wind, being N.E. ; the 

 upper cloud was moving in a contrary direction. In a very few minutes 

 it reached its greatest distinctness, and a manifest transfusion of the 

 contents was taking place, the column presenting the appearance of 

 smoke or steam, and the undulation at the edges was scarcely perceptible. 

 The undulations at the edges gradually increasing in distinctness, the 

 waterspout grew less elongated, and the bottom turned in a direction 

 contrary to the wind, which below still remained in the same point. The 

 cloud above had now become less dense, while the one below increased in 

 blackness ; it then became short, with a broad conical termination. 

 During this change the currents descending on the east and ascending on 

 the west side presented at the bottom the appearance of violent ebullition. 

 The waterspout then merged into the cloud above, and in about twenty 

 minutes after being first observed it wholly disappeared. A heavy down- 

 pour of a local character accompanied the phenomenon. (See Edinburgh 

 Jour, of Science, vol. ix. p. 131.) 



August 26. Travelled from S.W. to N.E., fireball like a rocket. 45°, 

 arc ; train ; burst. 



September 9. Remarkable aurora, consisting of variously shooting 

 threads of light, forming an arch round Ursa Major, and at each ex- 

 tremity shooting downwards with great beauty, although the moon 

 shone at the time. Some highly electrified cirrus clouds were observed 

 in the zenith. 



"Like that of 1817-19, the epidemic arose in Edinburgh during a 

 protracted period of want of work and low wages among the labouring 

 classes and tradespeople ; it prevailed only among the working classes and 

 unemployed poor — in the Fountainbridge and West Port districts, the 

 Grassmarket ' closes,' the Cowgate, and the narrow ' wynds ' descending 

 on either side of the long sloping back of the High Street and Canongate." 

 — Christison. 



Outbreak began about the end of July ; attacks of it were numerous 

 among the patients admitted to the Infirmary. 



A remarkable outbreak of typhoid among the richer classes of the 

 west-end of Edinburgh, known as " the New-Town Epidemic." 



November 21. A meteor of such great brilliancy that it was seen 

 during bright sunshine. 



"A very few cases of enteric fever were dissected in Edinburgh." — 

 Christison. 



In the winter of 1830-31 this disease was unusually prevalent and 

 fatal, the epidemic dying out in May 1831. 



The Asiatic cholera first appears on January 27, but up to the 8th of 

 February there had been only 8 cases, with four deaths. From the middle 

 of February to the middle of June the new cases ranged, as a rule, from 

 five to ten or fifteen a day, with an occasional increase, as, for example, on 

 the 29th of April, when twenty-six persons were seized. There was a 

 marked diminution in the end of May and beginning of June, after which 

 the disease became more common. The maximum occurred in the week 

 ending 7 th October, when there were 214 cases, the maximum in one day 

 being 45 ou October 4. The epidemic was practically over before the 

 middle of November. The total number of persons attacked was 1886, 

 of whom 1065 died, the population of Edinburgh at the time being 

 136,301. 



Epidemic in April and May. 



