FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 



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In one of the late numbers of the Times appeared a letter 

 (Nov. 9, 1858), written by a variety of the species Anonymus 

 incognitus. The writer declares that his attention has frequently 

 been called to certain low, sullen, subterranean sounds, which he has 

 likewise heard himself, on the coast of Wales (Cardiganshire). These 

 sounds resemble the report of distant artillery. I notice this, as I have 

 likewise heard similar noises on the coast of Flanders, whilst reposing, 

 during a bright summer's day, on the dunes near Ostend. The 

 sounds, which I had heard before, and attributed to distant cannon, 

 I noticed again last summer, when they were pretty nearly of the 

 same intensity as formerly, and resembled the low sullen reports of 

 very distant artillery ; but none was at that time active in Belgium, 

 and we have no reasons to suppose that the noise arose from guns 

 at sea. 



In connexion with this, I find in a little work lately published,* 

 a chapter called " Sounds from the Sea,'' commencing thus : — ''In the 

 west coast of England a particular hollow noise on the sea-coast is 

 known a] ways to foretell the approach of a very heavy storm." Now, 

 unluckily, I do not happen to recollect if any storm or bad weather 

 followed closely upon the sounds I heard on the coast of Flanders. 

 I believe not, nor does the writer in the Times allude to any such 

 circumstance. 



In the year 1844 the Polytechnic Society of Cornwall published 

 a report, in which the wi'iter says : — " In Mount's Bay, and probably 

 in all places similarly situated, there is often heard inland, at a certain 

 distance from the shore, a peculiar hollow, murmuring sound, locally 

 termed ' the calling of the sea,' which, if proceeding from a direction 

 different from that of the wind, is almost always followed by a change 



of wind, generally within twelve hours It is heard sometimes at 



a distance of several miles, although on the shore from which it 



proceeds the sea may not be louder than usual This sound must 



not be confounded with that arising from a ' ground-sea,' which is the 

 well-known agitation along the shore occasioned by a distant storm ; 

 . ... for this latter noise propagates itself in every direction, and 

 chiefly in that of the wind, whereas the ' calling ' is heard only in one 

 direction, and usually contrary to the wind." The writer of this 

 report believes the noise to depend upon " a certain condition of the 

 atmosphere," regards it as a forerunner of certain changes in the 

 weather, and calls it " a very common but not generally known " 

 phenomenon. 



That the noise last spoken of is the same as that described by the 

 writer in the Times, and that which I have myself heard two or three 

 times on the coast of Flanders, there can be little doubt ; but as to its 

 cause I am perfectly ignorant, nor am I inclined to attribute it to 

 " certain conditions of the atmosphere." It may probably have some 

 connexion with the rumbling subterraneous noise so frequent during 



* M'Phim's " Weather Indicator,'' dedicated to Prof Nichol. Glasgow, 1857. 



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