576 Proceedings of the British Association, 



Wales have often experienced shocks, they propose also to send 

 instruments and establish observations in those parts of the country. 



Dr. Buckland recommended the establishment of observations along 

 various lines known to be affected by earthquake shocks, such as 

 the Chichester line of fault, Swansea, and Falmouth. The electric state 

 of the earth would probably be found to influence the atmosphere 

 much more powerfully than the air would affect the earth ; the earth- 

 quake shocks were most frequent in the autumn and winter, and it 

 was worth inquiry how far the rains of that period would affect strata 

 under different electric conditions, such as those brought in contact 

 by the faults and trap dykes of Comrie, and thus, perhaps, afford 

 some clue to the origin of the shocks. — Mr. Sedgwick believed that 

 the small amount of evidence as to movement, which had been or could 

 be obtained in Britain, was not likely to throw much light on the 

 origin of earthquakes, or on their connexion with atmospheric con- 

 ditions. When regular observations could be established abroad, in 

 regions frequently and powerfully influenced by such movements we 

 might hope to arrive at the conditions of their occurrence. Atmo- 

 spheric conditions ought certainly to be noticed, and the coincidence of 

 the shocks in Scotland with particular seasons of the year, well deserve 

 remark. Perhaps the phenomenon was not more remarkable than 

 the fact, that meteors showed themselves in greatest abundance during 

 the passage of the earth through particular portions of its orbit. In 

 saying this, however, Mr. Sedgwick did not mean to express his belief 

 that atmospheric conditions could have any great effect on the deep- 

 seated phenomena of earthquakes. — Sir W. T. De la Beche stated, that 

 as a general rule the earthquakes of South America and Jamaica 

 were felt most severely along the strike of the strata; in some in- 

 stances, houses built on ranges of solid rock were affected by the shocks, 

 whilst others only a quarter of a mile distant, built on gravel, entirely 

 escaped. In all the published relations of the effects produced by 

 earthquakes, much allowance was to be made for the excited feelings 

 of the spectator. Thus the earthquakes which destroyed Port Royal 

 had been described in all the exaggerated language inspired by terror ; 

 the real history was very simple; the town was built on a sand 

 bank, encircling a number of small detached coral reefs ; the violence 

 of the waves, aided and accompanied by the concussion of the earth- 

 quake, washed away all this sand, and with it the houses, those on 

 the coral reefs remaining as strong as before, whilst loose masses 

 of stone, amongst the craggy rocks of the interior, naturally fell down 

 from the effect of the same vibration.-— Mr. Nicholson, of Kendal, 



