FOliEIGN COKUESPONDENX'lJ. 
33 
enced b}^ the exiytiug state of things that he actually spoke of earth- 
quakes to some persons pi'esent. His head felt heavy and weary, and 
he quitted his office quite overcome. A Keaumur thermometer marked 
fifteen degrees and a half The sea was furious and of a grey colour, 
and M. de Monfort's dog had hidden himself under a bed. Two sheep 
that were grazing in a court-yard escaped and hid themselves. 
It was ten minutes to one when, standing up in the middle of his 
room, he felt the floor moving, and perceived the objects on the table 
in motion also. He was immediately aware that it was an earthquake, 
and saw distinctly the oscillatory motion of his house, by comparing 
the level of his window-ledge witli that of the sea. Tliese oscillations 
may have lasted about four or five seconds, and took place very i-egr,- 
larly in a north-south direction. M. de Monfort counted three of them. 
The direction of tliese oscillations was observed likewise bj' all of whom 
he inquired concerning them. It was moreover indicated by objects 
hanging from the ceilings of the dining-room and kitchen ; they con- 
tinued to oscillate five minutes or more after the phenomenon had 
ceased. An hour afterwards the dark fog had disappeared, and the 
sun's rays darted down with all the fierce heat of an August day, 
although the thermometer had not varied. A storm-cloud theu dark- 
ened tlie heavens ; its electricity was dissipated by a few lightning 
flashes and a little thunder. M. de Monfort did not learu that this 
earthquake was accompanied by any damage to habitations. 
The detail of this account renders it very interesting. The Abbe 
Moigno adds to this letter, from the accounts given by various French 
papers, that the phenomena observed by M. de Monfort at Biarritz had 
also been remarked at Bayonne, Angiez, and Saint-Palais : — "In several 
other places doors were slammed, persons were knocked down, a shep- 
herd saw the animals iu his flock lifted up ; the fruit of the cypress 
tree moved on the ground as if agitated by a violent wind. At a place 
called Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port some tiles were detached from a roof, a 
chimney fell, strong beams were heard to crack with much noise, fur- 
niture and clocks were put into vioknt motion. The oscillations of 
tlie ground seemed to be accompanied by a deafening noise ; people 
walking stumbled as if the ground was taken suddenly from under 
their feet." 
A small work has just appeared in France, entitled ^'Lectures sur la 
Geologie de la France" together with another, taken from the first, 
entitled "Lectures sur les Pyrenees." The author, M. Lejeuue, has 
published the first of these with a view of popularizing the study of 
Geology in his native country. It is composed of a series of lectures 
delivered by him to a Literary Society (now no longer existing), and 
he has found it necessary every now and then to pass beyond the 
limits of the country in which he is more particularly interested, in 
order to render his lectures more interesting and agreeable. The 
other volume is a brochure treating only of the Pyrenees ; it is ex- 
tracted from the former woi-k, and is destined for the use or amuse- 
ment of the numerous strangers who visit these remarkable mountains. 
VOL. II. D 
