Professor Russell on a singular affection of Vision. 
The course of my reading has furnished me with only a sin- 
gle case at all analogous to the one above related. It is given 
upon the authority of Mr Ware*, who was consulted by a 
lady on account of a recent discovery that she was unable to 
read with the left eye. She held the book at an unusual dis- 
tance, which was the more remarkable, as she had previously 
been short-sighted.” The interposition of a convex glass of 
thirty-six inches focus removed all confusion. Upon taking a 
few medicines to remove some constitutional disturbance, the 
original focus of the left eye was restored. During all this time, 
the right eye continued short-sighted. I am, &c. 
James Russell. 
Edinburgh, 1819. 
Art. VIII. — Account of the Earthquake which destroyed the 
Town qfCaraccas on the 9^QthMarchlSl^. By M. Humboldt. 
There are few events in the physical world which are cal- 
culated to excite so deep and permanent an interest as the earth- 
quake which destroyed the town of Caraccas, and by which 
more than SO, 000 persons perished, almost at the same instant, 
in the province of Venezuela. The general results of this 
frightful catastrophe have been long known in this country; but 
its particular details, so afflicting to human feelings, and the 
physical phenomena by which it was accompanied, so important 
in geological speculations, have been only recently described by 
M. Humboldt *[*. This distinguished traveller, who had visited 
the city of Caraccas previous to its destruction, has been at 
great pains to collect and compare the descriptions of individuals 
who had witnessed the effects of the earthquake, and has thus 
been enabled to draw a faithful picture of this terrible convul- 
sion, marked with that glowing eloquence which characterises 
all his writings. We regret that our limits will not permit us 
to present our readers with all his reasonings respecting the 
influence of a system of volcanoes over a vast extent of cir- 
'* Medico-Chirurgical Transaction Sy vol. v, p. 263. 
•f Personal Narrative^ vol. iv. p. 12. 
