120 Account of the Earthquake at Kutch 
The fact that presents itself to our notice here, of so distinct 
a difference of crystalline form, produced by a change in the 
proportions only of the elements of the crystallised body, will 
tend to confirm the intimate relation that subsists between the 
chemical and crystallographical characters of minerals ; and it 
appears to disprove M. Beudant’s conjecture, that only the se- 
condary forms of crystals are affected by a change in the pro- 
portions of their constituent chemical elements. 
It is remarkable, too, that lead should alone present so many in- 
stances of a single base combining at the same time with two acids. 
London, May 1 820. 
Art. XXII. — Account of the Earthquake at Kutch on the \Qth 
June 1819. Drawn up from published and unpublished Let- 
ters from India. 
i 
JL HE western coast of India has been visited by an earthquake, 
which has spread desolation and panic over a great extent of 
country ; and whose destructive effects will be seen and felt for 
many years to come. This tremendous convulsion of nature was 
experienced from Bombay to beyond the tropic of Cancer ; but 
the centre of the concussion seems to have been in the province of 
Kutch, which has severely suffered. In describing this alarm- 
ing occurrence, we shall select, from a variety of letters which 
have been received on this subject, the most important particu- 
lars. 
The first and greatest shock took place on the 16th of June 
1819, a few minutes before seven in the evening. The day had 
been cool and showery; Fahrenheit’s thermometer ranging from 
81° to 85°. The monsoon had set in mildly, without much vio- 
lent thunder and lightning ; and there was nothing unusual in 
the state of the atmosphere at that season that could afford any 
ground for apprehension. The wind, which had been blowing 
pleasantly towards evening, at the commencement of the concus- 
sion fell into a dead calm, and in a moment all was consterna- 
tion and horror. The wretched inhabitants of Bhooj were seen 
flying in all directions to escape from their falling habitations. 
A heavy appalling noise, — the violent undulatory motion of the 
