E ARTHQUA K E. 
«14 
try he was a flu red by feveral fifhermen, that during the 
earthquake on the 5th of February, at night, the fea 
was hot, and that they faw fire iflue from the earth in 
many parts. This lad circumftance was frequently repeated 
in different parts of the plain, fo that there feems to remain 
no doubt of its authenticity. The idea of fir William 
Hamilton is, that “ the exhalations which iffued during 
the violent commotions of the earth were full of electri¬ 
cal fire ; juft as the finoke of volcanoes conftantly is 
during violent eruptions : for I faw no mark (fays he) 
in any part of my journey, of any volcanic matter having 
iflued from the fi(lures of the earth ; and I am convinced 
that the whole has been done by vapours and exhala¬ 
tions only. The firft (hock felt at this place, as I was 
allured, was lateral, and then vorticofe, and exceedingly 
violent ; but what they call violent here mult have been 
nothing in companion of what was felt in the plain of 
Cafa Nuctva, Poliftene, Palmi, Terra Nuova, Oppido, 
&c. where all agreed that the violence of the fatal (hock 
of February was inftantaneous, without warning, and 
•from the bottom upwards.” 
At Reggio the (hock had been much lefs violent than 
in the places hitherto vifited by our author; and “ though 
there was-not a houfe in it inhabited or habitable, yet 
(fays he) after having been feveral days in the plain, 
where every building is levelled with the ground, a 
houfe with a roof, or a church with a fteeple, was to me 
anew and refreftiing objedt.” He was here informed, that 
all animals are in a greater or lefs degree much more 
fenfible of an approaching (hock of an earthquake than 
any human being; but that dogs and geefe, above all, 
feem to be the fooneft and rnoft fenfibly alarmed. The 
fhock which damaged Reggio came on gently, fo that 
the people had time to make their efcape, and only 126 
were killed ; but in the plain this fhock was as inftanta¬ 
neous as it was violent and deftrutlive. 
On the 14th of May, fir William Hamilton having 
taken leave of Reggio, let fail for Medina, where he 
found that the fhock. had been far inferior to what lie had 
feen the effects of in other places. Notwithftanding 
this comparative mildnefs, however, the mifchief had 
been very terrible. All the beautiful front of the pa- 
lazzate, which extended in very lofty uniform buildings, 
in the fhape of a crefcent, had been in forne parts to¬ 
tally ruined, in others lefs ; and there were cracks in the 
earth of the quay, a part of which had funk above a 
foot below the level of the fea. The howlings of the 
dogs in the ftreets of Medina, a little before the earth¬ 
quake, were fo loud and terrific, that orders were lent to 
kill them; and it is (aid, that during the earthquake, 
fire had been feen to Id'ue from the cracks of the quay ; 
but our author is perfuaded that this, as in other cafes, 
was only a vapour charged with eledtrical fire, ora kind of 
inflammable air. Here alfo he was informed, that the 
fhock of the 3th of February had been from the bottom 
upwards ; but the fubfequent ones generally horizontal 
or vorticofe. A remarkable circumftance was obferved 
at Medina, and through the whole coaft of Calabria, 
•which had been moft affected by the earthquake, viz. 
that a fmal 1 fi(h called cicirelli, refembling the Englifli 
white bait, but larger, and which ufually lie at the bot¬ 
tom of tlie fea buried in the fand, had, ever after the 
commencement of the earthquakes to the time this ac¬ 
count was written, continued to be taken near the fur- 
face, and that in Inch abundance as to be common food 
for the pooreft fort of people : whereas before the earth¬ 
quakes this fifh was rare, and reckoned among thegreateft 
delicacies. Fifli of all kinds alfo were taken in greater 
abundance on tliefe coafts after the commencement of the 
earthquakes than before ; which (ir William fuppofes to 
have been occafioned either by the volcanic matter hav¬ 
ing heated the bottom of the lea, or that the continual 
tremor of the eartli had forced them out of their retreats. 
At Medina our author was likewife informed, that on tlie 
5 n of February, and for three days following, the fea, 
about a quarter of a mile from the citadel, rofe and boiled 
in an extraordinary manner, and witli a moft alarming 
noife ; the water in other parts of the ftrait being per¬ 
fectly calm. 
Tliefe earthquakes were not perfectly fettled even in 
1784, when (ir William Hamilton wrote the account of 
the (late of Vefuvius, &c. to the royal fociety of Lon¬ 
don. In a poftfeript to that letter he adds the following 
confirmation of his conjecture, that the volcanic matter, 
which he fuppofed to have occalioned the earthquakes, 
had vented itfelf at the bottom of the fea betu'ixt Cala¬ 
bria and Sicily : “ The pilot of one of his Sicilian ma. 
jefty’s fciabecques having, fome time after the earth¬ 
quakes, caft anchor off the point of Palizzi, where he 
had often anchored in twenty-five fa horn water, found 
no bottom till he came to fixty-five ; and, having founded 
for two miles out at fea towards the point of Spartivento 
in Calabria, he (till found the fame confiderable altera¬ 
tion in the depth. The inhabitants’ of Palizzi likewife 
declare, that, during the great earthquake on the 5th of 
February 1783, the fea had boiled and frothed up tre- 
mendoufly off their point.” 
From the time of this dreadful vifitation in Calabria, 
we hear no more of earthquakes, until Dr. Gray, F. R. S. 
ptibliflied an account of one which was felt in various 
parts of England, on the 18th of November, 1795. Hap¬ 
pily for this country, however, the circum-ftances attend¬ 
ing that phenomenon of nature fo much dreaded in other 
parts of the world, are here fo little ftriking or alarm¬ 
ing, that very clofe enquiry is neceflary to trace the mi¬ 
nute footfteps of fuch an event. In the fame proportion, 
too, we ftiould conceive that its importance as a fubjeCt 
for philofophical obfervation is leflened ; and, indeed, 
few narrations appear more tedious and uninterefting, 
than the fuperftitious and vague accounts, with which 
the public have too often been impofed upon with 
refpect to earthquakes in Great Britain. Dr. Grey, 
(ufficient 1 y aware of this faCt, concludes with becoming 
diffidence as to his obfervations on the mixed caufes of this 
phenomenon, and with a hope that our iftand will con¬ 
tinue to “ contribute but a fmall (hare of thofe materials 
which are requilite to form a complete theory of earth¬ 
quakes.” 
The next account we have of an earthquake in Great 
Britain, was felt at Edinburgh, on Monday the 7th of 
September, 1801, at fix in the morning. It extended 
through Fife, along tire north bank of the Forth, from 
Kirkaldy by Aberdown, Dunfermline, Kincardine, and 
Alloa ; likewife northwards by Kinrofs, to fome diftance 
in a north-weft diredtion to Callander, and various parts 
of Perthftiire. At Stirling and Glafgow tire (hock was 
alfo very diftindtly felt, at nearly the fame time as in the 
other places mentioned. The appearances were nearly 
alike in all. At Edinburgh it continued two or three 
feconds; was preceded by a rumbling, ruftiing, hol¬ 
low, noife from the ground ; and had a tremendous, un¬ 
dulating, motion, fometiiing refembling the motion of 
the waves of the fea. Beds, tables, chairs, 8 c c. in fome 
houfes were obferved to (hake, refembling the rocking 
of a cradle. Some perfons who felt it had a very dila- 
greeable fenfation, attended with a head-ach. The morn¬ 
ing was gloomy, warm, and calm; the barometer high, 
and the thermometer about fifty. The preceding day, 
Sunday, there was a good deal of rain. A parrot in a 
■gentleman’s houfe in the fouth fide of tire town, fcreeched 
feveral times during the (hock, in the fame manner as 
tliefe birds do in the Weft Indies during an earthquake : 
and in one houfe the bells were fet a ringing. 
It feems that this fhock was pretty general. At Dura- 
fertnline, its duration, it is fuppofed, was only two fe¬ 
conds. People who were in high (lories, and confequently 
had the belt opportunities of obfervation, thought they 
felt two fmall (hocks, and in their fituations, things that 
were hanging on the walls were evidently moved from 
their places, occafioning fome noife. Many people were 
awakened from their deep by the motion which they felt 
in their beds, which they generally deferibe by the rock¬ 
ing of a cradle, or as if a perfon had lifted up one (ide 
of the bed from the floor, to which a tremulous motion 
fuccceded 
