Apoplexy

fumption. fy.

pally.

measure be attributed to this, that the confumption of Peruvian bark in this country has, within the last fifty years, increased from 14,000 to above 100,000 pounds annually. And the fame caufe has probably contributed, from a mistaken mode of reaforing, to prepoffefs people with the idea of the wholesomeness of a hard froft. But it has in another place been very ably demonftrated that a long froft is eventually productive of the worft putrid fevers that are at this time known in London; and that heat does in fact prove a real preventive against that difeafe. And although this may be faid to be a very remote effect of the cold, it is not therefore the lefs real in its influence upon the mortality of London. Accordingly a comparison of the numbers in the foregoing table will fhew that very nearly twice as many perfons died of fevers in January 1795, as did in the corresponding month of this year. I might go on to obferve that the true fcurvy was laft year generated in the metropolis from

fame caufes extended to an unufual length. But thefe are by no means the only ways, nor indeed do they seem to be the principal ways, in which a froft operates to the deftruction of great numbers of people. The poor, as they are worfe protected from the weather, fo are they of courfe the greateft fufferers by its inclemency. But every phyfician in London, and every apothecary, can add his teftimony, that their bufinefs among all ranks of people never fails to increafe, and to decrcafe, with the froft. For if there be any whofe lungs are tender, any whofe conftitution has

been impaired either by age, or by intemperance, or by difeafe; he will be very liable to have all his complaints increased, and all his infirmities aggravated by fuch a feafon. Nor muft the young and active think themfelves quite fecure, or fancy their health will be confirmed by imprudently expofing themselves. The ftouteft man may meet with impediments to his recovery from accidents otherwife inconfiderable; or may contract inflammations, or coughs, and lay the foundation of the fevereft ills. In a country where the prevailing complaints among all orders of people are colds, coughs, confumptions, and rheumatisms, no prudent man can furely fuppofe that unneceffary expofure to an inclement fky; that priding onefelf upon going without any additional clothing in the fevereft winter; that inuring onefelf to be hardy, at a time that demands our cherishing the firmeft conftitution left it fuffer; that braving the winds, and challenging the rudelt efforts of the feafon, can ever be generally useful to Englifhmen. But if generally, and upon the whole, it be inexpedient, then ought every one for himself to take care that he be not the fufferer. For many doctrines very importantly erroneous; many remedies either vain, or even noxious, are daily impofed upon the world for want of attention to this great truth; that it is from general effects only, and those founded upon extenfive experience, that any maxim to which each individual may with confidence defer, can poffibly be eftablished.

8

prefident of the royal fociety to draw up, from various letters tranfmitted to him and to the fociety, and trom fuch other authentic information

count of the earthquake which was felt in most of the midland counties of England, on Wednesday, November 18, 1795, I beg leave to lay before

the fociety the following account there of; which, however imperfect it may be, contains all the material information I have been able to obtain upon the fubject.

The earthquake happened, as is already faid,. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, about eleven o'clock at night. The ftate of the weather, and other circunftances previous to it, are defcribed in fome of the letters hereafter noticed. Before I proceed to take notice of them, I fhall endeavour to give a general idea of its extent.

It appears that the fhock was felt as far to the north as Leeds, and as far to the fouth as Briftol. To the caft it was felt as far as Norwich, and to the weft as far as Liverpool. Its extent from north to fouth, there fore, was about 165 miles; and its extent from eaft to weft about 175. In this latter direction, or rather from northeast to fouthwefl, it may be faid to have reached nearly acrofs, the ifland.

The counties in which I have any account of the earthquake having been perceived are Somerset hire, Wiltfhire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamfhire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordfhire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire. To thofe counties may, I think, be fafely added Rutlandshire, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgefh re, and Shropshire. I have not indeed met with any account of the earthquake from either of them; but, whoever will examine the fituation of thefe counties, with respect to thofe above enumerated, will find it difficult to conceive that they were not, in fome degree, affected by it *.

Perhaps a general idea of the extent of the earthquake cannot be better obtained, than by fuppofing the

four places already mentioned as its extreme points, namely, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, and Norwich, to be joined by right lines, so as to form a quadrangle. That quadrangle will comprife, as, accurately as fuch a figure can be expected to do, the parts to which it may reasonably be prefumed to have extended.

Refpecting the effects of the earthquake in many of the counties abovementioned, I have not been able to collect any, particulars which appear to me worth relating; with regard to fuch counties, therefore, I think it unneceffary to do any thing more than to record its having reached them. And, for, fuch record, I have, in fome inflances, confidered the newf papers of the refpective counties, or fome fuch public teftimony, as fuffici ent authority; provided the fituation of the place where the earthquake was faid to have been felt was fuch as tó come within the general outline of its

extent.

I fhall now proceed to thofe details refpecting the earthquake which have been received from various counties. taking them in the order in which thofe counties are mentioned above.

From Belton, the feat of lord Brownlow, in Lincolnfhire, the fol lowing account was fent by Mr. Chriftopher Driffield, in a letter dated November 19.

We had yesterday a most violent hurricane of wind, which began about eight o'clock in the morning, and continued till about one. After the wind fettled we had a heavy rain, which ceafed about four in the afternoon, and it was a very fine evening; but, about eleven o'clock, as near as I can fay, we felt a terrible shock of an earthquake, which lafted about two feconds. It fhook the chair in which I was fitting, beginning with a violent rumbling, or noife, as if fome large carriage had run againft the

gate-poft. It went from north to fouth. It was generally felt at Grantham, and in this neighbourhood.'

The following account of its effects in Leicestershire, is given in a letter from Mr. William King, dated Belvoir caftle, November 30.

The earthquake happened, as near as I can recollect, about five or ten minutes after eleven in the evening. The wind during the day had been very brifk, but toward the evening (fix o'clock) it became almoft totally calm, and continued fo the whole night. The fhock was ftrong enough at the caftle to waken those who were asleep. Some, though but few, thought it was an earthquake; the general opinion was that fomething had fallen down in the room over head; or had struck the floor underneath; or that an adjoining partition or door had received a blow. Pendulous bodies were put in motion, as well as fome doors that were not fhut. Inftances of both thefe happened in the caftle, and they, in fome measure, confirm an opinion that the fhock was undulatory. It happened at a time when few were out of doors, but fome were, and they all agree that the shock was not attended with any extraordinary light; neither was there any ball of fire, nor any fingular motion, in the air.

The Rev. Mr. Peters, whofe refidence is at Knipton, a mile and a half from the castle, gives the following account. He was going to bed, but, at the inftant, flood with his back against a wall; he found the whole room shake, particularly the bed curtains. As he had felt many earthquakes in Italy, he immediately knew it to be one,' and was attentive to the confequences. He declares that the air was calm at the time; had no noise in it; nor did he perceive any extraordinary light. Knipton is in a low fituation, and was fhaken as much as the castle.'

Of its effects at Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, the following defcription is given by Robert Auguftus

Johnson, efq. F. R. S. in a letter dated November 25.

The earthquake was felt at Kenilworth about twenty minutes after eleven; but our common clocks are ufually kept with the fun, and were therefore, at that time, nearly a quarter of an hour too faft; by true time, I reckon it to have been fix minutes past eleven. I had lain down fome little time, when I felt the bed raised up. My firft idea was that a large dog had got under it, but the immediate fhaking of the curtains, and of the room, convinced me this could not be the cafe. All thofe who were in bed, and awake at the time, defcribe it in the fame way; every one fuppofing that their beds were raised up by fome living creature under them. It was not fo univerfally felt by perfons who were up; thofe who were engaged in converfation did not, in general, perceive it; but, of those whofe attention was lefs occupied, fome felt their feats flipping from under them, others faw things move which were hung up, and fome heard the doors and windows rattle. Many fay it was attended with a low rumbling noife, but this I did not hear. The motion, as well as I can judge, continued nearly two feconds. The evening was perfectly calm, after a maft tempeftuous night and day, with the wind nearly fouthwest. The barometer, for thirty-fix hours preceding, had varied very remarkably. Tuefday morning, the 17th, it stood at 30.23, but funk gradually, during the courfe of that day, and more rapidly in the night: to the best of my recollection, it was on Wednesday morning at 28.63, and that night, a little before the fhock was felt, at 28.8. The thermometer, in a room without a fire, was about 48 or 49° the whole day. I am not able to state the degree of moisture in the air, (my hygrometer being broken) but it was loaded with humidity, making the paffage walls and floors damp. The effects of the earthquake were moft fenfibly felt on the tops of hills, or on

On

high ground; but I have not heard of its having done any damage in this country.

From Worcester the following account of it was fent by Dr. Johnstone of that city, in a letter dated November 24.

The earthquake was chiefly felt by perfons in bed, about eleven o'clock, or five minutes after, who defcribe the fenfation to have been as if fome perfon under the bed had heaved it up. That fenfation was preceded, the inftant before, by a noife which fome call rumbling, and which others compare to the falling of tiles, though none fell from the houses where they lived. Many perfons heard the windows and doors of their rooms rattle at the fame time, which increased their alarm. Thunder and lightning had been obferved fome days before; and feveral perfons, of a delicate state of health, paffed the night of the 18th in a reftlefs uneafy manner, without knowing why, though very much in the manner in which they used to be affected by thunder and lightning.'

In Derbyshire the fhock appears to have been very fevere. A defcription of its effects, not only upon the earth, but also under its furface, is contained in the two following letters from Mr. William Milnes, of Afhover the first is dated November 20.

On Wednesday night, about a quarter paft eleven o'clock, a fevere fhock of an earthquake was felt here. I felt it very fenfibly; at first I heard a rumbling kind of noife, and immediately after it appeared as if fome perfon or perfons had violently forced into the room; the bed, and every thing elfe, fhaking very much. The workmen in Gregory Mine were fo much alarmed by the noise, and the fudden gult of wind that attended it, as to leave their work; fome expecting that the whole mafs of bunnings above them, which contains many hundred tons weight of rubbish, had given way, and that they should be buried in the ruins; others, who were at

work near the new fhaft, fuppofed that the curb which fupports the walling had given way, and the whole fhaft had run in. Several chimnies were thrown down, and feveral families left their habitations; indeed fuch a general alarm was never known in this neighbourhood.'

The gust of wind mentioned by Mr. Milnes being confidered as a remarkable circumstance, he was defired to make fome farther inquiry concerning it: in confequence of which a fecond letter was received from him, dated December 4, as follows:

I have examined all our miners feparately, and, from the following circumftances, I think there cannot be a doubt but the wind which was felt in the mines, on the 18th of last month, rufhed into the fhafts from the furface.

• Thofe men' who were at work in the pumps, which are a confiderable depth below the waggon gates, and have no communication therewith, did not feel the wind; but heard, in the firft place, a rushing rumbling kind of noife, which appeared to be at a distance, and to come nearer and nearer, until it feemed to pass over them, and die away. Those who were in the waggon gate which has a communication with the engine fhaft, and the new fhaft, felt a very strong current of wind; which, one man fays, continued while he walked about fix or feven yards, and came along the gate, as if it came from the new fhaft; he had no light, but, as he went along the gate, the fides thereof, where he laid his hands, felt as if they were going to close in upon him.

The only one who faw any appearance of light, on that evening, in this neighbourhood, (that I have been able to make out) was a person who lives with Mr. Enoch Stevenfon, the miller, at Mill Town. He informs me that, as he and another man were returning from Tidefwell, he faw, when he got upon a piece of high land near Moor-hall, on the road to Chatfworth, an uncommon light; and,