The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-24 00:00:00

THE EARTHQUAKE LAST WEE

We gave in our last all the details ti
which had ree., t.
tmhaattetriimaletoofgttvheisiouandudsiutiaolno,ctchuorruegr perhaps a h e
r w
e, and have now n"oth
our readers. The shrt
fewot
ticulars may not be uninteresting to
appears to have been felt in every
more or less intensity, and to have
far as Carlisle, eastward to Rochdale, Oldham.
epart
extended northwards
of Lancashire,
and Macclesfield—the last-named town
ter and Holywell (so far as we hi.vel fora;
limits ; and westward to the Isle of Man.r
ries, it' correct, would give Morecambe Bas.
the district between the Lune and the li itibk
'
and certainly the effects, as described in
the
Preston papers, appear to have been more violent t
experienced in this neighbourhood.
A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian
following statement as to the phenomena which w
fested under ground during the late earthquake.
that " very few men were down in the pits at tt
occurred; but those who were at work stated, that
a slight shivering motion precisely similar to that c
the gushing of the damp when ignited. This seas
experienced in the collieries of ) arnworth, Kersiet , Ore'
Lever, &c. No rupture took place, except the unshelyit
of some scaly portions of soft rock, which, indeed,
ti
slightest motion would certainly effect- As far as I
ascertain, none of the men at the time suspected tt
cause of the motion ; but, when they ascended in the mo
ing, related the circumstance, and attributed it to a power
eftluxion of fire damp in some adjoining place. Fire dat
when a light is applied to it, rolls down the bay towards the
aperture, and presents the appearance of flakes of cotton,
&c. The shock was, of course, felt above ground in these
places."
The Guardian also says that there is pretty strong con-
current testimony to the fact, that a slight shock was felt
about half-past ten o'clock on Thursday evening about
two hours and a half before the shock of Friday morning.
We have conversed with various parties who experienced
this shock; but they all describe it as slight. One gentle-
man, residing on Kersall Moor, distinctly saw the door of
the apartment shake to and fro, as if agitated by a sudden
and violent gust of wind. It was also felt at Higher
Broughton, Cheetham, and other neighbourhoods. It ap-
pears to have been a single concussion, accompanied by a
tremulous or vibratory motion ; and of its reality we think
few will be disposed to doubt, after reading the account of a
medical gentleman experiencing a shock at Kendal, pretty
nearly about the same time. There can, we think, be little
doubt, that although insignificant in it effects,—not a single
building, or even a chimney, being anywhere overthrown by
it,—it was stronger and more distinctly marked to the senses
of hearing and feeling, than any earthquake which has been
felt in the North of England since the earthquakes of 1753,
1777, and 1795, of which some account will be found in
another column. The Liverpool Times of Tuesday says:—
" We greatly fear that it will prove to have been merely the
last vibration of an earthquake which has been felt in some
other part of the world with much greater intensity. The,
earthquake which destroyed the city of Lisbon was felt in
Scotland;
and the earthquake in the West Indies, on the
Bth of February last, was also felt by
the captains of several
vessels at sea, many hundred miles from the West Indies,
and through a very considerable part of America.
volcanic forces in the West Indies seem tresent The great
a state of frightful activity ; and when it a
is present
considered how
rapidly and to what immense distances both o s und and mo-
tion may be propagated through the
solid mass of the earth,
it is not at all improbable that the earthquake felt
in South
Lancashire, on Friday morning, may havebeenuth
the last
vibration of some prodigious movement in the volcanic dis-
trict either of Central America or of Southern Eur
The following are some of the places (in additionotpoe."
given in our last) where the shock was perceptibly felt those
Rochdale, Bolton, St. Helens, Southport, Crokton, Stock-
Rochdale,
port, Altrinchatn, Bowdon, Dunham, Northwich, Cockceir-
mouth, Egremont (Cumberland), &c. The following r-
count, from the Whilehaven Herald, gives
let.isc-
particulars :—" One gentleman informs us, at thes
moment of the firstock, his bed appeared as if rou hly
shaken by a strong ma shn, whilst a bunch of keys that hung in
a chest of drawers were violently jingled at the same instant.
Our Egremont correspondent informs us, the shock was so
violent at at that place, that some persons, on being suddenly
awakened, were led to imagine their houses had been broken
into. At Maryport, says our intelligent correspondent at
that place, many persons were awakened from their sleep by
a dull sound resembling the distant fall of heavy timbers, and
a violent tremulous motion of the beds and other furniture.
The earthquake was very sensibly felt at Cockermouth ; and
in connection with the same subject, a respectable corres-
pondent in that town observes—' As my father and I were
returning from Parton on Thursday night, we observed,
about half way between the village and the tunnel, two
fissures or cracks in the ground, about a yard long, and one
inch and a half wide, and steam issuing from them. I put
my hand into one, and found it quite warm. I could not
account for this • but, since the slight shock of earthquake
which was felt here last night, it has occurred to me that
there might be some connection between the phenomenon
have alluded to, and the convulsion that has frightened the
town from its propriety.' Our Gosforth correspondent also
informs us, that the shock was severely felt in that locality.
A distant rumbling noise, be says, was heard prior to the
shock, not unlike the rattling of a carriage passing with great
rapidity, and appeared to run from the S. to the N.E. This
subterranean noise continued about two minutes, and the
shock about two seconds. The convulsion was also felt at
Netherwasdale, where a similar noise was heard. The
hounds at the latter place made a most terrific nois
ppro e in their
kennel, as if conscious of some frightful calamity aach-
ing."
At Kendal the shock was very severe. About two miles
from that town are extensive powder-mills, and several
soothed themselves with the calamitous consolation " that it
was only the powder-mills that had blown up !" an occurrence
which is by no means unfrequent. A scientific meteorologist
says he felt the motion, and describes the rumbling as of a
loaded waggon, but too short in its duration to be mistaken
for it, and immediately concluded that it was the shock of
an earthquake. At the King's Arms Hotel, several of the
inmates became so alarmed o to make a sudden egress into
the street; and when the cause of their fright could not be
ascertained, they were seized with utmot fear and proprietordis-
anti family had
may. At the Nelson Tavern, the
not retired to rest, and when about locking up, the shock
caused the greatest terror. The decanters and wine-glasses
which were on the shelves began to dance and knock one
against another, causing a jingling discord, to their deep con-
sternation. At several of the other inns the bells were sud-
denly rung to the discomfiture of the family
anwho had
near retired a
to rest. A policeman says, that he was stding to
large carpet manufactory at the north-east end of the town,
when he heard a rumbling noise at first resembling very dis-
tant thunder, which immediately assumed a louder tone,
when the ground began to shake beneath him, and the
rumbling then died away, like the cadence of a large drum.
The glass of the windows might manufactory was agitated,
and the noise created by it have been beard
called Oxen
Holme, about a mile and a half south-east of the town, the
shock was felt most severely, and the inmates rose en masse.
But again, the consolotary thought passed their minds
here, that had blown u "
that it was only the powder-mills .. p.
en menu actory at the
The machinery of a large wooll . t
wn were set in motion by the
, southern extremity of the to
shock throwing it into gear.

GREAT COMET.
..--.--
Sir John Herschel has published the following
gamma and
Sir,—l wish to direct the published he yboeunreLaitsitlrothneonsiticaarls
readers to the fact, which I think hardly admits of a doubt,
of the horizon.
of a comet of enormous magnitude being in the course of its
progress through our system, and at present not far from 113
perihelion. Its tail, for such I cannot doubt it to be, was con-
spicuously visible, both last night and, the night before, as a
vivid luminous streak, commencing
in the
i , a betweenpour s
kappa .and lambda (and) Leporis, and thence stretching
obliquely westward eEstrl•daridni,atnildi
The direction of it, prolonged on a celestial globe, passes pro_
sely through the place a the
_Sun m the eliptic at the pre-
sentstime, a circumstance which appears conclusive as to its
cometic nature. downwards,l
lost
" As the portion of the tail actually visible on Friday even
ing was fully 30 degrees in leng..h, and the head must have-
been beneath the horizon, which would add at least '-'5 de-
been
grees to the length, it is evident that, if really a comet, it is-
one of rare first rate magnitude ;sand if it be not one,' •t '
some phenomenon beyond the earths atmosphere, of a natureil
even yet more remarkable. --I have the honour to be,-
your obedient servant, .. sir,

" J. F. W. HERSCHEL

commu-
nication such
lyTphoesttaillasotf ntiiigeh tc,o
comet,
thise t,
" Collingwood, March 19.
nication would have been made a day earlier. mum-
it must now assuredly be, is again visible, though
scured by haze, and bolding very near the same ()much (117)-
A Paris paper of Friday last says :—'' A remaPiksition."
"" EPiSghtkip.aind.ti,ll:lraerbcheenl9a.
an the evening of yesterday. Towards s• .
able event
an in3mense comet appeared suddenly in the I even o'clock
tail, which is vide-spread, and perfectly
martorlzon. The
over a space of more than 60 degrees. Leaving marked, extended
it crossed under an angle of 40 degrees, this Orion, which
adually became invisible in the horizon, Whichnlagnifice"t tail
de the influence of twilight. The nucleus , was still un-
dernot visible." 01. the comet was
The same luminous appearance was a, •
on Saturday night. The nucleus was not perceived, visible at Paris
tail or luminous body alluded to occupiedperceived, but the
degrees of the heavens. The Parisian astronomers at least 50 or 60
taken by surprise, as none of them had are quite
pearance of this comet, if comet it be. calculated on the ap-
was in full activity on The
tory ,Saturday Royal Observa-
shortly expect to be made acquainted with night, and we may
observations. with the result of the
The Bristol Journal of
Saturday h
singular meteor was observed in the has the following .—" A
Half-past eight, which extended f- heavens last night about
sky, shedding a line of brilliant lii.onl .
20 to 30 degrees in the
of the sun. A correspondent smelt, following the direction
a comet was observed from Madrid.l that about eight days ago
time, and the supposition is, that over the sun in the dav-
was the tail of a cornet " the meteor seen last night
Sir J. South'
published a
last, dated the night letter in the Times of Wednesday
liant train of light which previous,no in
which he says—" the bril-
day, was seen here on Friday evening at a little after 7, and
1811. its highest
appearance of the tail of the comet of
point,
theta Leporis, and when I first saw it, nearly reached
nus, became passinginvisible
through the constellation Erida-
two degrees from the horizon.
from interposed trees when about
were measurable ; More than 45 degrees of tail
1 through it by the stars of the sth magnitude were visible
I of 21 inches aperture,
naked eye, and with a 42-inch achromatic
At 7b. 33map,e,rts.ure, those even of the Bth hie perceptible.
(sidereal time) a bri- meteor issued
from the very tip eoet.the tail. No trace of the above light
could be detected here either Saturday Sunday, or Monday
nights, in consequence of cloudy we'ather. This evening
(Tuesday), at about ten minutes before eight, the clouds
cleared away ; but no vestige of the train could be perceived
in the neighbourhood which it had illumined on Friday night ;
but a diffused and amorphous light, commencing at the
Pleiades, and spreading over the entire on
Aries,
even through the haze, was too conspicuou, to escape obser-
tion. If this be the tail of the comet, it indicates a very
rapid motion of it northward. By a letter which I received
yesterday from Mr. Shorts, of Christchurch, lianirshire, he
has seen it earlier than any one I have yet heard of, inasmuch
as he observed it three nights previous to the date of his
letter, which is the 19th instant; hence he saw it Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday.
The Birmingham-Herald of Wednesday last says that this
" luminous appearance has been observed by several gentle-
men in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, who have no
doubt that it is similar to that described by Sir J. Herschel.
A correspondent, who has favoured us with a communica-
tion upon the subject, says, ' On Friday, the lith instant, at
about eight o'clock in the evening, I observed an extraordi- -
nary luminous appearance in the heavens, reaching an altitude
of from 30 to 40 degrees, and extending from the meridian to
the horizon on the south-west, at which point it seemed to
diminish in breadth.' "
Sir J. Herschel, in a letter in yesterday's Times, dated
Collingwood, says" On Monday night being cloudy, the
tail of the comet was not visible here. On Tuesday iii,''
was very bright ; its direction and breadth arc as before,';';ltlitt
perhaps, some trifle curved, the convexity being u ~ m. -,
Be that as it may, the line of the well defined part P , arils.
of the tail has evidently advanced northwards,, or arm,
and passes
nearly through, but still a little below iota L •
extremity has advanced in right ascension, Leporis • also
, and ' " its
extend as far as the intermediate point b seems now to
Orionis, and (seta), or, perhaps, even (eta) between knappa
probability, therefore, is, that
we
swot ) Leporis. The
soon see the head.,,