of the observer's notice and record. . . . These combined influences will probably cause considerable reaction in the form of low temperature, sharp frost in Scotland and heavy downfall in England, accompanied by earthquakes in those countries in which the overwhelming electrical phenomena so frequently produce disastrous effects." Such were the previsions of the astro-meteorologists in reference to the two or more shocks of earthquakes which occurred in England and France on the 6th, 11th and 15th of October; but our readers will remember that they were not the only phenomena of the kind that the year has produced. Their novelty, as might have been expected, created considerable consternation and alarm throughout England, but, happily, their effects were not of that disastrous character experienced at Rhodes and Manilla in the early part of the year, and of which a pre-intimation was also given by Zadkiel and Orion. The former authority treating of the physical effects of the moon's total eclipse on the night of the 4th of June, says - "The position of Mercury and Saturn are indicative of some violent earthquakes about this eclipse." Orion's prediction was similarly worded; or, at page 52 of his almanac he stated "Saturn and Mercury are both stationary at the time of this eclipse - a certain sign of storms and earthquakes abroad."
Singular as it may appear to those whose prejudices disenable them to trace the connection of cause and effect, the foregoing statement received a complete verification in less than two days of the time mentioned; in fact, during the period of the supposed electrical or magnetic influence. A correspondent of the Overland Mail writes, under date of June 4, "In the 3rd instant, at half-past seven in the evening, a circumambient flame was seen to rise from the earth and give the city of Manilla (the beauteous flower of the east, as she is finely and poetically designated by her possessors), and at the same time, a most terrific quaking of the earth took place. It lasted scarcely a minute, but in that short space, nearly the whole of fair Manilla had been reduced to a heap of ruins. The abomination of desolation has taken possession of her palaces, her temples, and her dwelling-places, and death and destruction have ridden triumphantly over the land. We believe that upwards of a thousand have been killed, and many thousands wounded, but it is impossible to estimate. Scarcely an edifice has escaped without dead or wounded . . . . The flame that surrounded the city was seen from the bay to ascend towards the sky, and another triple-snaked one came from the land over the water to the shipping and threw up at least two or three feet; while on shore the earth has everywhere sunk at least two feet. God help us! We are all sick and nervous, and require all our faith and confidence to sustain us.[a]"
Were it necessary, we could enlarge upon this subject to almost any extent, and in so doing could show that although such earthquakes or earth-waves as we have recently experienced in England, are of frequent occurrence in many parts of the world, they have either occured at places not usually subjected to them, or the most violent kind, dealing death and -
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