Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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This Opinion Is Entertained By A Number Of Intelligent
Residents Of The Spanish Colonies, Whose Experience Extends, If Not
Over A Greater Space Of The Globe, At Least Over A Greater Number
Of Years, Than Mine.
On the contrary, in parts of Europe where
earthquakes are rare compared to America, scientific observers are
inclined to admit an intimate connection between the undulations of
the ground, and certain meteors, which appear simultaneously with
them.
In Italy for instance, the sirocco and earthquakes are
suspected to have some connection; and in London, the frequency of
falling-stars, and those southern lights which have since been
often observed by Mr. Dalton, were considered as the forerunners of
those shocks which were felt from 1748 to 1756.
On days when the earth is shaken by violent shocks, the regularity
of the horary variations of the barometer is not disturbed within
the tropics. I had opportunities of verifying this observation at
Cumana, at Lima, and at Riobamba; and it is the more worthy of
attention, as at St. Domingo, (in the town of Cape Francois,) it is
asserted, that a water-barometer sank two inches and a half
immediately before the earthquake of 1770. It is also related,
that, at the time of the destruction of Oran, a druggist fled with
his family, because, observing accidentally, a few minutes before
the earthquake, the height of the mercury in his barometer, he
perceived that the column sank in an extraordinary manner. I know
not whether we can give credit to this story; but as it is nearly
impossible to examine the variations of the weight of the
atmosphere during the shocks, we must be satisfied with observing
the barometer before or after these phenomena have taken place.
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