an account of the late earthquakes in syria: in a letter from dr. patrick russell, to his brother,...

An Account of the Late Earthquakes in Syria: In a Letter from Dr. Patrick Russell, to HisBrother, Alexander Russell, M. D. F. R. S.Author(s): Patrick RussellSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 51 (1759 - 1760), pp. 529-534Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105398 .

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[ 529 ] After a few days, obServing fome cough remain,

it feemed advifeable to gxve two or three vomits; asj, fiom late experience, they do not endarlger a renewal <3f the diScharge, alld txwnR promote the expeftoraZ tion of tlle eSchar, or any ex-travafated blood; which atherwife, ly its delay acqtairing a putrid acrimony, perhaps moft fiwequently erodes the contiguous veflRels, and, forming new ulcerations, becomes the general callfe of confumptions, fubSequent to accidental fpit tings of blood.

I ams Gentlemen, Yolls very humble fiervant9

Lichfield, Dec 7. I75+ EraEmus DarwinX _ . , *

LII. An Sccoant of zEe late Earthvakes xn Syria: In a Letter .trom Dr. Patrick Ruffell, to hisBroerX Alexander RuSellX M.D. F.R.S.

Aleppe, Dec. , I75%

Read Beb. zl, ^ S I recollett nothi--ng in the way of s7Go. < bufineEs, which I have not aIready

wrote yon abollt; and as I know not whetl tllis letter may get away, I £hall, in the mean tinleX give you fome account of the earthquakes laere, rhich halre thrown the people into a terrible conRernation.

The fpring of this year was unufually dry, ti fummer tetnperate} and the autumll, though the rai}le came on towards the end of September} anight

[ 529 ] After a few days, obServing fome cough remain,

it feemed advifeable to gxve two or three vomits; asj, fiom late experience, they do not endarlger a renewal <3f the diScharge, alld txwnR promote the expeftoraZ tion of tlle eSchar, or any ex-travafated blood; which atherwife, ly its delay acqtairing a putrid acrimony, perhaps moft fiwequently erodes the contiguous veflRels, and, forming new ulcerations, becomes the general callfe of confumptions, fubSequent to accidental fpit tings of blood.

I ams Gentlemen, Yolls very humble fiervant9

Lichfield, Dec 7. I75+ EraEmus DarwinX _ . , *

LII. An Sccoant of zEe late Earthvakes xn Syria: In a Letter .trom Dr. Patrick Ruffell, to hisBroerX Alexander RuSellX M.D. F.R.S.

Aleppe, Dec. , I75%

Read Beb. zl, ^ S I recollett nothi--ng in the way of s7Go. < bufineEs, which I have not aIready

wrote yon abollt; and as I know not whetl tllis letter may get away, I £hall, in the mean tinleX give you fome account of the earthquakes laere, rhich halre thrown the people into a terrible conRernation.

The fpring of this year was unufually dry, ti fummer tetnperate} and the autumll, though the rai}le came on towards the end of September} anight



[ t3° ] be eRecmednnuch drier than in otller years. The Aleppo river llas been very loxtr all t§ae finatner i and its bed, ;frotm the firR to tl}e fecond mill, is, I be- Iieve, even llovv Rill witllout water. tIthi$ phzno- xnencon I, at fiz It, thought remarkable; but lzave becn informed, that tlle fc2rcity Of vvratet complained of, duritag all the fummer, was cccafioned by driving the river itlto fonle rice-grounds lately formed towards A1atab.

On the moriling of the Iath of June, A Right ffiock of an earthquake was felt here, and, as ufualX foon forgot; having, fe far as we know, been felt in nv otiler place, in any degree of feverlty.

Odober the 3oth, about four in tlle morning, we lad a pretty fevere nlock (indee-d the tnoR vtolent I had ever felt), which laRed fomewhat more tllan a minute, but did no damage in Aleppo. In abolat een nlilautes after tllis firR there was a fccond nlk; but tlle tremulotls motion was leis violcnt, and did not lail aboure fifteen iReconds. It had- rained a liFtle in the preceding evetling.; and when the earthquake happened, the weR mtind lJlew- freffi, the Iky was ciottly, alld it lightened.

This earthquake occafioned little alarnz amongLl tlat natives, and everu with the Europeans was the topic only for a day. But the fubjeEc was foon re- vived, by letters from DamaCcus, where the fame Ihock fclt by us at Aleppo, and feveral other fuccef- five olles) had done conflderable damage. From this time, we llad daily- accounts of earthquakes from DamaScus, Tripoly, Seidon, Acri, and all along the coaR of Syria; but fo exaggerated in fome circum- Rances, and fo inaccurate in all, that we only knew

in



[ 53l ] iI} general, that Datnafcus, Aui, and Seidon, have foSered injury from the eartllquake, though lefs than was at firk given out.

Such R-ories circulating among the people, ren- dered thenz more fuCceptible of alarm; and an occa- fion foon offered, where they feared, that the wor& of their apprelaenflons were to be realized.

This happened the 2 fth of November. The moraling had been ferene, fome clouds aroSe after noon, and the evening was remarkably hasy, with litde or no: wind. About half an hour-after Seven at night, the earthquake came on: ehe motion, at firR,, was gently tremulous, increafing by degrees, till the vibrations became more diIlin&,? and, at tIle I"ame time, fo krong, as to Ihake the walls of the houSes with confiderable violence; they again beckme- mo.-e gentle, and thus changed alternately feveral times during the Il}ock, which laIled-in all about two mi-

utes. In about eight minutcs after this was overs a night Shock, of a few feconds duration, fucceeded. The thermometer was at 50, and the barometer Rood at z8-g, the mercury fuffering no alteration. There was little or no wind in the night, the Iky clYr, excepting feme healry clouds, that hung about the moon. At a quarter after four next morning, we had anotherAlBock, which laIled fomewhat lefs than a mintlteX and -was hardly fo ilrong as that of the preceding night. The night of the :6th was ratny and cloudy. At nine o'clock we had a fligllt Mock, of a fEw feconds. Thc motion here appeared to be very deep, and was rather 1lndulatory than tremulous. The :7th, cloody and rainy. From midnight of the 25th, befides thcSe now mentic)ned, four or five {ligllter

YOLO LI. Z Z z IhOcks



t 532 J

lhocks were felt; but I myfelf was fenfible of nones till the xnorning of the 28tll, when we had a ffiort plllfatory {hock. The fame day, at two o'clock, we had a; pretty fmart Illock, laIting about forty fe conds. From tlais time, I was fenfible of 1lo more, tllough others either felt or imagined feveral {lighe vibratiolls every day.

I-lo>Jever violent tllis earthquake wasZ or rather, byF the frightelled people of Aleppo, imagilacd to be, it is certain) tllat, exceptitlg in a very few old walls, tle (*ty bears av frelXl xnarks of ruin; none of the 01deft minolets 11ave fuffered. Its effe at Antioch were more formidable; many houSes have beoa rown down, and fome few people killed.

December 7 t. TH E earthquake of the evening of the 2Stll has

proved fatal to DamaScus ;: one-third of the city svas thrown down, and of the people, numbers yet- anknown perilhed in the ruins The greaKter part of tlle furviving xnhabitants fled to the fields, where -they Still contis-lued, besng hourly alarmed by nig-httr Ihocks, which deterred them frola re-entering the- citys or attenlpting tlze relief of fuch as might yet be farred, by clearing away the rubbi^. Such was the purport of a letter I read thls day, which was wrote frotn DamaScus three days aftBr the earthquake. Other accounts we have at thls plaice, make the lofs of the inhabitants amounts to- so,ooo; but, in cir- cunzfiances of flch general horror atld confufion, little accuracy can be expeEtgd, and the eadrern dif- pofition to exaggeraion reigns, at prefellt, univerfally.

Tripoly ha& fuffcred rather more than Aleppo; three n-winc)rets, and two or three hetlfes, were thrown.

dow.l>



[ 533 ] dosvn, thile the walls of numbers of the honfes were rent. T]le Frallks, and many of the natives, have deferted the city, and remain in the fields.

At Seidon, great part of the Frank kane was over- throurn, and fome of the Europeans narrowly efcaped with their lives, Acri and Latakea have fuieled little, befides rents in fotne of the walls; but Saphet (eight hours from Acri) uras totally deRroyed, toge- ther with the greater part of the inhabitants.

Such -are the moR authentic accounts we have from abroad i how tnuch they contribute to calm the mlnds of the people at Aleppo, you may eafily ima- ginc. 6ince the afternoon of the 28th, feveral Ilight fllocks have been every day felt, and many more. formed by the power of imagination: for my own part, I have Emce that time perceived none, excepting one the evening of the seh, wbich was pretty Arong, but laSedE not :abosre twenty fends. The weatiier, for thefe two days, bas been gloomy and rainy; a chan¢ whi£h people are willing to flatter themSelves is favourable. It often lightens in tlle ightt and thunder is heard at a geat diRance.

94traS from another Letxer of Dr. Patricli ltuXell, o Dr Alexander 3tui11, dated at Aleppo, 29 March I 7 60.

z my lallt of the 7th of DecemXoer, I gae you a fill account of the earthquakes} which have oceafioned

an unifirerEal panic all over Syria There were Several other {hocks in December,*alld a few very Right ones in January: fince which dme all- has been quiet.

Z z z s Except-



[ 534] Excepting a few old houSes, none of the buildings

in Aleppo were adtually thrown down; but the walls of a confiderable nuxuber of hotlfes have been rent.

We have had the wetteCt winter I etrer faw in this country The Coic has every-where oeresflowed its banks, and is juA now- much iligher than it has been known to rilie for many yearsv

EEIII, Remarks ox e Bovey Coal In a Letter ta the Rght Hoszograble George Earlof MacclesSeld, Prefdetof theRoyal Soctety. -By JeremiSh Milles, D D. F*R. S.

My Lord} Read Feb. 2s,rrHE deScription, Which the learned

176o 1 profeir Hollman has given the Society *, of two remarkable Rrata of foffill wood in Germany, osle in the neighbourheod of Manden, ill. t}le duchy of Grubenhagen, and the other near A1- lendorf in Heffie, correEponds, in fo rnany particularsy with fiome ilrataX diScovered about fi*een years agea in Dcvonffiire, that it fuggeRed to me a doubty whe- ther thefe German llrata were really (what the learned profeor fuppofes them) foflill wood, and formerly a vegetable fubficance, or (what he fays the miners calI them) foEil coal. The reafons, on which this douzot is fouIldedy are fubmitted to the judgmelt of your Lordffiip and the Society7 in tlle fiollowing

* See the above, N° xlix. p. Sc6*

[ 534] Excepting a few old houSes, none of the buildings

in Aleppo were adtually thrown down; but the walls of a confiderable nuxuber of hotlfes have been rent.

We have had the wetteCt winter I etrer faw in this country The Coic has every-where oeresflowed its banks, and is juA now- much iligher than it has been known to rilie for many yearsv

EEIII, Remarks ox e Bovey Coal In a Letter ta the Rght Hoszograble George Earlof MacclesSeld, Prefdetof theRoyal Soctety. -By JeremiSh Milles, D D. F*R. S.

My Lord} Read Feb. 2s,rrHE deScription, Which the learned

176o 1 profeir Hollman has given the Society *, of two remarkable Rrata of foffill wood in Germany, osle in the neighbourheod of Manden, ill. t}le duchy of Grubenhagen, and the other near A1- lendorf in Heffie, correEponds, in fo rnany particularsy with fiome ilrataX diScovered about fi*een years agea in Dcvonffiire, that it fuggeRed to me a doubty whe- ther thefe German llrata were really (what the learned profeor fuppofes them) foflill wood, and formerly a vegetable fubficance, or (what he fays the miners calI them) foEil coal. The reafons, on which this douzot is fouIldedy are fubmitted to the judgmelt of your Lordffiip and the Society7 in tlle fiollowing

* See the above, N° xlix. p. Sc6* accollJ}t accollJ}t



an account of the late earthquakes in syria: in a letter from dr. patrick russell, to his brother,...

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