NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 231
heard in Colchester. The newspaper records the experiences of several people
living in Papillon Road, South Street, Crouch Street, at Lexden, and elsewhere
all decidedly pointing to phenomena that could be explained on the theory that a
slight earthquake had happened. The most detailed and precise account is that
given by C. O. G. Becker, Esq., M.D., of the Minories, East Hill, Colchester, which
is as follows :
" On Thursday, Sept. 10th, at 12.5 p.m., I was sitting in my library with my
eldest son, when there came a peculiar sound, more like the discharge of a no-
pounder gun. It came from the south or south-west. There were two down-
ward shocks, with a strange noise. My daughter rushed into the room and
said, 'The house is coming down !' We searched all over, but could find no
damage in the house, though all the windows of the room shook. As we were
coming down from the top of the house there was a second discharge of these
noises, and the rumbling and downward moving came again. We went into the
garden to see if anything could be seen there, but could not discover anything.
I said to my son, 'It is an earthquake ; it is not a discharge of heavy artillery,'
remembering well the sound it made in 1884. It continued, and made five dis-
tinct discharges of these peculiar noises, and with the last one there were three
downward movements like a heavy weight coming to the ground. There was a
heavy downpour of rain, and the barometer was exceedingly low, standing at 29.
My house was damaged by the earthquake of 1884, so that when these five
shocks came it made me feel a little creepy. It is no joke to be buried under a
heap of ruins."
The narratives of the other observers recorded in "The Essex Telegraph,"
all speak of distinct vibrations, windows rattling, bottles "jumbling," etc.,
accompanied by a rumbling noise. Of course the usual suggestions have been
made that the vibrations and noises were caused by the discharge of "heavy
guns" or "torpedoes,'' but no evidence of this is forthcoming, and careful and
extensive inquiry by the reporters has failed to obtain any such evidence. The
only occurrence which seems in any way connected with the phenomena at Col-
chester is the explosion of globular lightning (or was it a "bolide" ?) at Hatfield
Peverel, about fifteen miles from Colchester, which we record in another para-
graph below.
In The Essex Naturalist for 1892 (vol. vi., p. 101), we recorded observa-
tions by Dr. Thresh of a supposed earthquake shock at Chelmsford on May 27th,
1892, and in doing so we made the following observations, which we now
emphasise, as equally applicable to the notes printed above : "It is much to be
regretted that no instrumental record of these vibrations is yet possible in Essex.
Since the great earthquake of 1884, several shocks have been noticed ; but as
they were all too slight to move objects, or to cause any structural damage, it was
always open to the sceptic to suggest big guns or atmospheric disturbances as
the cause. We think it desirable, however, to put on record all observations
from skilled scientific observers such as Dr. Thresh."—William Cole, Buckhurst
Hill, October, 1896.
A "Bolide," or Globular Lightning Discharge, at Hatfield Peverel.—
Mr. Edward Gibson, of Hatfield Peverel, writes as follows, under date September
10th, to "The Essex County Standard" :
" In the present very unsettled state of the weather, some of your readers may
feel interested in the following account of a by no means pleasurable sensation
experienced this morning by the inmates of this house.
" I was writing in the dining-room on the south side of the house, and shortly