16
The East Anglian Earthquake.
guidance of our members, Mr. Henry Laver, F.L.S., and
Mr. J. C. Shenstone, F.R.M.S.; and the arrangements which
these gentlemen had kindly made on our behalf, much
facilitated our visit of inspection. Two days were devoted to
an examination of the damage caused in the town and
surrounding villages, many notes and sketches being taken in
the field.
Before our departure I received some useful information
from one of our members, Mr. W. H. Bird, of Buckhurst
Hill, who had been through the damaged villages on April
23rd. I learnt also that my friend, Mr. G. J. Symons,
F.E.S., the well-known meteorologist, had likewise been over
the ground the day after the earthquake, and an interview
with this gentleman fortunately secured his warm sympathy
and promise of co-operation for the proposed Report. In
the ' Times' of April 23rd, Mr. Symons had appealed for
information; and during his visit he had made many notes
and had entered all the cases of damage that came under his
notice on the 6-inch ordnance map. After making use of
these materials for the preparation of the article on the
earthquake which appeared in the ' Meteorological Magazine'
for May, 1884, Mr. Symons kindly handed over to me the
whole of his correspondence, notes and maps, together with
many other letters and newspapers that had reached him too
late to be made use of for his own notice; and much of the
completeness of the present report is due to the valuable
assistance which Mr. Symons has from the first so readily
afforded.
On May 10th, at the invitation of our Vice-President,
Mr. E. A. Fitch, F.L.S., I (in company with Mr. W. Cole)
attended a public meeting convened by the Mayor of Maldon,
on behalf of the Mansion House Earthquake Belief Fund,
and took the opportunity of making a further appeal for in-
formation, which resulted in the communication of some
additional observations from this neighbourhood; I was also
enabled during this visit to interview several of the residents
whose houses had been shaken by the disturbance, and to
make further notes of the effects observed.