Descriptive Report. 45
testifying to a shock of considerable severity, was due chiefly
to the overthrow of chimney-stacks, the injuries being on the
whole confined to old or faulty structures. The greatest
amount of destruction appears to have fallen upon the north-
eastern quarter and the lower parts of the town towards the
Hythe, especially along East Hill, Brook Street, Magdalen
Street, Barrack Street, &c.; but as this is the oldest portion
and therefore crowded with the most shaky tenements,
caution must be exercised before drawing any conclusions as
to local variations in the severity of the shock. To the west
of Colchester, towards Lexden and Stanway, the cases
of permanent injury to buildings were comparatively few.
At the time of our visit to the town (May 3rd), con-
siderable advance had been made in the repair of chimney-
stacks, but it has been estimated that about five to ten per
cent. of the whole number were thrown down. In order to
avoid the undue extension of the present report, I do not
propose to give all the recorded cases of damage, nor all the
details that were noted during our visit, but shall confine my
observations to some of the more prominent instances of
destruction, and especially to those cases which appear to
throw any light upon the nature or direction of the seismic
disturbance.
North Station.—The shock was felt just as the 9.20 up-
express was on the point of starting. The direction of the
railway at the station is about W. 15° N.—E. 15° S. The
station-master (Mr. W. Blatch) has communicated the follow-
ing statement:—
" Just as I was going to start the train there was a
rumbling noise resembling distant thunder, and directly the
platform seemed to give a gentle heave, like the motion of
a wave. For an instant I thought I had a slight dizziness in
the head, but then I was convinced that something unusual
had happened, and that we were receiving either the shock
of an explosion or an earthquake. The passengers in the
train all rushed alarmed to the windows of the carriages, and
a number of men at work on the new asylum, a large build-
ing close to the station, hastened down from the scaffold."