DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0218
194
KIRBY S WONDERFUL MUSEUM
AN ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY SHOWER OF BLACK
DUST, THAT FELL IN THE ISLAND OF ZETLAND, OCTO-
BER 20tH, 1755, RELATED IN A LETTER FROM SIR AN-
DREW MITCHELL, BAR1VOF WESTSHORE, TO JOHN PRIN-
GLE, M.D. F.R.S.
In volume three of our work we gave an account of a
shower of black dust falling between Shetland and Iceland;
the following are further particulars of the same phenomenon.
“ In compliance with your desire I made particular enquiry,
whether at or about the time the earthquake happened at Lis-
bon, Nov. I, 1755, any uncommon phenomena were observ-
ed to appear in the islands of Orkney or Zetland, as such had
happened about that time in other parts of Scotland. From
Orkney I was informed, that nothing particular had happen-
ed, only, that about the time mentioned, the tides were ob-
served to be much higher than ordinary. I received from
Zetland a letter, dated May 28, 1756, from Mr. William
Brown, master of the grammar school, at Scalloway, in that
country, a sensible and observing man; wherein he writes,
verbatim, as follows :—
‘ Blessed be God, notwithstanding the great devastations
that have been made in other parts of the world by earth-
quakes, we have been entirely free from any disaster of that
nature; nor has any thing extraordinary happened in this
country since you left it, only, on Monday, October 20th,
last, between three and four in the afternoon, the sky being
very hazy, as it used to be before a storm of thunder and
lightning, there fell a black dust all over the country, though
in greater quantities in some places than in others. It wag
very much like lampblack, but smelled strongly of sulphur,
l-’eople in the fields had their faces, hands, and linen black?
KIRBY S WONDERFUL MUSEUM
AN ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY SHOWER OF BLACK
DUST, THAT FELL IN THE ISLAND OF ZETLAND, OCTO-
BER 20tH, 1755, RELATED IN A LETTER FROM SIR AN-
DREW MITCHELL, BAR1VOF WESTSHORE, TO JOHN PRIN-
GLE, M.D. F.R.S.
In volume three of our work we gave an account of a
shower of black dust falling between Shetland and Iceland;
the following are further particulars of the same phenomenon.
“ In compliance with your desire I made particular enquiry,
whether at or about the time the earthquake happened at Lis-
bon, Nov. I, 1755, any uncommon phenomena were observ-
ed to appear in the islands of Orkney or Zetland, as such had
happened about that time in other parts of Scotland. From
Orkney I was informed, that nothing particular had happen-
ed, only, that about the time mentioned, the tides were ob-
served to be much higher than ordinary. I received from
Zetland a letter, dated May 28, 1756, from Mr. William
Brown, master of the grammar school, at Scalloway, in that
country, a sensible and observing man; wherein he writes,
verbatim, as follows :—
‘ Blessed be God, notwithstanding the great devastations
that have been made in other parts of the world by earth-
quakes, we have been entirely free from any disaster of that
nature; nor has any thing extraordinary happened in this
country since you left it, only, on Monday, October 20th,
last, between three and four in the afternoon, the sky being
very hazy, as it used to be before a storm of thunder and
lightning, there fell a black dust all over the country, though
in greater quantities in some places than in others. It wag
very much like lampblack, but smelled strongly of sulphur,
l-’eople in the fields had their faces, hands, and linen black?