heaps. They sought shelter in the grass, the hot sun being fatal to them. They disappeared suddenly about the close of June and the begining of July."—New England Farmer, Art. Insect.

This species of worm has been seen at other times, and in 1791, in great multitudes. No account can be given of their origin, and they seem not to have regular periods of return. In July, 1791, the late Governor Huntington, a gentleman of careful observation, informed me he had exposed some of these animals to a hot sun on a dry board, and in a few hours found them dissolved into mere water. They seem to be generated by some elementary process, and to be the harbingers of pestilence; at least they have preceded diseases in America.-Webster on Pestilence, vol. 1, p. 259.

[From the Connecticut Gazette.] Derby, Feb. 18th, 1764. On the evening of the seventh of this instant, Feb. 1764, there was a violent storm of hail and rain; the next morning after was observed a large breach in a hill on the west side of the old river, supposed to be occasioned by some subterraneous wind or fire; the breach is about twenty feet deep, though much caved in, in length one hundred and thirteen feet; about sixty rods of land was covered with the gravel and sand cast out of the cavity, some of which was carried two hundred and fifty-nine feet to the brink of the river; four trees of about a foot diameter were carried one hundred and seventy-three feet distance, and 'tis supposed by their situation that they must have been forced up forty feet high; some small stones about the bigness of walnuts, were carried with such velocity that they stuck fast in a green tree that stood near the cavity; a large dry log better than two feet diameter was carried up so far in the air, that by the force of the fall one end of it stuck so fast in the ground that it kept the other end up. The narrowest part of the breach is about thirty feet at the surface of the ground, and the bottom of the breach is crooking, winding much like the streaks of lightning*.

"In 1775, the oysters in Well fleet harbor, Cape Cod, all perished. These oysters had been in great plenty, and furnished the inhabitants with no small portion of their food: During this period, the oysters on the shores of Connecticut were in an unhealthy state, and sometimes excited vomiting in those who ate of them. It is remarkable also, that in 1776, the lobsters in the vicinity of York-Island, all disappeared. This event has generally been ascribed to the firing of cannon in the summer of that year. But the place where they lived being many miles from the Brit

*A light was seen on the spot in the evening before the explosion. It was accompanied with a loud report, and some fossil substances were ejected, which were analyzed by Dr. Munson, of New Haven, and found to contain arsenic and sulphur.' Webster on Pestilence, Vol. 1, p. 262.

ish shipping, this explanation is not satisfactory. It is more probable that they perished, or abandoned the ground, on account of the bad state of their element. It is remarkable that the prim in America began to decay and perish about this period; a disease among oats also appeared; and near the same time, the wheat insect appeared about the same period."-Webster.

In 1780, all the harbors and bays on the Atlantic coast, as far south as Virginia, were frozen. Loaded sleds passed from New York to Staten Island: Long Island Sound was frozen into a solid highway, where it is several miles in width. The birds that winter in this climate, almost all perished, and in the succeeding spring, a few solitary warblers only were heard in our groves. The snow was nearly four feet deep in the northern Atlantic States, for at least three months.

Dark Days. "We find recorded in History instances of extreme darkness in the day time, and in some cases this obscurity has lasted for a number of days. The 19th of May, 1780, was distinguished by the phenomenon of a remarkable darkness over all the northern States, and is still called the Dark day.*

The darkness commenced between the hours of 10 and 11 A. M., and continued to the middle of the next night. It was occasioned by a thick vapour or cloud, tinged with a yellow color, or faint red, and a thin coat of dust was deposited on white substances.t

The wind was in the southwest; and the darkness appeared to come on with clouds in that direction. Its extent was from Falmouth, (Maine,) to New Jersey. The darkness appears to have been the greatest in the county of Essex, (Mass.) in the lower part of New Hampshire, and Maine; it was also great in Rhode Island and Connecticut. In most parts of the country where the darkness prevailed, it was so great, that persons were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their clocks or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, without additional light; 'candles were lighted up in their houses; the birds having sung their evening songs, disappeared and became silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all around as at break of day; objects could be distinguished but a very little distance; and every thing bore the appearance and gloom of night.'‡

At this time the Legislature of Connecticut was in session in Hartford. A very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The house of Representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the Council was under consideration. When the opinion of Col. Davenport was asked, he answered, "I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought."-Dwight's Travels, vol. 3.

+ Webster.

Coll. Hist. Soc. 95-98.

Besides this instance of uncommon darkness, there was one on the 21st of October, 1716; when people were forced to light candles to eat their dinner by,' but the particulars of it are not preserved.

The following is an extract of a letter from Dr. Tenney to the Massachusetts Historical Society, giving an account of the dark day of May, 1780.

"You will readily recollect that, previously to the commencement of the darkness, the sky was overcast with the common kind of clouds, from which there was in some places a light sprinkling of rain. Between these and the earth there intervened another stratum, to appear. ance of very great thickness. As this stratum advanced, the darkness commenced and increased with its progress till it came to its height; which did not take place till the hemisphere was a second time overspread. The uncommon thickness of this second stratum was probably occasioned by two strong currents of wind from the southward and westward, condensing the vapours and drawing them in a north-easterly direction. I remember this observation was made by an anonymous writer in one of the public papers soon after the

event.

As I set out the next day, from my father's at Rowley, to join my regiment in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to inform myself what were the appearances in different parts of the country between here and Pennsylvania. The result of my enquiries, on that journey, and after my return, was that the darkness was most gross in the county of Essex, the lower part of the State of New-Hampshire and the old Province of Maine. In Rhode-Island and Connecticut it was not so great, and still less in New-York. In New-Jersey the second stratum of clouds was observed, but not of any great thickness; nor was the darkness very uncommon. In the lower parts of Pennsylvania, if my recollection does not fail me, no extraordinary appearance was noticed. Through this whole extent the lower stratum had an uncommon brassy hue, while the earth and trees were adorned with so enchanting a verdure as could not escape notice, were amidst the unusual gloom that surrounded the spectator. This gradual increase of the darkness from southwest to northeast, which was nearly the course of the clouds, affords a pretty good argument in favour of the supposition that they were condensed by two strong currents of wind blowing in different directions. To these two strata of clouds we may, without hesitation, impute the extraordinary darkness of the day."

"The latter part of the summer of 1782, was excessively dry. In New Jersey, a cedar swamp twenty miles in length and eight in breadth, took fire by accident, and was consumed. The fire penetrated among the roots to the depth of six feet; corn, grass, and the very forests withered. The air was loaded with a thick vapor, for some days in September.

"On the evening of the 10th of February, a dense fog or vapor spread over some parts of New England, having the smell of burnt leaves. The ground at the same time was covered with snow."-Mem. Amer. Acad. vol. 1.

"In 1788, almost all the codfish taken on the banks of New Found. land, were thin and sickly; when dried, they were of a dark or blueish color, little better than skeletons, and not well received in foreign markets. This condition of that fish was confined to those banks; as the cod taken at other places were in their usual state.-Webster."

"The crops being thin the preceding year, the Northern States, in the Spring of 1789, experienced a dearth approaching to a famine. In Vermont, people were reduced to the necessity of feeding on tadpoles boiled with pea straw. In one instance, four potatoes were sold for nine pence. None of the human race were actually starved to death, but a few died of a flux in consequence of bad diet. Cattle however, perished in considerable numbers. The Spring of this year was cold, and vegetation tardy; part of the Summer succeeding, was excessively hot.-The winter of 1789-90, was one of the mildest ever known in this country; there being but little frost, except for a few days in February. There fell frequent snows, and in great abundance; but they were immediately followed by warm southerly winds, and dissolved."-Webster.

"On the 16th of May, 1790, at half past 10 o'clock, in a serene moonlight night, there was an extensive earthquake in the northern states. It was preceded, a few seconds, by a rattling sound; its duration was short; its course, as usual in America, from N. W. to S. E. No injury was sustained. On the morning after the earthquake, was observed at Middletown, in Connecticut, a substance like honey or butter, covering the grass and earth for a considerable extent.

In 1791, the canker worms devoured the orchards over the New England States; and their ravages were repeated the two following years. Orchards standing on stiff clay, and in low grounds, which are wet in the Spring, escaped; but on every species of light and dry soil, the trees were as dry on the first of June, as on the first of January. Many trees never recovered from the effects of their ravages. Another worm of a distinct species, and called at the time palmer-worm, overspread our forests in this, or the next year, devouring the leaves of oak and other species of wood."-Webster

REMARKABLE AND UNACCOUNTABLE OCCURRENCES.

The following, relating principally to what is called Salem Witchcraft, is taken from the 2d volume of Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts. Governor Hutchinson had great facilities in procuring correct information respecting the circumstances of this excitement, and it is believed that his account is the most authentic which has yet appeared.

"The great noise which the New England witchcrafts made throughout the English dominions, proceeded more from the general panic with which all sorts of persons were seized, and an expectation that the contagion would spread to all parts of the country, than from the number of persons who were executed, more having been put to death in a single county in England, in a short space of time, than have suffered in all New England from the first settlement until the present time. Fifteen years had passed, before we find any mention of witchcraft among the English colonists. The Indians were supposed to be worshippers of the Devil, and their powows to be wizards. The first suspicion of witchcraft, among the English, was about the year 1645; at Springfield, upon Connecticut river, several persons were supposed to be under an evil hand, and among the rest two of the minister's children. Great pains were taken to prove the facts upon several persons charged with the crime, but either the nature of the evidence was not satisfactory, or the fraud was suspected, and so no person was convicted until the year 1650, when a poor wretch, Mary Oliver, probably weary of her life from the general reputation of being a witch, after long examination was brought to confession of her guilt, but I do not find that she was executed. Whilst this inquiry was making, Margaret Jones was executed at Charlestown; and Mr. Hale mentions a woman at Dorchester, and another at Cambridge about the same time, who all at their death asserted their innocence. Soon after, Hugh Parsons was tried at Springfield and escaped death. In 1655, Mrs. Hibbins, the assistants widow, was hanged at Boston. In 1662, at Hartford in Connecticut, (about 30 miles from Springfield, upon the same river) one Ann Cole, a young woman who lived next door to a Dutch family, and, no doubt, had learned something of the language, was supposed to be possessed with demons, who sometimes spake dutch and sometimes english, and sometimes a language which no body understood, and who held a conference with one another. Several ministers, who were present, took down the conference in writing, and the names of several persons, mentioned in the course of the conference, as actors or bearing parts in it; particularly a woman, then in prison upon suspicion of witchcraft, one Greensmith, who upon examination confessed and ap peared to be surprized at the discovery. She owned that she and the others named had been familiar with a demon, who had carnal knowledge of her, and although she had not made a formal covenant, yet she had promised to be ready at his call, and was to have had a high frolick at Christmas, when the agreement was to have been signed. Upon this confession she was executed, and two more of the company were condemned at the same time. In 1669, Susanna Martin, of Salisbury, was bound over to the court, upon suspicion of witchcraft, but escaped at that time.

In 1671, Elizabeth Knap, another ventriloqua, alarmed the people of Groton in much the same manner as Ann Cole had done those of Hartford; but her demon was not so cunning, for instead of confining himself to old women, he rail'd at the good minister of the town and