The gentleman who observed it about _Hartingfordbury_, says, the noise preceded the shock. And this is a common observation, which at once both strengthens our opinion of electricity, and confutes that of subterraneous vapours; for, in the latter case, the concussion must precede the noise. Agreeable to out _second_ position, Mr. _Flamsted_ writes, "That earthquakes are felt at sea, equally as on land. Our merchants say, that, tho' the water in the bay of _Smyrna_ lies level and smooth as a pond; yet ships riding there feel the shocks very sensibly, but in a very different manner from the houses at land: For they heave not, but tremble; their masts shiver, as if they would fall to pieces and their guns start in their carriages, though the surface of the sea lies all the time calm and unmoved." In Dr. _Hook_'s _Philosophical Collections_, N^o 6. p. 185. we are told, "That a ship felt a shock in the main ocean; that the passengers, who had been asleep in their cabins, came upon deck in a fright, fearing the ship had struck upon some rock; but, on heaving the lead, found themselves out of soundings." All this is extremely agreeable to our assumption. The water receives the electrical touch, and vibratory intestine motion of its parts, as well as land. And the impression may be made solely on the writer a non-electric, by the touch of an electric fire-ball, or the like; and that seems to have been often the care. The proper vibratory motion is impress'd on the water without ruffling its surface; and so communicated to all the parts of the ship, gives the sense of a shock to the bottom, the shivering to the mast, and the rest of the symptoms: which sufficiently proclaim the cause of it to be an electrical impression upon the water. The president mentioned a relation of a waterman, that felt it in his boat upon the river; he thought it like a great thump at the bottom of the boat. And so the ships at sea fancy, they strike upon a rock. This makes us apprehend, the reason of the fishes leaping up out of the canal in _Southwark_, of which we had an account. So in that of _Oxford_, 1683, one fishing in the _Charwell_ felt his boat tremble under him, and the lesser fishes seem'd affrighted by an unusual skipping. That electricity is the cause sought for, seems deducible from this consideration. Several writers on earthquakes assimilate these vibrations of the earth to those of a musical string. Experiments have shown, that fishes in water may be killed by the particular tone of a musical string; and 'tis known, that electricity will kill animals. They assuredly felt the vibratory motion in the water, which they were absolutely strangers to before. No doubt it made them sick; as those of weak nerves on land. And this circumstance alone precludes any suspicion of subterraneous fires under the ocean. Or, if we were to admit of it, would the boiling of the water exhibit any appearance, like what we are speaking of, either to the water, or to the ship?