Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 2.djvu/194

 to run for their lives, when the chilly and parching March winds began to blow, and have sought shelter at Bristol or the Hotwells, where they have described the difference in the temperature and constitution of the atmosphere, according to their sensations, to be very decided.

It has already been mentioned that Bristol stands upon both sides of the Avon. This river enters the city from the south-east, and pursues a very tortuous direction till met by the Froom, opposite to Cannon's Marsh, a little to the south-west of the Cathedral; the latter river has an equally winding course through the city from the north-east, tending southward, to the confluence just indicated. This description, however, is more applicable to the former course of these rivers than to the present, because a considerable part of the channels just traced has, of late years, been converted into a floating harbour, to avoid the inconvenience of the tides; the whole, indeed, of the course of the Avon, and a small extent of the Froom have been so converted. This work was effected by damming up the entrance of the former river, and cutting a new channel for it to the south of the city. The gates of the harbour are not far from the Hotwells. The distribution of the stream of the Froom will be spoken of by and bye.

The geological situation of Bristol is upon the western frontier of the coal basin which bears its name. This basin forms an irregular triangle, the apex of which is near Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, the base extending from the vicinity of Frome along the chain of the Mendip Hills to the Bristol Channel,