1579. The Scottish parliament decreed that every householder, having lands or goods worth £500, should be obliged to have a Bible, which at this time was printed in folio, and a psalm book in his house, "for the better instruction of themselves and their families in the knowledge of God."
1687. The destruction of Lima in Peru by an earthquake.
1713. Archibald Pitcairne, an able Scottish physician, died. He disputed the right of Harvey to the discovery of the circulation of the blood, which he asserted was fully known to Hippocrates.
1714. Several people killed by the falling of scaffolds on which multitudes were standing to see the coronation of George I of England.
1719. Birthday of Godfrey Achenwall, a Prussian traveler, historian and political economist. He first gave a distinct character to the science of statistics, and gave it that name. He died 1772.
1723. A fire commenced in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and lasted three days; most of the city was burnt down.
1740. Charles VI, emperor of Germany, died. He was the sixteenth and last prince of the ancient house of Austria, and was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa.
1741. The Prussians became masters of Silesia.
1786. A basket maker contrived by a singular scaffolding of twigs to bring down the weathercock from the old abby church of St. Albans, in England.
1796. The university of Oxford and the marquis of Buckingham each presented 2000 copies of the Bible for distribution among the French clergy.