History of Astronomy Jar the Year 1803. 1$ 



- The history of meteorology is every year connected with 

 that of astronomy : but this year meteorology has furnished 

 remarkable phaenomena : the equinoctial winds have been 

 little felt, and the autumnal rains were very weak. 



The tide at the end of March ought to have been exceed- 

 ingly stronjr, according to the theory of Laplace. Traulee, 

 of Abbeville paid attention to this object at that place, 

 and sent curious observations to the Board of Longitude. 

 M. Maignon observed the tides at Brest : precautions had 

 been taken, and indeed if the west wind had been strong we 

 should have had inundations. We request from every quar- 

 ter observations on the tides ; and during my journeys to 

 Cherburg and Ostend I had the pleasure this year of seeing 

 that scales of the tides are preparing. I received observa- 

 tions from M. Caron, a lieutenant in the navy at Ostend; 

 and I have been a witness to his assiduity and correctness. 



The thermometer this year was only once at 12° 30' of 

 cold, or 43° of my new thermometer. The heat was of as 

 long continuance as it was extraordinary : the drought lasted 

 three months and a half, yet the heat was only 29° 30', or 

 37° of my new thermometer; while in 1753, 1765, and 

 3 793, it was at 42° : but the duration of it occasioned one 

 of the hottest summers we have had for a century. If I 

 speak of my new thermometer, it is because the division I 

 have adopted, which is more philosophical, more natural, 

 simpler, and more convenient, contains numbers easier to 

 be retained : every body speaks of 30 and 40 ; and it hap- 

 pens, by a singular chance, that these numbers 30 and 40 

 are those which express the moderate and scorching sum- 

 mers, the mild and severe winters, the degrees of heat and 

 of cold. These numbers hitherto decried will be ennobled 

 by becoming the kev of the thermometric science. Ouf 

 ablest artist for this kind of instruments, M. Mossy, known 

 by his excellent and accurate works, has undertaken to con- 

 struct my thermometers, and flatters himself he shall be 

 able to extend the use of them. 



M. Thulis has sent us observations of the barometer, 

 which give for the mean height at the borders of the sea 

 28 inches 2*8 lines, instead of 2*2 lines which I found as 

 the mean of several determinations. M. Burckhardt found 

 from 2*2 lines to 2 , 8*. There still remains an uncertainty 

 of half a line in regard to this fundamental determination 

 of meteorology. It exists even at Paris; for the thermo- 

 jneters at theobservatory indicate half a line more than that 



* Connoksance des Temps, an J 3. p. 34.9* ^. 



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