296 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



mountainous parts of Switzerland, Baden, Bavaria, and elsewhere 

 on the Continent in the course of the current winter, that it has 

 been generally warmer in the elevated districts, on the hills and 

 mountains, than in the plains and valleys. A Berne paper prints 

 a correspondence from Flerden, in the Grisons, dated the 28th ult., 

 in which the writer says : — ' For a month past we have had only 

 two days of cloudy weather ; otherwise it has been always a cloud- 

 less sky, with the most beautiful prospect. I have been able to 

 write at the open window, as the sun shines from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. 

 into my room. At 9 a.m. we have had the thermometer standing 

 at 15° Beaumur (66° Fahrenheit), and at one o'clock 17° Beaurnur 

 (or 70° Fahrenheit). It is'only in the night that the mercury sinks 

 a little under freezing point.' Similar reports come from the Black 

 Forest. At Triberg, 2268 feet above sea level, it is stated that 

 the inhabitants have enjoyed the most beautiful winter known 

 there for a generation past." 



The thaw continued general over Scotland till the 22nd 

 December, with alternating frosts, but ice did not clear off the 

 stagnant pools till 24th December. As high as 11° of frost were 

 frequently registered in central Scotland during the night. Dur- 

 ing this time much fog prevailed, and dark gloomy weather. 



Gales of wind succeeded from S.W., accompanied by dark 

 gloomy weather and much rain, culminating in the terrific hurri- 

 cane of the 28th December, between 7 and 8 p.m., which resulted 

 in the appalling accident to the Tay Bridge, besides much other 

 damage throughout the country. The force of the wind reached 

 that of a hurricane — force from 9, 10, to 11 being registered — and 

 reaching a velocity in some places of 96 miles an hour, and even 

 110 miles an hour, or nearly double the speed of an express 

 train.* 



Great was the destruction to trees all over the track of the 

 storm. On Athole estates, 80,000 trees, said to be worth £30,000, 

 were blown downt [v. Journal of Forestry, vol. iii., p. 826]. Viewed 

 from the railway at Blair- Athole, the hill-sides appear to be half 



* For a full, interesting, and scientific account of this great gale see the 

 Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, New Series, vol. v., nos. 

 xlix.-lxiii., pp. 355-3G0. 



t For a general account of destruction to forests in Scotland, see Journal 

 of Forestry, vol. iii., p. 670, et seq., and of the effects at Blair-Drummond, 

 op. cit., p. 103. 



