Betrospective Criticism, '4^ 



spherical form, the smooth exterior, and the sharpness of their rattle, give 

 them a decided superiority over the argillaceous ironstones described by that 

 gentleman, the nucleus of v^'hich is simply indurated clay. Their origin 

 appears to be the investment of an alcyonitic body in flint, some part of the 

 exterior of which resisted this process; consequently, a nucleus was formed, 

 which in some instances is loose. These are what are called eagle stones 

 in Norfolk. I have but one in my cabinet in this state ; I have others pre- 

 cisely similar, which do not rattle : one which I broke some time since exhi- 

 bited the same organic character as represented in Parkinson's Organic 

 JRemains, vol. ii. pi. 12. fig. 5. There is generally on the surface a number 

 of small holes, which appear to have their origin in the flint, being moulded 

 upon radicles projecting from the body of the alcyonite. I am. Sir, yours, 

 &c. — Samuel Woodward. Norwich^ March 22. 1831. 



Adages on the Weather. — Sir, Mr. Spence, in his remarks on the wea- 

 ther at Pisa (p. 264.), observes that " the Pisans have a saying, * If the 

 weather be open on the 2d of February (the feast of the Purification of 

 the Virgin), the winter is over ; if severe, it is only beginning.' " This 

 brings to my mind the old meteorological couplet, of a nearly opposite 

 tendency : — 



" Si sol splendescat matutino Purificante, 

 Major erit glacies post festum, quam fuit ante." 



i. e. If the sun shines on the morning of the Purification (February 2.), 

 there will be more frost after the festival than there had been before it. It 

 would be difficult to account for the origin of these contrary sayings. The 

 Latin proverb is perhaps to be understood with considerable latitude of 

 interpretation, as meaning only that^ if we have premature mild weather in 

 the early spring, we are likely to suffer for it by severe weather at a later 

 season of the year; a sense which seems also to be expressed in the 

 following saying : — 



*' If the grass grow in Janiveer, 

 It grows the worse for 't all the year ; " 



as well as in another, of more coarse and homely manufacture, relating to 

 the worth or value of " February's grass," which I refrain from quoting. 

 How far the Pisan adage may be founded on fact, I am less able to judge 

 than Mr, Spence; it carries with it, however, more of the air of proba- 

 bility than the Latin couplet, at least if literally interpreted, appears to do. 

 Yours, &c. — W. T. Bree. Allnley Rectory, May 12. 183L 



Erratum in J. G. Tatem^ s Journal of the Weather for 1830, at High Wy- 

 combe, (p. 168.)— Sir, I beg to thank your correspondent the Rev. J. S. 

 Henslow, for recalling (p. 383.) to my notice an error in the heading of the 

 columns containing the number of rainy and snowy days in my table of the 

 weather for 1830, inserted in p. 168., which should have been " rainy, 

 snowy, fair," instead of " fair, rainy, snowy." The long and dangerous 

 illness of a much-loved daughter has prevented my requesting your atten- 

 tion to the subject before. I am. Sir, yours, &c. — James G. Taten^ 

 Wycombe y July 18. 1831. 



Kilkenny Meteorological Journal. — Sir, I beg to correct an error which 

 I made in my communication. Vol. II. p. 97. I there stated Kilkenny to 

 be 500 ft. above the level of the sea ; I should have said, about 400 ft. ; and 

 its distance from the sea about forty English miles, as our Irish miles are 

 much longer. Yours, &c. — John Robertson. Kilkenny, March 15. 1831. 



Erratum. — For " Coulemb's balance of Tarsim," Vol. III. p. 189., 

 read " Coulomb's balance of torsion." — J. Murray. Caermartheuy April 2, 

 1830. 



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