from the Study of the Weather. 1 79 



to many fatiguing and revolting. In our researches we are 

 not now confined strictly to the appearances of the sky, or the 

 class of phenomena noticed above ; the properties of air and 

 other bodies are now better understood. The barometer, 

 thermometer, the hygrometer or differential thermometer of 

 Lesley, serve to inform us of the fluctuations in the pressure 

 of the atmosphere, its temperature, and the moisture it con- 

 tains ; and yet, with all these advantages, the science of me- 

 teorology seems to excite less interest in our day than at any 

 former period : and wherefore is this the case ? We see me- 

 teorological tables that have been extracted from registers, 

 where the observations have been made with due care no less 

 than 730 times in one season ; but then these tables present a 

 mass of figures, and, notwithstanding the trouble the writer 

 had in furnishing that mass, sheer laziness will not allow 

 us to be benefited by his labours. To render these tables 

 palatable, they must come in a more fascinating form,' and 

 associated with practical remarks. 



Applying these remarks to the purposes of common life, a 

 particular reference to the relative progress of vegetation in 

 different seasons, as acted upon by temperature, moisture in 

 the atmosphere, and moisture in the soil, ought to form an 

 accompaniment of every such table. Meteorological writers 

 are therefore to blame for serving up their tables in such un- 

 couth and forbidding shapes : let them connect their observ- 

 ations on the state of the atmosphere with its effects on the 

 vegetable, and, if they please, on the animal, kingdoms ; and 

 if this is done with accuracy and any degree of judgment, it 

 is hardly possible to conceive a mind so entirely divested of 

 curious research as to be prevented from comparing the pre- 

 sent with the past, in all its bearings, and from forming just 

 deductions from the comparison. For instance, in looking 

 over a calendar of nature (p. 205.) for the spring months of this 

 year, the reader will find that vegetation is from 1 6 to 20 days 

 later in March than in the corresponding month of last year ; 

 and, on looking to the table, he will find the mean tempera- 

 ture to be 2° 4' less, and the supply of moisture to be 2^q 

 inches less. He will therefore conclude that a recurrence of 

 the same or similar circumstances which happened in either 

 season, will be followed by similar effects ; and this novel in- 

 vestigation will open to his mind a new source of pleasure. 

 I am. Sir, yours, most respectfully, 



A. GORRIE. 



Annat Garden, January 15. 1829. ^ 



