prevalent Disorders^ Sfc.^ mth Volcanic Emanations, 621 



ice continue to be carried away from the polar seas, and 

 melted in the Atlantic, we have nothing to expect but a raw, 

 moisty chilly atmosphere, with isoesterly winds both summer and 

 winter ?^^ i^Qiiarterly Review, xviii. 447.) 



If these assertions be correct, the test may be safely applied 

 to the years 1832, 1833, 1834, during which years " such 

 fields and islands of ice " have been " carried away from the 

 polar seas, and melted in the Atlantic," as I shall proceed to 

 show : yet what becomes of the parallel afforded by these 

 years to 1816, 1817, 1818, when our atmosphere has not 

 been " raw and chilly?" To make the parallel as strong as 

 possible, let us take two or three preliminary facts. In 1818, 

 there was ice at New Orleans 2 in. thick." {Quart, Review.) 

 So, in November, 1833, very early frosts set in, and the 

 crops were ruined. The ice in the ponds was Ijin. thick. 

 Full 1000 acres of land were in consequence abandoned ; 

 and, instead of 120,000 hogsheads of sugar, only 50,000 

 were expected to be produced. {New Orleans Paper.) 



It appears, also, that, in 1831, the ice was not removed 

 from the shores of Newfoundland late in the month of June 

 (Redfield, in Silliman's Amer. Journ., xxv. 134.); and that it 

 blocked up the Strait of Belle Isle in the month of August. 

 (Baddeley, in the Qiiehec Transactions, iii. 144.) In 1833, 

 the inhabitants of Newfoundland enjoyed no summer. In 

 May, the thermometer was 21° below the freezing point ; on 

 May 11., it stood at 19°. In June, it was seven times at or 

 below 32°. In July, it was only eight times above 50°, three 

 times below 40°, only ten days above 70°, and it was three 

 days below temperate. In August, there were only eight 

 nights above 50°; three were below 40°; and only three days 

 above 70°. * 



Accounts, also, up to Nov. 1 5. 1833, mention, that great cold 

 had been felt in Canada, in the autumn and summer, which 

 had prevented the crops from ripening ; and that early frosts 

 had set in, doing great damage. Capt. Back's despatches 

 state, that the winter of 1833-4, in the northern parts of 

 America, was more tremendously cold than ever before known. 



On Mont St. Bernard, unusual accumulations of snow took 

 place in Dec. 1833, and avalanches were frequent, causing 

 great damage, f On the Pyrenees, however, no snow had 

 fallen through the winter of 1833, up to Jan. 12. 1834; but 

 there were there dreadful rains, attended with thunder and 

 lightning, which, on that day, struck the tower of the church 



* These particulars are contained in a letter from a Newfoundland mer- 

 chant to a friend in Poole, published in the Dorset County Chronicle. 



f Journal de Lausanne. The falling of the avalanches would imply a 

 degree of warmth^ as well as the accumulation of snow a degree of cold. 



