628 Supposed Cwmection of Meteoric Phenomena^ 



Europe was chilled, in 1832, by some extraordinary cause 

 (M. i^, H., vi. 292.) : and could that cause which produced ice 

 at Smyrna, so that skating was practised *, have been the 

 melting of a few icebergs off' the Azores ? Was the cold, which 

 was felt after the meteors of Nov. 1833, produced by the ice? 

 At that time, the coast of America was beset by ice ; yet we 

 have the evidence of an eyewitness that America was unusually 

 warm. (VII. 388.) f Was, also, the cold which followed the 

 meteors in Germany (VII, 299.) occasioned by ice ? Yet surely 

 so, if the positions in the Qiiarterly Review, respecting 1816, 

 liold good. How is it to be accounted for on that theory, that, 

 while great accumulations of snow took place on the Alps 

 during the last winter, the Pyrenees, so much nearer the melt- 

 ing ice of the Atlantic, remained free ? And how do the state- 

 ments respecting the ice in May and June, 1834', agree with 

 the weather in England during those months ? \ Less rain 

 and warmer weather than since 1829 marked them; and not 

 " a raw, moist, chilly atmosphere. ^^ As to the frost at New 

 Orleans, it may be observed that, in New Grenada, from 

 Dec. 11. 1808, to the end of Jan. 1809, the cold was greater 



Mexico and the Azores at 3000 miles ; and considers the stream to rim 

 that distance in about eleven or twelve weeks. Now, it is for these 

 reasons that I conclude, that though the ice, to a certain extent, brought 

 cold, and tempered the climate it passed through, the effects did not 

 extend to New Orleans ; but that the cold there, as in Mexico, New Gre- 

 nada, &c,, at certain seasons, had a different origin, though contem- 

 poraneous with effects actually produced by ice elsewhere. Ice at New 

 Orleans is far more likely to be produced by a n. w. wind than a n. e. In 

 the West Indies, I believe, ice is never naturally formed ; but occasionally, 

 when the winter in America is very severe, and the wind from the n. w., 

 Nevis, Antigua, St. Kitt's, &c., experience sufficient cold to cause the 

 closing of shutters and doors : but this is all the effect produced. 



* The thermometer, at TefSs, in Georgia, durmg the winter of 1832-3, 

 stood at 35° Fahr. ; at Alexandria, in Feb. 1833, there fell snow and hail; 

 while it rained in Egypt for six months. (VI. 292.) 



\ Maple sugar was made by the Indians on Dec. 31. Mr. Hildreth 

 (Silliman's Amer. Journ.y xxvi. 84.) states that, at Marietta in Ohio,lat. 30° 

 25' N., 4° 28' w. of Washington, the year 1833 was even milder than 1832 ; 

 and that the spring was earlier by a week. After September, westerly 

 winds were prevalent ; i. e. winds that blew to^ not froviy the ice then melt- 

 ing off the coast of America. Such was the case, also, in the year 1831, 

 when the United States were affected with unusual cold during the pre- 

 valence of westerly winds. 



'\. May, 1834, was warmer than any May since twelve years, except that 

 of 1833: less rain fell than since 1829, though more than in 1833. The 

 barometer stood higher than in any May since 1829. In June, 1834, 

 the thermometer was higher than since 1822; and the barometer higher 

 than in any May since 1827. The rain ivas less than the average, much less 

 than in 1832 and 1833. The mean of the barometer only once exceeded 

 'in twelve years, viz. in 1829. From Register kept at High Wycombe. 

 (^lAterary Gazette.') 



