290 Supposed Connection of Volcanic Emanations 



marked Feb. 20., and the medium time of 57 years is 

 assigned to March 30. 1763. If we may, therefore, admit 

 this fact as a proof, the present spring commenced at a par- 

 ticularly early period. It has, however, till recently, been 

 retarded by an inroad of wintry weather, as remarkable for 

 its violence and duration, as for its unexpected arrival ; and, 

 notwithstanding the occurrence of particular symptoms, it is 

 not till within a few weeks that the spring may be said to 

 have actually returned. 



The following memoranda demonstrate the period of these 

 changes ; and, though not essentially valuable, yet, as local 

 data, and in connection with the present subject, may not be 

 altogether useless. 



1833. February 1st to 5th, Toads appeared. 6th, Heard blackbirds. 

 10th, 11th, and 12th*, Dreadful winds with rain from S. W. 13th*, Gale 

 continued. 14th, Wind and lightning from ten p.m. to four a.m. on the 

 15th. 15th, Snow and rain; the former melted as it fell. 17th, Rain. 

 21st, Honeysuckle in leaf; primroses in blossom; periwinkle in flower in 

 hedgerows about Sturte. 22d*, Heavy gale; trees and chimneys blown 

 down. 24th, Rain. 25th, Hail in the night. 26th, Gnats appeared in 

 great abundance. 27th, High wind. From 15th to 27th, very cold. 



March 4th, Very warm ; Gonepteryx rhamni appeared ; Vanessa To 

 (peacock butterfly) appeared. 5th, Bees on the blossoms of laurustinus. 

 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, Snow in squalls; melted as it fell. 13th, Very 

 warm. 16th, Heavy rain. 19th, Fine clear weather. 21st, Snow. 22d, 



* During the prevalence of these gales, greater mischief was done to all 

 the parks and woods along the western road than ever was remembered. 

 The Chesil Bank was kept bare of pebbles for some time, and many 

 Spanish dollars found, supposed to be part of the specie aboard the Hope, 

 of Amsterdam, which was wrecked there on January 16. 1748. (of which 

 event there are some interesting particulars in Hutchin's History of Dorset, 

 vol. i. p. 545-6.) 



After the gale of the 22d, the windows of my house, which faces the 

 south, were found covered with particles of salt, and the brass rapper on 

 the door was corroded by the same cause. The distance from Poole 

 Harbour is not more than half a mile; but, on account of the nature of the 

 situation, I do not believe that the spray from the harbour brought this 

 salt : I am inclined to think it came much farther. The sea lies about 

 two miles to the left, open and visible; before us is the opening in the 

 Chalk Downs at Corfe Castle, and behind that the high land of Kimmeridge, 

 the distance from which place, as the crow flies, is about eleven miles. I 

 think the spray in question came from the main sea behind Purbeck; the 

 wind driving furiously from that quarter between Kimmeridge or Lul- 

 worth and Weymouth. There are on record, in the Philosophical Transactions 

 for 1704, accounts of " salt storms" in November and December, 1703, 

 by which it appears, on the evidence of numerous credible witnesses, that 

 the salt of the sea spray was left on all the trees, hedges, fields, &c, for 

 twenty miles' distance from the sea. (An abstract is given in Polehampton's 

 Gallery of Nature and Art, vol. iv. p. 157.) The Rev. P. W. Jolliffe, A.M., 

 of Poole, informs me that, after a storm from seaward, a similar effect is 

 witnessed at Downton, in Wiltshire, which place is certainly sixteen miles 

 from the nearest sea, at Christchurch.in Hants. 





