Dr Brewster on the Mean Temperature of the Equator-. 61 



vations made at Prince of Wales's Island, within 5° of the 

 equator, and at Singapore and Malacca, within 1° and 2° of it, 

 and as these are the very points where observations have beeii 

 most wanted, I have endeavoured to deduce from them the 

 mean temperature of these places, and thus to determine the 

 mean heat of the equator itself. This element is one of the 

 most important in meteorology. It is not only necessary for 

 ascertaining the law of the distribution of heat in different 

 latitudes ; but, by its accurate determination in different meri- 

 dians, we may expect to throw light on that curious specula- 

 tion, in which a connection is supposed to exist between the 

 distribution of heat and the distribution of the magnetic in- 

 fluence over the globe. We shall begin with the observations 

 at Singapore, as being made nearest to the equator. 



1. SiNGAPOEE. 



North latitude P M. East long. 104°. 



The observations at Singapore were made with instruments 

 kept under a thatched bungaloo by Lieutenant-Colonel Wil- 

 liam Farquhar. They were made at six in the morning, at 

 noon, and at six in the evening. 



1822. 

 Mean annual temperature at 6^ and 6^, - 79° 45 

 . — 12^ noon, - 84 



In order to deduce the mean daily temperature from these 

 observations we shall make use of the corrections deduced 

 from the hourly observations made at Leith Fort for 1824 

 and 1825. The mean daily temperature, for example, ex- 

 suggesting to the Medico-Physical Society of Calcutta the propriety of* 

 taking it under their patronage, and of thus adding greatly to the already 

 high interest which their memoirs possess. . 



It would be of the greatest importance to meteorology if a set of hourly 

 meteorological observatio?is could be instituted at Calcutta, Bombay, Ma- 

 dras, Singapore, Malacca, and some station on the elevated plains of Hin- 

 dostan. What we have been able to accomplish at Leith, and to continue 

 for four years, and what has been accomplished more recently at Christi- 

 ania and Drontheim by Professor Hansteen, may surely be easily executed 

 under the genial sky of the East, and by means of the we^jjji |^(ji leisure 

 which there abound. 



