564 Abstract of Meteorological Observations 



successively in importance ; that Affinities are expressions of 

 the real and elementary and esoteric Plan of Creation which 

 the Author of Nature has been pleased to follow ; that Analo- 

 gies are coincidences of structure consequent solely upon an 

 identity of external physical conditions ; and that Iconisms are 

 merely accidental recurrences of similar forms resulting from 

 the exuberance of Nature's riches. It is evident that these 

 distinctions must be clearly understood before we can make 

 any progress in Natural History as a Science, and the re- 

 marks above offered may perhaps aid in drawing attention to 

 the subject or removing the difficulties which surround it. 



LVIII. Abstract of Meteorological Observations made during 

 the year 184-5 at Gongo Soco, in the interior of Brazil. By 

 William Jory Henwood, F.R.S., F.G.S., Member of the 

 Geological Society of France, Chief Commissioner of the 

 Gold Mines of Gongo Soco and Catta Preta, fyc. fyc. * 



HPHE rich gold mines of Gongo Soco are situated in the 

 ■■- province of Minas Geraes, about forty-eight miles north- 

 west of the city of Ouro Pretof (Villa Rica), in long. 43° SO' 

 west and lat. 19° 58' 30" south, in a vale bounded on the 

 north by the wooded mountain-range of Tejuco, and on the 

 south by undulating grassy lowlands, which at the distance of 

 about eight miles are terminated by the mountain- chain of the 

 Caracas, which rises from 4000 to 5000 feet above the plain. 

 Barometrical measurements J give Gongo Soco an elevation 

 of about 3360 feet above the sea at Rio de Janeiro. 



The thermometrical observations were made at such times 

 as my occupations permitted, but the hours are probably not 

 the best possible §. The midnight observations were made by 

 Captains Blarney, Luke, and Guy, and the thermometer they 

 used needed a constant correction of 2 0, 8 + ; all the others 

 are my own, and the thermometer I employed was a standard 

 one (No. 89) of the British Association. The thermometer is 

 suspended in a wooden box pierced with numerous holes, and 

 hangs at about six feet above the ground, in a shed open at 

 all sides, and is well protected, — as well from reflected heat 

 as from the direct rays of the sun, 



* Communicated by the Author. 



f Mr. Caldcleugh estimates the elevation of Ouro Preto at 3969 feet 

 above the sea. — DanieWs Meteorological Essays, p. 345. 



% Made by the Austrian Mining Engineer, M. Virgil von Helmreichen. 



§ The observations at 4 and 8 p.m. give higher results than would have 

 been afforded at 3 and 9 respectively. 



