which occasionally occur in England. 321 



between the excess of 5°*5 in November, and of 3 0, 2 in Ja- 

 nuary, may be thus accounted for. 



" If the explanation of the apparently very unusual facts ob- 

 served by Dr. Franklin in 1776, and by the Iphigenia in 1822, 

 be correct, how highly curious is the connexion thus traced 

 between a more than ordinary strength of the winds within 

 the tropics in the summer, occasioning the derangement of 

 the level of the Mexican and Caribbean seas, and the high 

 temperature of the sea between the British Channel and Ma- 

 deira, in the following winter ! 



" Nor is the probable meteorological influence undeserving 

 of attention, of so considerable an increase in the temperature 

 of the surface water over an extent of ocean exceeding 600 

 miles in latitude and 1000 in longitude, situated so import- 

 antly in relation to the western parts of Europe. It is at 

 least a remarkable coincidence, that in November and Decem- 

 ber 1821, and in January 1822, the state of the weather was 

 so unusual in the southern parts of Great Britain and in 

 France, as to have excited general observation ; in the meteo- 

 rological Journals of the period it is characterized as ' most 

 extraordinarily hot, damp, stormy, and oppressive ;' it is stated, 

 1 that an unusual quantity of rain fell both in November and 

 December, but particularly in the latter ;' that ' the gales from 

 the west and south-west were almost without intermission,' 

 and that in December, the mercury in the barometer was 

 lower than it had been known for thirty-five years before*/' 



* " The following description of this very remarkable winter is extracted 

 from Mr. Daniell's Essay on the Climate of London (Meteorological Essays. 

 London, 1823, pages 297 and 298), and becomes highly curious when 

 viewed in connexion with the unusual temperature of the ocean in the di- 

 rection in which the principal winds proceeded. 



"'November 1821 differed from the mean, and from both the preceding 

 years, in a very extraordinary way. The average temperature was 5° above 

 the usual amount ; and although its dryness was in excess " (the relative 

 dryness in consequence of the increased temperature) " the quantity of 

 rain exceeded the mean quantity by one-half. The barometer on the 

 whole was not below the mean. All the low lands were flooded, and the 

 sowing of wheat very much interrupted by the wet. 



'"In December the quantity of rain was very nearly double its usual 

 amount. The barometer averaged considerably below the mean, and de- 

 scended lower than had been known for thirty-five years. Its range was 

 from 3027 inches to 28- 12 inches. The temperature was still high for 

 the season, and the weather continued, as in the last month, in an uninter- 

 rupted course of wind and rain; the former often approaching to a hurricane, 

 and the latter inundating all the low grounds. The water-sodden state of 

 the soil, in many parts, prevented wheat-sowing, or fallowing the land at 

 the regular season. The mild temperature pushed forward all the early- 

 sown wheats to a height and luxuriance scarcely ever before witnessed. The 

 grass and every green production increased in an equal proportion. 



" ' January, 1822. This most extraordinary season still continued above 



Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 28. No. 187. April 1846. Z 



