Effects of Localities on Climates. 9 



epochs, indicating the maxima and minima temperatures in 

 different places. The following are some of these results : — 



St Gothard, ) 

 (10 years.) ] 



Home, 

 (10 years.) 



Jena, 

 (18 years.) 

 Petersburg, 

 (10 years.) 



Paris, \ 

 (21 years.) j 



Maximum. 

 11th August. 



6th August. 



1st August. 



22(1 July. 



15th July. 



Minimum. 

 24th December. 



8th January. 



3d January. 



8th January. 



14th January. 



{51 and 3 days after 

 the solstice, 

 f 46 and 18 days after 

 I the solstice. 



and 14 days after 

 the solstice. 



I 31 and 18 days after 

 \ the solstice. 



I 25 and 25 days after 

 \ the solstice. 



These differences belong to the localities. But when con- 

 cealed local circumstances exert so much influence, is it not 

 natural to think that the modifications which they receive 

 from the hand of man may sensibly alter, in the interval of 

 a few years, the meteorological type of every town in Europe ? 



1 have shewn that local circumstances which are latent, 

 or at least faintly characterized, may exert sensible and con- 

 stant influences on the manner in which the maxima and 

 minima of temperature are distributed in the year. When 

 science shall be put in possession of exact and comparable 

 meteorological observations, made simultaneomly in different 

 places ; when these observations shall be scrupulously and 

 judiciously digested, we shall very probably find that circum- 

 stances of locality will occupy a much more prominent place 

 in science than natural philosophers seem now disposed to 

 attribute to them. It would not be difficult for me, at this 

 moment, to mention circumscribed districts which have com- 

 pletely escaped the severe colds to which the surrounding 

 countries were subjected. The Sables d'Olonne, for example, 

 and the neighbouring districts, six leagues in circuit, formed, 

 during the winter of 1763 and 1764, a kind of thermal oasis. 

 The Loire was frozen near its mouth ; an intense cold of — 10 

 degrees centigrade (14° F.), interrupted all agricultural ope- 

 rations in the districts which the river traverses. In the Sables 

 the weather was mild : this little canton escaped the frost. 



The following is a still more extraordinary fact than the 

 preceding, for it takes place every year. 



