456 F. Rudberg on the Mean Temperature of [June 



hand had greatly diminished. I immediately applied a 

 bandage tightly, and on its removal about eight hours after 

 I found the parts nearly well. 



In regard to the modus operandi of the bandage, it ap- 

 pears to me that inflammation consists in arterial capillary 

 engorgement, which, when existing to a great extent, pro- 

 duces considerable obstruction to the circulation ; that the 

 bandage mechanically diminishes the size of these capillaries 

 and enables them quickly to regain their former size and 

 contractility. 



Article IX, 



On the Mean Temperature of the Ground at Various Depths. 

 By F. Rudberg . # 



At the end of December 1832, three thermometers, by my 

 suggestion, and at the expense of the Academy of Sciences 

 at Stockholm, were put in the ground at that place. They 

 were filled with mercury, and were compared while in the 

 vertical position with an accurate thermometer, so that the 

 influence of the mercurial column was provided against. 

 The thermometers were placed in glass tubes, which were 

 shut at the bottom by perforated stoppers, and filled with 

 fine sand. The depths at which the balls of the three ther- 

 mometers were placed, were one, two, and three feet respec- 

 tively. The place where they were buried lies in the middle 

 of that considerable plain on which the astronomical and 

 now also the magnetical observatories are situated. 



The observations began in December of the above year ; 

 but during the first six months they were made only once 

 a day. After that, however, the thermometers were ob- 

 served three times in the day, at 6 a.m. and at 2 and 9 p.m. 

 As the natural equilibrium of temperature would of course 

 be disturbed by digging up the earth, and a considerable 

 time would be requisite to allow this to return to its usual 

 state I shall here omit the observations of the first half 

 year, and state only those from the 1st. of July 1833, to the 



* From Pogg. Ann. xxxiii. 251. 



