238 J. F. Miller, Esq., on the 



By the Registrar-General's Report, it appears that the public health 

 has never been so good since 1845 as in the present quarter. 



October. — Cold, with occasional frosty nights. Temperature 

 2°' 10 below average. A magnificent display of aurora on the night 

 of the 1st. On the afternoon of the 23d, two swallows were seen 

 in the town, and were apparently as agile and lively as if in pursuit 

 of insects on a fine summer's day. The maximum temperature 

 was 47°. 



November. — A mild damp month, and the wettest in the past 

 year. Temperature l°-44 above average. On the 19th, at 3 p.m., 

 the barometer had fallen 1*294 inches in the preceding twenty-four 

 hours, when it attained the unusually low extreme of 28*27 inches, 

 and it continued stationary at that point till near 10 p.m. On the 

 20th, at 10 P.M., the column had risen 1*074 inch in the preceding 

 twenty-four hours. On the evening of the 24th, the mercury again 

 descended to 28*48 inches. There were six frosty nights in this 

 month. 



December. — Mild, with fine frosty nights. Temperature 1°*61 

 above the average. 



The temperature of the last quarter is 0*31 above the average. 



The deaths in the town and suburb are 126, or 10 below the 

 average number, which is 136. The births exceed the deaths by 

 38. The mortality throughout the kingdom is lower than it has 

 been in any of the last quarters of the years 1839 to 1850, except 

 in 1845. 



Winds. — -In 1850, the winds have been distributed as under : — 

 N. 31i days; NE. 39i ; E. 16; SE. 22^; S. 73; SW. 85; 

 W. 451 ; ^nd NW. 52. 



Weather. — In the past year, there have been eleven perfectly clear 

 days, 190 wet days, 167 cloudy without rain, 285 days on which 

 the sun shone out more or less, thirty-nine days of frost, six snow 

 showers, and ten days in which hail fell. There have also been four 

 solar and six lunar halos, five days of thunder and lightning, three 

 days in which lightning was seen unaccompanied by thunder, and six 

 appearances of aurora borealis. The only exhibition of aurora worthy 

 of particular notice occurred on the evening of the 1st of October. 

 About 8h. 15m., Greenwich mean time, observed two concentric 

 auroral arches, the lower being considerably the fainter of the two. 

 The extremities of the outer and higher bore about WSW. and 

 NE. (true), and its centre was estimated to have an altitude of 

 about 15°. Streamers soon shot up from the arch to, or somewhat 

 beyond the zenith, but no corona was formed. Soon after 9 o'clock, 

 appeared a magnificent rainbow arch about 5° in width throughout, 

 extending from ENE. to WSW. ; at 9h. 15m., the arch passed a little 

 to the south of the Pleiades, and through Delphinus and Aquila. 

 The arch continued perfect about ten minutes after I first observed 



