Observations made at Port Macquarie. 247 



air, no decrease of heat was observed in the arctic regions. 

 This curious experiment was made by Captain Parry and the 

 Reverend George Fisher. " This was done by means of a 

 paper kite, to which was attached an excellent register ther- 

 mometer, in a horizontal position. Its height above the level 

 of the frozen sea, upon which the experiment was made, was 

 determined by two observers, in the same vertical plane, taking 

 its altitude, at the same time, above the distant horizon ; and 

 from thence its height was computed. The greatest height 

 observed was 379 feet, at which height it was nearly stationary 

 for about a quarter of an hour. It probably, however, had 

 been more than 400 feet above the sea. After an unsuccess- 

 ful attempt, the experiment was made under very favourable 

 circumstances, the kite being sent up, and caught in coming 

 down, without the slightest shake. The indices had not alter- 

 ed their position in the slightest degree, and they would have 

 indicated any variation of temperature, had it existed to less 

 than a quarter of a degree of Fahrenheit. The temperature 

 at the time was — 24° Fahrenheit.'" Upon this experiment 

 Dr Young * remarks, " The theory is greatly illustrated by 

 Mr Fisher's very valuable experiment with the kite, which 

 shows that the law of decrease of temperature must be sup- 

 posed to be very different in the arctic regions from that 

 which prevails in more moderate latitudes ; but it serves fully 

 to prove the impossibility of forming any hypothesis respecting 

 the constitution of the atmosphere which shall be universally 

 correct.'" 



The observations contained in the following table possess 

 great interest, especially as they were made Jive times a day. 

 The following are the means for an altitude of 65 — 13 = 52 

 feet. 



Fahr. 

 Mean Difference of temperature at Sunrise, — 6.° 



at 9 h a. m. — 9. 01 



Noon, —7. 55 



3 h p. m. — 5, 5 



Sunset, — 3. 5 



General Mean, — 6.° 31 



* Quarterly Journal, No. xlii. p 364. 



