Meteorological Observations, , 331 



ON THE PRESENCE OF AMMONIA IN HAIL-STONES. BY M. MENE. 



On Monday the 5th of May, there was a somewhat severe hail- 

 storm at Paris and its environs. Being at the time in my laboratory, 

 the idea occurred to me of collecting some of this hail and submitting 

 it to analysis. For this purpose I placed a piece of linen upon some 

 tressles and collected about 800 grammes. I immediately melted it 

 in a porcelain capsule with the addition of a little muriatic acid, and 

 evaporated it to dryness. When this operation was on the point of 

 completion, I was much astonished at perceiving the occurrence of 

 crystallization at the bottom of the vessel. I tested some of these 

 crystals, which in all weighed 2' 78 grammes, and was satisfied that 

 they consisted of muriate of ammonia. 



I must not omit to mention another circumstance, viz. when the 

 evaporation was almost completed, a black carbonaceous matter was 

 deposited in rings upon the glaze of the capsule : it resembled the 

 charcoal of organic matters. These spots were very numerous, and 

 I believe they were produced by particles suspended in the air, for 

 I took every precaution to exclude foreign matters. — ComptesRendus, 

 May 19, 1851. 



ON THE APPLICATION OF RECTIFIED OIL OF COAL-TAR TO THE 

 PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND VEGETABLES. BY M. ROBIN. 



When the flesh of animals, entire birds with the feathers, vege- 

 tables, fruits, &c. are placed in air-tight vessels filled with water, at 

 the bottom of which there is a little oil of coal-tar, so that the sub- 

 stances to be preserved are covered by the water, which becomes 

 charged with the vapour of the oil evaporating at the ordinary tem- 

 perature, they are perfectly preserved from decomposition. — -Comptes 

 Rendus, vol. xxxii. p. 650. '.'-"^ ''';; ,^, 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR AUG. 1851. 



Chiswick. — August!. Cloudy and warm: slight rain. 2 — 5. Very fine. 6. Fine: 

 densely clouded. 7. Overcast: fine : clear : lightning at night. 8. Very fine. 

 9. Overcast : cloudy. 10. Cloudy. 13. Sultry. 14. Fine : lightning at night. 

 15. Cloudy and fine. 16. Very fine. 17. Showery. 18. Cloudy and fine: clear. 

 19. Very fine: slight haze : clear. 20, 21. Very fine. 22. Very hot. 23. Over- 

 cast. 24. Heavy showers, with sunny intervals. 25. Very fine. 26. Slight rain. 



27. Fine : constant and very heavy rain at night. 28. Fine : densely clouded. 

 29. Clear and cold : heavy showers, with hail in afternoon: overcast, . 80, 31. 

 Cloudy. 



Mean temperature of the month 62°"84 



Mean temperature of Aug. 1850 59 '38 



Mean temperature of Aug. for the last twenty-five years . 62 '21 



Average amount of rain in Aug 2*41 inches. 



Boston — Aug. 1. Cloudy: rain p.m. 2 — 4. Fine. 5 — 7. Cloudy. 8. Fine. 



9 — 11. Cloudy. 12. Fine. 13. Cloudy: rain early a.m., and lightning p.m. 



14. Fine: rain, thunder and lightning p.m. 15. Fine. 16. Fine: rain p.m. 



17. Fine. 18. Cloudy. 19. Fine. 20. Cloudy. 21,22. Fine. 23. Cloudy: 

 rain a.m. 24. Cloudy : rain p.m. 25. Fine. 26. Cloudy : rain p.m. 27. Cloudy. 



28. Fine : rain early A.M. 29. Cloudy : rain a.m. and p.m. 30,31. Cloudy. 

 Sandwich Manse, Or kiiet/. — Aug. 1. Bright : showers. 2. Cloudy. 3. Bright: 



clear. 4. Bright : very clear : fine. 5. Clear : fine: very clear : fine. 6. Clear : 

 fine : very clear : fine : aurora. 7. Clear : fine ; haze. 8. Cloudy. 9, 10. Cloudy : 

 bright. 11. Cloudy: drops. 12. Drizzle : damp. 13. Rain : damp. 14. Rain : 

 drops: fine. 15. Drops: damp. 16. Clear: fine. 17. Cloudy: clear: fine. 



18. Clear : cloudy. 19. Rain: cloudy. 20. Hazy : fine. 21. Rain. 22. Damp: 

 cloudy. 23. Bright : cloudy : thunder. 24. Clear : cloudy. 25. Bright : clear. 

 26—28. Showers. 29. Showers : drizzle : showers. 30. Bright : clear : aurora. 

 31. Drizzle : clear : aurora. 



