•'I [ 374 ] 



LXII. Notices respecting New Books: ^' 



The Principles of Mechanical Philosophy applied to TiidMtriat Me- 

 chanics. By Thomas Tate, F.R.A.S. London : Longman, 

 Brown, Green and Longmans. 1853. 



A BOOK containing 342 pages so usefully filled it has rarely 

 been our lot to peruse. The matter is well-chosen, well-ar- 

 ranged, and treated in a manner which proves how thoroughly com- 

 petent the author is to execute the task which he has undertaken, 

 A considerable portion of the work is devoted to questions of the 

 highest practical importance. It is hardly generous to take exr 

 ception to a single passage of so excellent a volume, yet we cannot 

 help thinking, that, in reference to the loss of work alluded to in 

 page 187, Mr. Tate is unconsciously transmitting an opinion belong- 

 ing to an epoch of science which he has evidently left behind him. 

 Even here, however, he might retort that the fallacy of the said 

 opinion is not yet universally acknowledged. The exercises ap- 

 pended to each section of the book cannot fail to enhance its value 

 to both teacher and student. 



LXIII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 

 [Continued from p. 218.] 

 Feb. lOjT'^HE following papers were read: — 



1853. -■- 1. " On the determination of the Mean Temperature 

 of every day in the year, as deduced from the Observations taken 

 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in the Years from 1814 to 

 1851." By James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S. 



This paper has for its object the determination of the true distri^ 

 bution of heat over the year, and is based upon an extensive series of 

 observations taken at the Royal Observatory during thirty- eight years. 

 In order to obtain a correct determination of the mean daily tem- 

 perature of each month, necessary to the proposed object, the author 

 at the commencement of his memoir explains how the entire series 

 of observations has been divided into groups, according to the re- 

 corded times of observation, for the purpose of applying the neces- 

 sary corrections calculated from his tables of Diurnal Range, published 

 in the Phil. Trans, for 1848. Having carefully explained his method 

 of arranging and testing his data, and providing for exceptional days, 

 upon which but few observations were recorded, the author gives 

 the results in twelve separate tables, which exhibit the mean daily 

 temperatures of every month in each of the thirty-eight years. In a 

 note to the table for each tiionth are given : — 1. The mean tempe- 

 rature of the coldest day of that month, with the day of the month 

 and the year, from 1814 to 1851 ; 2. the mean temperature of the 

 hottest day of that month, with the day of the month and year, and 

 the extreme difference of mean temperature of two days in that mouth; 



3. The day of the month on which the mean temperature was sub- 

 jected to the greatest change, with the minimum and maximum 

 mean temperatures, the year of the minimum and of the maximum ; 



4. the day of the month on which the mean temperature was sub- 

 jected to the least change, with the minimum and maximum mean 

 temperatures, the year of the minimum and of the maximum. These 



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