COUNCIL FOR 1856. 13 



The temperature of the year has been 1°4 below a mean of 

 20 years. The range of temperature has been considerable, 

 viz., from 6° December 4 to 81° August 2. The range in 

 December was extraordinary, from 6° on the 4th of the month 

 to 60° on the 7th. A severe frost set in November 25th, and 

 lasted till the 5th of December. The extremely sudden and 

 rapid thaw occasioned a flood in the Ouse of 14 feet 3 inches 

 above the summer level. This was the highest flood since 

 February, 1831, when the Ouse rose 17 feet above the summer 

 level. Nine months out of the twelve were below a mean 

 temperature. September, when the interests of the northern 

 harvest were at stake, was 2° below a mean, and the fall of 

 rain nearly one inch above a mean. Thunderstorms were of 

 more frequent occurrence than usual; one of considerable 

 force occurred on the 12th February after a long continuance 

 of S.W. wind. Another on the 4th of April from the S.W. 

 There were five electric displays in May of more or less 

 violence ; none in June ; three in July ; four in August ; and 

 two in September. 



Immediately after the last Annual Meeting, a Lecture was 

 delivered "On Extinct Animals," by Mr. Waterhouse Haw- 

 kins, known by his ingenious restoration of many of them at 

 the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham. It was heard with so much 

 interest that the Council engaged Mr. Hawkins, in the month 

 of November last, to deliver two more lectures on a kindred 

 subject, which were attended by numerous audiences. The 

 Society has to acknowledge its obligations to Mr. Davies for 

 his two Lectures, entitled " An Antiquarian Walk through 

 the Streets of York;" to Mr. Oswald Allen Moore, for a 

 Lecture " On the Poisonous Plants, whose resemblance to those 

 which are good for food often produces fatal results;" and 

 to Mr. Procter, for his " Account of the Manufacture of Iron, 

 with an Explanation of Bessemer's Process." In the month 

 of January, of this year, two very interesting Lectures " On 

 " Zoophytes, their Structure and History," were delivered by 

 the Rev. Thomas Hincks, of Leeds. Mr. Ford, Mr. Moore, 

 Mr. Procter, Rev. Thomas Myers, and Mr. Charlesworth have 

 promised their assistance in this department during the re- 

 mainder of the present Session. 



