470 Scientific Notices — Miscellaneous. [Dec. 



(under which head it appears as above) a quiz, or are Messrs. 

 GruithuiseHf another Ooservery and Noggerath, downright luna- 

 tics? As to the alleged conversation between MM. Gniithuisen 

 and Gauss, the latter must, we conclude, have intended to lauo"h 

 in his sleeve at the strange speculations of the former, whilst he 

 seemed to enter into his wild, extravagant views. — Ed. 



10. Transmission of Sound. 



The extreme facility with which sounds are heard at a consi- 

 derable distance in severely cold weather, has often been a sub- 

 ject of remark; but a circumstance occurred at Port Bowen, 

 which deserves to be noticed, as affording a sort of measure of 

 this facility. Lieutenant Foster having occasion to send a man 

 from the Observatory to the opposite shore of the harbour, a 

 measured distance of 6696 feet, or about one mile and two- 

 tenths, in order to fix a meridian mark, had placed a person 

 half-way between to repeat his directions; but he found on 

 trial that this precaution was unnecessary, as he could, without 

 difficulty, keep up a conversation with the man at the distant 

 station. — (Parry's Voyage.) 



1 1 . Unprecedented Cold, 



Plattsburgh, Feb. 22, 1826.— On Tuesday and Wednesday x)f 

 last week, was the coldest weather probably ever experienced in 

 the United States. We did not ascertain how low the thermo- 

 meter sunk in this place ; but at Fort Covington, fourteen miles 

 distant, a thermometer sunk to 40° below zero, and the mercury 

 froze ! How much lower an alcohol thermometer would have 

 sunk is not known ; probably, however, not more than one qr 

 two degrees, as mercury exposed at the same time was a long 

 time in congealing. A degree of cold sufficient to freeze mer- 

 cury was never before noticed in the United States, and probably 

 never in so low a latitude as 45°. The coldest weather that we 

 recollect to have heard of in this country was 32° below zero. — 

 (InteUigencer.) 



12. The Heat of July, 1825. 



The heat of July, 1825, seems to have been as oppressive in 

 England and France as in this country, and to have been 

 attended in some instances with the same fatal effects, as a 

 number of sudden deaths are mentioned in the papers. The 

 thermometer stood at Bath on the 19th, in the shade, at 89° ; 

 and the number of horses that had died is supposed to be greater 

 than at any former period. The effects of continued hot weather 

 were seriously felt. Brooks and ponds were become quite dry, 

 and vegetation was suffering from the scorching heat of the sun. 

 The weather in Paris was most intensely hot, and such a season 

 has scarcely ever been remembered there. Nearly a period of 

 twelve weeks elapsed without a single drop of rain, and the 



