122 [On Excessive Heat in America in 1825. [Aug. 



"We observe this morning that the civil authorities are put- 

 ting cautions upon the pumps, printed in large letters.** 



We have ourselves seen similar laudable cautions affixed to 

 ihe pumps in Philadelphia, with, we fe^r, no better success. To 

 this we must add some further extracts from the American news- 

 papers (quoted in the American Journal of Science) respecting 

 the intense cold of last winter, 1825-6. 



The Portland (Maine) Argus states, that the last day of 

 January and first day of February were the coldest days e^me- 

 rienced within the memory of the present generation. The 

 mercury fell to 24° below zero. At Bath on the same days the 

 mercury was at 27, and at Brunswick 29° below zero. 



The Virginia papers state that the present winter has been the 

 coldest for several seasons. On the 1st of February, at Peters- 

 burgh, the mercury ranged several degrees below the freezing 

 point 



A man was frozen to death in Montreal on the night of the 

 31st ult. which was the coldest day experienced for years. Many 

 persons had their faces frozen while walking through the streets, 

 ihermometer 32° below the freezing point. 



In Boston, Roxbury, Salem, &c. the thermometer stood from 

 12 to 17° below 0. The Boston papers state, that a woman was 

 firozen to death in Southac-street on Tuesday night ; and a 

 stage coachman on the line between Groton and Concord, was 

 found frozen stiff upon his box on the road, holding the reins 

 in his hand. He was dead, and the reins were clenfched so fast, 

 that they were obliged to be cut, before they could be extricated 

 from his grasp. 



At Montreal, Lower Canada, on the 31st of January, the 

 mercury fell to 38° before 0. 



At Keene, New Hampshire, it was 28° below zero. 



The newspapers from every quarter, make mention of the 

 severity of the cold on the night of the 31st January and morn- 

 ing of the 1st February. — Ed, 



Article VIII. 



Remarks on the Rev, Mr, PowelPs Paper on Radiant Heat* 

 By William Ritchie, AM. Rector of Tain Academy. 



(To the Editors of the Annals of Philosophy.) 



GENTLE MEN, Paris, July 20, 1 826. 



Having observed in the 67 th number of the ^w;/a/s of Philo- 

 sophy j a paper by the Rev. Mr. Powell, in which he calls in 

 question the truth of some of my experiments and deductions 

 on the properties of radiant heat, published in the Edinburgh 



