METEOROLOGY. 235 



the summer months for the wind to commence blowing from the north 

 at or shortly after the morning observation, and to remain in this 

 quarter until afternoon, when it would change round to the south, 

 freighted with moisture and invigorating freshness. It is the preva- 

 lence of these cool winds which temper our summer climate so delight- 

 fully, the greater or less predominance of which renders the mean 

 temperature plus or minus. 



As regards the force of the wind, it is generally but slight. The 

 observations in this respect having been registered for the two last 

 years only it is impossible to make full deductions therefrom with 

 any degree of completeness. The following enumeration of the fre- 

 quency, course, and seasons of winds, during 1856 and 1857, stronger 

 than (3) a fresh breeze, will afford some idea of this feature of the 

 climate. 



The whole number of times it blew with the force of four, (4,) or 

 what is estimated a strong wind, from the north, was 29, viz : Janu- 

 ary, three times ; February, five times ; March, once ; April, four 

 times ; June, once ; September, three times ; October, twice ; Novem- 

 ber, eight times ; and December, twice Eighteen times it blew from 

 the south with the force of four, (4,) viz : January, once ; August, 

 twice ; September, four times ; October, three times ; November, four 

 times; and December, four times. It blew only eight times with the 

 force of (5) a high wind, viz : three times from the north, once 

 in February, once in April, and once in November ; and again five 

 times from the south, viz : once in January, once in October, once in 

 November, and twice in December. But twice does it appear in the 

 register to have blown a gale, (6,) and on both these occasions it was 

 from the southeast, in the month of November. These results, as be- 

 fore stated, are derived from the record of the last two years. Prior 

 to this no precise estimate was made of the force of the wind. The 

 only time it was ever observed during the whole series of five years 

 to blow with a force above six was on the last night of the year 1854, 

 or rather on the morning of the 1st of January, 1855, when a strong 

 gale from the southeast, attended with rain, was experienced. As a 

 general rule, it very rarely rains with the wind from the northern half 

 of the octant, which may be attributed to its coming to a warmer from 

 a colder region. During the last five years there have occurred only 

 fifteen exceptions to this rule, and the aggregate quantity that fell at 

 these different periods does not amount to two inches. On one occa- 

 sion, the 27th of December, 1855, the snow which fell at daylight, 

 amounting, when melted, to 0.016 inches by the rain gauge, was added 

 to the amount. This was the heaviest fall of snow ever experienced ; 

 indeed only three other instances of this phenomenon appear on our 

 record, and in all three the fall was very light. Hail storms are more 

 common. These, also, are of short duration, and are attended with 

 more or less disturbance of the electrical equilibrium. The breaking 

 up of the rainy season is the period of the most violent manifestations 

 of these latter phenomena. With the exception of the spring of 1857, 

 which was a season of drought, hail and thunder storms have invari- 

 ably occurred during the months of April and May, but have never 

 been very severe in this immediate locality. A hail storm which 



