THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 201 



the barometer reading at the same time 30.04 inches, with the wind 



light from the northwest. 



In November the large proportion of aqueous vapor which had been 

 accumulating for some time previously, was condensed by the high, 

 wind from northwest, which prevailed strong during the first five 

 days, and during one day, the 3d, very high. While this natural 

 operdtion was going on, the evolution of electricity was satisfactorily 

 demonstrated by the magnetic telegraph, the wires serving to collect 

 and conduct off some of the abounding electricity of the air. On the 

 2d, the battery at Marysville was detached, and the communication 

 preserved without its agency. On the following morning thin ice was 

 seen at daylight on a neighboring farm, and the potato, watermelon 

 vines, and okra showed in their blackened leaves the effects of the first 

 frost. Cloudy weather, with southerly winds, soon succeeded, and on 

 the night of the 9th the rain came. On the 10th frequent flashes of 

 lightning were observed about 11^ p. m. in the northern horizon. Af- 

 ter four days of occasional light rains, the weather cleared up, and 

 light northerly winds j)revailed until the 21st, when the barometer 

 fell suddenly from 30 to 29.80 inches, the minimum for the month, 

 with the wind fresh from southwest. This variation of atmospheric 

 pressure was ascertained by means of the telegraph to be simultaneous 

 at various points, from Downieville to San Francisco. At the latter 

 place a light rain commenced falling on the same evening, while at 

 the same period a remarkable corona of three concentric rings of dif- 

 ferent colors, pale red, blue, and white, close to the moon, was ob- 

 served in this city, revealing the presence of rain, or rather sleet, in 

 the higher regions of the atmosphere. Before the succeeding morn- 

 ing a sprinkle reached us, which was followed up in the'evening by a 

 steady light rain, with a fresh breeze from southeast, until 9 a. m. of 

 the 24th, measuring 0.235 inch. After this the wind changed to 

 the dry quarter, northwest, but was too light to disperse the evapora- 

 tion which was precipitated in the air during the night, and on the 

 morning of the 25th a dense fog prevailed until the ascending current, 

 at 11 a.m., carried off the vapor with it. On the following day the 

 breeze came fresh from northwest, and the barometer reached its maxi- 

 mum for the month. After this the weather became variable. On the 

 28th a light rain fell from 10 a. m. to 1 p. m., measuring 0.123 inch ; 

 and again, on the 30th, another little shower, from 4 to 6 p. m., 

 measuring 0.024 inch. The mean relative humidity for the month 

 was sixty-four per cent. The phenomena incidental to December in 

 the north temperate zone, of decreasing days, gloomy fogs, saturating 

 rains, piercing winds, and chilling frosts, concluded the train of the 

 departing year ; fulfilling, in the order of their recurrence, the laws 

 which were put in force by the Creator, when the foundations of the 

 earth were laid. 'Although the month opened fair, the weather mani- 

 fested, by a sprinkle at 12 m. on the 2d, symptoms of variableness, 

 which obtained until the 7th, when the heaviest rain of the season, 

 from southeast, f^ll between the hours of 1 and 4| p. m., measuring 

 0.610 inch. On the night previously, at about 10-| p. m., there* 

 was a slight fall of snow, just sufficient to make the phenomenon ap- 

 parent, it was of short duration, and was followed immediately by a 



