METEOTIOLOGY. 345 



thirty years, the wood of which it was composed, 

 not only was imdecayed, but appeared quite fresh 

 and new. It was painted red ; and the colour even 

 seemed to be but little faded. Things of a similar 

 kind, indeed, have been met with in Spitzbergen, 

 which have resisted all injury from the weather, 

 during the lapse of a century. 



SECT. II. 



Gener^al Remarks on Meteorology , with an In- 

 vestigation of the Mean Monthly, and Annual 

 Temperature of the North Polar Regions, in- 

 cluding some Inferences on the Constant Ten- 

 dency to Equalization of Temperatwe in the 

 Atmosphere. 



Though in a state of rapid improvement, the 

 science of Meteorology is acknowledged to be yet in 

 its infancy. 



Prior to the 17th century, no accurate mode of 

 ascertaining the variations in atmospheric tempera- 

 ture was known ; and, before the discovery of the 

 weight of the atmosphere by Torricelli, about the year 

 1630, no means of registering its variations of pres- 

 sure could be known or practised. Hence we can 

 have no very correct idea of the relative tempera- 

 ture of climates, in the present and remote periods, 



1 



