Transactions. 41 



17th and the 19th of November, when great damage was done to 

 property in the central and northern parts of Scotland, and an 

 unusual number of ships were wrecked on the coasts, involving- 

 the loss, it is estimated, of 350 lives. But in the southern dis- 

 tricts the effects of the storm were comparatively little felt. The 

 mean barometrical pressure for the year (reduced to 32 deg. and 

 sea-level) was 29-925 in., which is slightly in excess of that of the 

 last seven years. The highest monthly mean was in iVpril, with a 

 record of 30-125 in., and it was in that month that the smallest 

 rainfall occurred, and also the greatest excess of temperature 

 above the average, amounting- to no less than 5-7 deg. But in 

 the months of January, March, May, and November the means 

 were likewise slightly above 30 in. The lowest monthly means 

 were in February, October, and December, ranging from 29-573 

 in. in February to 29-804 in. in December, in each of which months, 

 as the table shows, there were 23 days on which more or less 

 rain fell. 



Temperature — in shade, 4 feet above grass. — The past year 

 has been of quite an exceptional character with regard to tem- 

 perature. The absolute maximum of 85 deg. on the 18th June is 

 the highest recorded since the 25th June, 1887, when it was 87 

 deg. The absolute minimum, or lowest temperature of the year, 

 was 15 deg., and was registered on the 5th January, and the 

 annual range of temperature was thus 70 deg. The mean tem- 

 perature of the year was 49-4 deg., which is the highest recorded 

 at this station since observations were commenced. The next 

 highest was in 1889, when it reached 48-1 deg. But the mean of 

 the last seven years is only 47-5 deg., so that the mean of 1893 is 

 almost 2 deg. above average. I observe that Mr Dudgeon, in his 

 report for the past year, gives 48-8 deg. as the mean for 1893 at 

 Cargen, and adds that it is the highest for 34 years — the nearest 

 approach to it being in 1868, when it was 48-4 deg. There were 

 eight months in which the mean exceeded the normal — viz., from 

 March to August, and again in October and December — the 

 excesses ranging from 1-8 deg. in July to 5-7 deg. in April, and 

 giving an aggregate of 25 deg., while the other four months 

 showed a deficiency ranging from 0-2 deg. to 1-3 deg., but with 

 an aggregate of only 2-9 deg. The number of really warm days, 

 with a maximum of 70 deg. and above, was 01 — viz., 9 in April, 4 

 in May, 19 in June, 11 in July, 15 in August, and 3 in September 



