METEOKOLOfiV. 37 



The most severe of these were those which occurred on the 1st 

 and 2nd of July and on the 6th of August. I have noted that on 

 the 2nd of July there was incessant thunder and Hghtning- from 

 1 to 2.30 p.m., and again that on August Gth a severe thunder- 

 storm came on about 4 p.m. and continued till 5.20. There was a 

 remarkable phenomenon witnessed at 9 p.m. of the 13th March, 

 which was probably to be traced to electrical causes. This was a 

 broad band of whitish light, somewhat resembling smoke, and 

 stretching across the greater part of the sky, from N.E. towards 

 S.W. I have observed that in some reports the aurora is said to 

 have been very conspicuous that night in different parts of the 

 country, and I suppose that Avhat I saw must have been of this 

 uature, although in some respects it was different from any aurora 

 I ever saw before, more especially in its great extent and appar- 

 ently fixed character, and in the absence of those streamers or 

 rapid flashes of light which we usually see in connection with that 

 phenomenon. 



Wind. — With regard to the directions of the wind, it appears 

 that during the past year those from a northerly and easterly 

 direction — N., N.E., E., and N.W. — blew during 154 days ; and 

 those from a southerly and westerly direction — S., S.E., S. W., 

 and W. — during 187 days, while 22 were variable. This differs 

 from what is usual, only in a somewhat greater preponderance, of 

 northerly and easterly winds. 



In connection with the report on the movement of the 

 barometer, I may take this opportunity of offering a remark on 

 the extraordinary reading's recorded on the 0th of tho 2:ire3ent 

 month, although it does not properly belong to the subject of this 

 paper. As I have already stated, the highest barometer reading 

 for the past year was 30-805 in. on the 30th Januar3^ But it was 

 also the highest recorded for the nine years during which obser- 

 vations have been taken here, the others ranging from 30-632 to 

 30'805. But on Thursday of last week the mercury rose to the 

 unprecedented height of 31-106 in. As far as information goes, 

 the highest readings recorded in Scotland previously during the 

 present century were 31-01 in. in February, 1808, and 31-05 in 

 January, 1820 — both taken at Gordon Castle, Banffshire, and the 

 latter corroborated by a similar reading in Edinburgh. It is by no 

 means improbable, therefore, that the abnormal reading of the 9th 

 January this year is the very hig-hest on record — a circumstance 

 which could not be passed over without special notice. 



