38 The Meteorology of 1900. 



2nd. Of these that of the 21st August was the most severe, and 

 lasted from 7.15 to 8 p.m. I have also noted thunder without 

 lightning twice, once in July and again in December. There 

 might have been more than these, but they did not come under 

 my observation. Lunar halos were not unfrequent. I noted two 

 in January, two in February, three in March, one in April, four in 

 September, two in October, two in November, and one in 

 December — 17 in all ; also hail showers twice in April, once in 

 June, and once in December. 



With reg'ard to the wind observations, the table shows that, 

 as usually happens, the south-westerly was by far the most pre- 

 valent. It blew on 80^ days. The next was the westerly, which 

 blew on 64^ days, and if we add to these the southerly, which 

 had 31^ days, and the south-easterly 31, we have a sum of 207^ 

 days, considerably more than half the year, on which the direction 

 was south-easterly to westerly ; while the northerly and easterly, 

 including the north-westerly, had only 147 days, 11 being calm or 

 variable. The prevalence of these southerly and westerly winds 

 during the winter months of January and December supplies the 

 explanation of the extreme mildness of these months, which has 

 been exemplified during the past year as often before. In January 

 last, for example, there were 21 days on which the wind blew 

 between south and west, and in December there were 23. These 

 are the winds, however, which at the same time bring clouds and 

 rain in the greatest degree. Hence in January we have a record 

 of rainfall above average, and 26 days on which it fell, and in 

 December a record of over 7 in. and 27 days on which it fell ; 

 while January had only five nights on which the protected ther- 

 mometer fell to and slightly below the freezing point, and 

 December only 3, with exceedingly slight frosts. 



Mr James Watt moved a vote of thanks to Mr Andson for 

 his paper, remarking that it was to the honour of Dumfries that 

 they had in Mr Andson one of the most accurate observers for the 

 Meteorological Society. 



THE EFFECTS OF WEATHER ON HEALTH. 



Dr Eoss supplemented Mr Andson's paper with some in- 

 teresting observations. With regard to the rainfall, he pointed 



