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prominently brought before the public from time to time in the 

 ilaily papers and other periodicals, that it is quite unnecessary to 

 give them here at length. The heavy falls of snow during the 

 M-iiiter, with impeded traffic, trains being often immovably fixed in 

 deep drifts, — the storms and incessant wet that prevailed through- 

 out the entire spring and sunmier, — the floods thereby occasioned 

 in so many parts of England, commencing with that terrible 

 inundation of Norwich in Novemb(!r 1878, in which several miles 

 of streets were submerged, — the abnormally low temperature of 

 the above two seasons, the days so rarely warm and the skies so 

 rarely free from cloud, — the backwardness of all vegetation even 

 to the extent of three weeks or a month, — the damaged crops of 

 hay and corn, utterly spoilt in many cases, — harvest prospects 

 at the worst, — gloom and despondency in all quarters as to the 

 future of agriculture in this country, in connection with the 

 general depression of the times, — these matters have been topics 

 of conversation everywhere. The chief of what seems called for 

 in the present paper is to put on record the abnormal seasons of 

 this year, meteorologically considered, as experienced here in 

 Bath. At the same time it is of interest to look into the con- 

 ditions of jirevious seasons, in order to ascertain how far tha 

 weather of this year is really, or not, without precedent. I shall, 

 also, before concluding, venture a few remarks as to the possible 

 causes of such weather, or rather refer to the causes which have 

 been suggested by some observers. 



The question of temperature is the first matter for consideration. 

 With respect to last winter, it has been already stated that severity 

 was not its chief feature. The cold was at no tim« so extreme as 

 on some former occasions ; though no doubt there were many 

 places in England where it was more severe than in Bath. The 

 Thames at London was not so frozen over as entirely to stop 

 navigation, steamers being able (as I was informed) to cut their 

 way through the ice ; — and', perhaps, the condition of the Thames 

 in long frosts affords no bad criterion of the degree of sererity of 



