225 



shorter contimianco ; ono or two of them reacliing to tho extent of 

 ten months, tho Bamo time for wliich the cold, or a marked 

 depression of the mean temperature, has lasted this present year. 

 Notice of a similar statement by Mr. Glaisher appeared in a recent 

 number of " Nature,"* in which it is said " that five colder periods 

 than that of the present year occurred" during the two last 

 decades of the last century." Mr. Glaisher remarks also on '-the 

 more frequent occurrence of a higher temperature during the 

 colder half of the year in recent years as compared with what pre- 

 vailed in the end of last century." This seems to be in keeping, 

 with the remark made in a former part of this paper as to the 

 apparent less frequency of very severe printers this century than 



formerly. 



One instance of a wet and cold season, similar in many respects 

 to that we have recently passed through, may occur to the recol- 

 lection of some, viz., that of the year 1860. In the Lockey 

 Registers, in the Bath Literary Institution, under the date of 

 June 30 of tliat year, there is a Newspaper cutting containing a 

 statement by Mr. Glaisher, of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, 

 as to the chief characteristics of that untoward season. Tho 

 previous winter had commenced in October 1859, severe cold 

 setting in suddenly on October 21st, attended by heavy storms 

 and furious gales of wind, such as had rarely been experienced 

 before in the London district. This unsettled stormy weather 

 prevailed not only through the winter, but durmg April, May and 

 June, the cold like^vise prevailing. "The temperature was 

 deficient in every month from November to June, with the 

 exception of that of January and May, when it was slightly in 

 excess." The fall of rain up to the end of June was 15 inches and 

 a half, being 4f inches in excess of the average for the first six 

 months of the year. The fall in June was most in excess, being 

 "three times greater than the average fall" for that month. In 



* Vol. 21, p. 48. 



