65 



May. The only other summers besides those just mentioned, 

 that I remember as particularly hot, were 1818, 1826, and 

 1858, the last less hot than the two former — of none of which 

 I have any note to say whether the previous winters were mild 

 or otherwise. 



From what, however, has been above stated, there would 

 certainly seem to be some connection between mild winters 

 and hot summers, yet it would be very unsafe to argue in all 

 cases that, because the winter is mild, the next summer will 

 be hot ; for much depends also upon the character of the 

 spring, and this will depend mainly upon the prevalence or 

 not of north-easterly winds, the usual accompaniments of that 

 season, and which, if persisting very long, are likely to give 

 place at the commencement of summer to south-westerly, 

 and so lead to wet ; or if, on the contrary, deficient at that 

 time, may be expected to return later, causing the bright 

 cloudless skies and long run of dry weather such as we have 

 had this year. 



But supposing we knew, and could calculate beforehand, all 

 the ordinary agencies at work to influence the seasons, there 

 are extraordinary occurrences, which sometimes step in to 

 defeat our conclusions, due to phenomena not dii-ectly con- 

 nected with meteorology. It would take up too much space 

 to go into details on this matter, but one or two such occur- 

 rences, resting on the experiences of back years, may be briefly 

 mentioned. Thus, most persons are aware how very much 

 the temperature of our springs, and sometimes of the early 

 summer, is lowered by the passage southwards in the Atlantic 

 oficebergs coming from the north in larger numbers than 

 usual, chilling the atmosphere for leagues round, and givino- 

 rise to dense mists by the condensation of vapour, which 

 through the induced cold can no longer be retained in a 

 transparent state. Some years, " large fields of floating ice are 

 said to have been encountered by ships in latitudes as low as 



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