194 Meteorology of New Haven. 



Art. "V« — On the Mean Temperature, and on the Fluctua- 

 tions OF Temperature, at Nea\^ Haven, Conn., Lat. 41° 18' N., 

 Long. V2° 55' W. of Greenwich ; by Professors Elias Loomis 

 AND H. A. Newton. 



In July, 1862, the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences ap- 

 pointed a committee, consisting of Professors Elias Loomis and H. 

 A. Newton, to reduce the meteorological observations which for a 

 series of years had been made in the name of the Academy, and also 

 to incorporate Avith them any other reliable observations made in 

 New Haven. The committee have discharged the duty imposed 

 u2:>on them, so far as relates to the observations of temperature, and 

 noM' present the results of their labors.* 



The following is a list of the Meteorological Journals, of which an 

 abstract is here presented. 



1. A Register kept by Rev, Ezra Stiles, D.D,, President of Yale 

 College. This register extends from the commencement of Dr. Stiles' 

 presidency in June, 17V8, until tAvo days before his death, which oc- 

 curred May 10, 1795. There is an interruption of the Journal from 

 July 4, 1779, to Jan. 22, 1780, caused by the invasion of New Haven 

 by British troops, at Avhich time Pres. Stiles' thermometer was bro- 

 ken. The subsequent observations Avere made Avith a thermoneter 

 belonging to the college. 



This register Avas kept Avithout much system. Sometimes the 

 number of entries amounts to a dozen or more in a day ; frequently 

 there Avere only one or tAvo entries ; and occasionally a day was en- 

 tirely omitted. President Stiles adhered to no fixed hours of observ- 

 ation ; although he generally made an obserA^ation at some early hour 

 in the morning ; another about the time of greatest heat ; and an- 

 other late in the evening. He Avas, hoAvever, always careful to specify 

 the hour of observation. This irregularity of hours has rendered it 

 very difficult to obtain satisfactory mean results ; and in some in- 

 stances it has been thought best to reduce the observations to certain 

 fixed hours, by applying the corrections contained in the table on 

 page 199. The thermometer employed Avas made in London, Avith 

 Fahrenheit's scale, and Avas attached to the President's house, Avhich 

 Avas on the Avest side of College street, a little south of Chapel street. 



2. A register kept by Messrs. Isaac Beers and Hezekiah HoAve from 

 1788 to 1791, and from 1796 to 1805. 



* It is but just to say that the greater part of tlie labor has been performed by the 

 chairman of the committee. h. a. n. 



