102 FORT CONFIDENCE. 



sledges to run without receiving much injury. 

 On the 1st of December the sun was just visible 

 for an instant at noon, from an eminence behind 

 the house. This month was a cold one, and the 

 coldest days in the year were the 17th and 18th, 

 when the average temperature for forty-eight 

 hours was 55J° below zero of Fahrenheit. The 

 lowest observation made was at seven in the after- 

 noon of the 17th, at which time the temperature 

 was 58'9° F. The thermometer, one of Adie's 

 making, was hung by the side of a dozen by the 

 same artist, none of which differed a degree from 

 it. When tested by freezing mercury, this one 

 stood at 36°, which is considered to be from 4° to 

 6° too high ; so that, making the smallest of these 

 corrections, the actual minimum temperature we 

 observed was 65° F.* This is one of the greatest 

 colds on record, and pains were taken to ascertain 

 it correctly. f 



* Mr. Saunders, commander of the North Star, records 64^° 

 F. as the lowest temperature observed in Wolstenholme Sound 

 in the winter of 1850. 



| In two thermometers made by a London artist, and hung 

 up beside the others, the spirit retreated into the bulb, though 

 the scales were graduated down to 73°. In freezing mercury, 

 these thermometers indicated 55°, being about 15° too low. Mr. 

 Adie's thermometers were constructed under the superintendence 

 of Professor Forbes of Edinburgh. The precautions used to 

 insure their correctness will be detailed when the meteorological 

 observations at Fort Confidence are published. 



