of Dr. Holyoke. 109 
responding observations made in any part of the world. The 
state of the weather from day to day for a long period has an 
important bearing upon the question respecting the supposed 
melioration of our climate. These are therefore the items se- 
. lected for publication. : 
In the manuscript journal, the state of the weather is record- 
ed by characters, which distinguish the several states of the 
atmosphere with great minuteness ; serene, fair, pleasant; slight 
cloudiness, cloudy, flying clouds; drizzly, shower, rain, much 
rain; sprinkling of snow, snow, much snow, and many other 
particulars. All these are in the printed journal reduced to the 
five general states of the weather, Fair, Cloudy, Rain, Hail, and 
Snow; each of which is designated by its proper initial letter. 
It will be observed, that the hour of observation varies a little 
in different years. The first, in the morning, was generally made 
at eight o’clock, but sometimes “ from eight to nine.” No notice 
is taken of this variation in the printed journal. The second 
observation is recorded in the original as made in some years 
“about noon,” in others “at noon”; in others “ about twelve,” 
“atone P. M.,” “at two P. M.,” and “between one and two 
P.M.” The object appears to have been to make it, as nearly 
as possible, at the hottest part of the day.* The third observation 
was, for the first year, 1786, made between three and four P. M., 
and is omitted in the publication; afterwards it was made at sun- 
* While engaged in full practice, as Dr. Holyoke was during a great part of his 
life, it must have been impossible for him to make his observations in the middle of 
the day, always precisely at the same hour. I am persuaded however, from a com- 
parison of the different parts of his journal, that the observation at noon is fully 
as high, and probably a little higher, than it would have been if any hour had been 
selected and the observation always made at that time. 
23 
