206 



remarks, — " The wind is sometimes unpleasantly high, 

 and the mid-day sun oppressively hot ; the temperature 

 during the night also often falls considerably." " This 

 great difference between the temperature of the night 

 and that of the day forms a remarkable feature, and at the 

 same time the greatest defect in the climate of Egypt." 

 This may be said of the whole of Egypt below Thebes, and 

 with much force as regards Cairo and the region between 

 it and Alexandria, but it -wall be seen by a reference to 

 the large table that the temperature very rarely above 

 Thebes, and in Nubia still more rarely, sinks below 50° 

 Fah. 



Tables of temperature for Cairo have been given by 

 Dr. Abbott, Niebuhr, and others, in Mr. Rhind's useful 

 little volume, and by others — but the majority are certainly 

 imperfect as regards the night temperature. This is 

 strictly the case in Dr. Barclay's tables, published in the 

 Medical and Surgical Journal, Oct. 1854, and quoted in fall, 

 with the highest eulogium, by Dr. Copland, in his able 

 Medical Dictionary. Dr. Barclay must have omitted to 

 put his thermometer out of the window. He gives the 

 lowest point at night (December and January,) at 57° 

 Fah., and the highest by day (December and January,) 

 at 64° Fah. ; the greatest diurnal range being only 7° F. 

 Indeed the greatest diurnal range which he gives between 

 December 25th and March 7th, is only 8° F., and the 

 greatest diurnal range during the whole winter and 

 spring is only 14 degrees. If his tables afforded even 

 an approximation to the truth, the principal objections to 

 the climate of Cairo would fall to the ground, but the 

 whole of his tables for Egypt are so much at variance 

 with the observations of nearly all on whom dependance 

 can be placed, that I cannot but suspect that some grave 

 error has crept into them. 



It is well known to residents at Cairo, that the ther- 



