8 
The subject was further discussed by the President, Prof. 
Seely, and Dr. Feuchtwanger. 
Dr. O. W. Morris read the following paper: 
Summary of Meteorological Observations at the Cooper 
Union, for the month of February, 1873. 
The month has been unusually cold and boisterous, more 
so than any February in the last ten years, with the exception 
of 1868, which was nearly 8° colder. The mean temperature 
was 29.79°. ; 
The maximum was 48° on the 8th, and the minimum 0.5. 
—a range of 47.5°.. There were only three days when the 
mean temperature was above 40°; on thirteen days it was 
between 80° and 40°; on eight days between 20° and 380°, and 
on four, below 20° The weather was quite changeable, dur- 
ing the whole month. 
The consequence of this, was an unusual number of deaths, 
not only from affections of the lungs, but from those incident 
to exposure, foul air, and insufficient food and clothing, as 
well as want of attention. 
354 persons died from phthisis pulmonalis; 228 from 
pneumonia, and 123 from bronchitis. 
Of the 2175 deaths from all causes and of all ages, 971 
were children under 5 years of age, an average of 34.7 each 
day ; and the whole number shows 74.1 deaths in every 24 
ours. 
Could all these cases be traced to their dwellings, and the 
privations made known, sanitary measures might doubtless 
be adopted, that would at least alleviate the misery, especially 
among the children, of whom the fearful number of 971, un- 
der five years of age, died in this city in 28 days! 
The mean of the barometer was 29.848 inches; the maxi- 
mum was 80.416 inches on the 15th, and the minimum 
29.044 inches on the 21st, a range of 1.372 inches in six days. 
The greatest monthly mean during the ten years referred to, 
was 86.76° in 1864; the least 22.97° in 1868: the greatest 
daily mean was 63.3° on the 24th of February, 1866; the least, 
6.3° on the 3d of February, 1868. 
The mean of February for the whole ten years was 82.11°, 
or 2.262 higher than in 1873. 
The quantity of water from rain and melted snow was 4°75 
inches, which is about the average for the ten years. 
Snow fell on 5 days, though it was not deep. Lunar 
haloes were observed on two evenings, and one lunar corona. 
