20 



Mr. Pitt's Remarks on the Weather at Carlislet 



tho reverse. The wind, excepting the 

 two last days of the month, was uiii- 

 ibrmly west and south-west. The 

 weather was mild, moist, and often 

 very stormy, with heavy rains, when 

 Ihe rivers frequently overflowed their 

 banks. Snow was at times observed 

 on the mountains, bat soon disappear- 

 ed. The thermometer, during- this 

 and the preceding monlh, was never 

 as low as liic fieezing point. 



April.— 'i'\w first five days were fair, 

 mild, and pleasant. In the evening of 

 the G(i) we hud some lightning, aud 

 very loud peals of thunder, accompa- 

 nied with heavy falls of hail and rain. 

 The weather afterwards was variable, 

 but generally moist and gloomy, with 

 showers of rain, h.iil, snow, and sleet. 

 On the22d we were again visited with 

 vivid lightning, loud peals of thunder, 

 and heavy rain ; and also on the 2Gth 

 with distant thunder, and extremely 

 heavy showers of large hail, ok rather 

 masses of ice. The remaining four 

 days were oppressively warm : on the 

 SOth the thermometer was as high as 

 70°. 



May. — Tho weather continued ra- 

 ther cold and showery till the 13th ; it 

 afterwards was exceedingly warm, 

 dry, and brilliant, during the remain- 

 der of the month. 



June — was marked by severe 

 drought, and bright and extremely 

 hot sun-shine. 'Jlie small quantity of 

 rain, 1-05 inch, felJ chielly in the nights 

 oftlie 2Gth and 28lli. 



July. — ^The weatherwas remarkably 

 wet: the depth of rain, 5*33 inches, is 

 more than double our monthly ave- 

 rage. On the 18th, and the tour fol- 

 lowing days, we had much thunder 

 and lightning: the thunder was at 

 times dreadfully loud, and the light- 

 ning extremely dense and vivid. The 

 first week, and the last three days, of 

 the month were unseasonably cold. 



August. — The former part of this 

 month was fair and pleasant. On the 

 14th we had a very heavy fall of rain ; 

 it afterwards was fair, and oppressive- 

 ly warm, till the 2fith, when thunder 

 and lightning occurred almost every 

 day, with torrents of rain, till the end 

 of the mouth. The depth of rain, 

 6-30 inches, is nearly equal to that of 

 the former montli. 



September. — The weather during the 

 first eleven days was rather showery ; 

 and, excepting a light fall of rain on 

 the 25tli, the whole of the remainder 

 was fair, and exceedingly mild and 

 1 



[Feb. 1, 



pleasant, which finished in this district 

 a most abundant harvest. 



October — was, on the whole, very 

 wet, but remarkably mild for the sea- 

 son. About the middle of the month 

 we had four or five days of dry parch- 

 ing easterly winds, with hoar frost in 

 the nights. The whole of the remain- 

 der was unseasonably mild. The last 

 six days were fair, and exceedingly 

 serene and pleasant. 



November — was most unseasonably 

 mild, and extremely wet and stormy. 

 Tlie wind, which was always westerly, 

 often blew violent hunicanes, accom- 

 panied with torrents of rain. In the 

 latter part of the month we had much 

 lightning, and on the morning of the 

 28th loud peals of thunder, when the 

 lightning was extremely vivid, and ac- 

 companied with heavy showers of 

 large hail, at which time snow was 

 observed on the western mountains. 



Decrmler. — Tiie weather during the 

 first eight da^s was extremely wet, 

 and at times very stormy, when the 

 surrounding mountains were partially 

 covered with snow. On the ftth a 

 frost connncneed, whieli continued till 

 the 17th. On the 12tii the thermo- 

 meter was as low as 22". From this 

 lime till the 21th it was very moist 

 and foggy. 'J'hc remainder was a dry 

 settled frost, and remarkably calm and 

 pleasant. 



'I'he total quantity of rain this year, 

 35"38 inches, exceeds the general 

 average b^ inches. 



Carlisle; Wm. Pitt. 



Jan.Q, 1823. 



To the Editor of the Monthhj Magazine. 

 sill, 



THE figure now exhibiting as a 

 mermaid, having raised in many 

 a belief in the existence of such an 

 animal, I beg leave to (iflVr you what 

 I consider as a proof of its artificial 

 structure, and that it is composed of u 

 baboon and a fish. In taking away 

 the lower part of the body of the mon- 

 key, the spine has been preserved en- 

 tire, and has been inserted under tho 

 skin down the back of the fish, so as 

 to show a continued chain of vertebral 

 projections, which gives it the appear- 

 ance of being the back of one animal. 

 That the vertebras should ap])ear in 

 tile upper part of the back might be 

 expected ; but, when it assumes the 

 character of a fish, the spine, like that 

 of other fishes, must be in the centre ; 

 and if, from the singularity oi" its struc- 

 ture 



