Meteorology, Magnetism, S)C. 423 



2. Heat at Bagdad. — On the 26th of August of last year 

 the thermometer, at Bagdad, rose, in the shade, to 120° Fah- 

 renheit, and at midnight was 108°; many persons died, and 

 the priests propagated a report that the day of judgment was 

 at hand. 



3. Evaporation of Ice. — The Monthly Magazine for April 

 contains some observations on the Absorption of Ice by the 

 Atmosphere, made by Mr. Holdsworth, Though the loss of 

 weight of ice by evaporation is very generally known, yet 

 there are not many experiments registered that have been 

 made on it, and as the two following by Mr, Holdsworth, were 

 on a moderately large scale, they will be interesting to those 

 who engage in meteorological investigations : — " On the 28th 

 November, 1814, being at that time about the middle of the 

 east coast of Lake Wenepie, in lat. 52° N., I hung up in an 

 open shed, where it was freely exposed to the air, but Avhere the 

 sun had no access, a flat slate of ice, about two inches thick, 

 which weighed accurately in the steelyard 201b. To ensure 

 accuracy, no one but myself had admission to the building. 

 On February 14th, it had sustained a loss of 17oz., the highest 

 temperature in the interval being 23°. As the loss of weight 

 was more than I expected, I again weighed it on the 20th, and 

 found the deficiency 20oz., the highest temperature from the 

 14th to the 20th being 14°. Beyond this time, the experiment 

 was not so satisfactory, the thermometer having indicated, on 

 the 26th and 28th of February, a temperature of 36°, for up- 

 wards of two hours each day. No dropping, however, took 

 place from the ice, nor could I perceive the least moisture upon 

 it. In March, the thermometer was uniformly below freezing, 

 the average temperature in the middle of the day being 14°. 

 On the 7th of that month, the ice had lost 2|lb. ; and on the 

 31st, its total loss was 41b., or a fifth part of its weight." 



The next experiment was on snow. It was placed in folds 

 of crape. It was hung up on February 16th, in the same place, 

 the snow and its covering weighing 30oz. In ten days, it had 

 lost 2oz. ; and in the next nine days, 2oz. more. On the 14th 



