58 J. F. Miller, Esq., on the 
NW. 383, and dead calms, 9; the westerly exceeding the easterly 
winds on 71 days, or by one-half nearly. 
The Forces are divided into the following classes: calm, 39; light, 
63; moderate, 107; fresh, 69; strong, 59; and gales, 29 days; the 
calms being 11, and the stormy days 7, under the average number in the 
6 previous years. 
The Weather.—In 1848, we have had 18 perfectly clear days ; 137 
more or less cloudy, but without rain; 211 rainy ; 289 on which the sun 
shone out; 45 days of frost (the thermometer below 32°, at 4 feet from 
the ground); 4 of snow; 18 of hail (of which one occurred in July, and 
one in August); 14 of thunder and lightning ; and 3 days of lightning 
without thunder. There have also been 1 solar and 7 lunar halos, and 
18 appearances of the aurora borealis, of which 15 were registered in 
the last 4 months of the year. The cloudless days are 10 less, and those of 
thunder and lightning are 6 less, whilst the days of sunshine are 18 
more, than the usual number. 
The exhibitions of the aurora borealis during the winter of 1848-9 
were so numerous, and such was the diversity of form, the richness and 
variety of the tints, and the extraordinary beauty and brilliancy of the 
meteor on many occasions, that its more prominent features must have 
arrested the attention even of those who do not ordinarily notice either 
atmospheric or celestial phenomena. 
The most notable of these appearances occurred on the nights of the 
18th of October and the 17th of November ; but as the writer published 
a minute description of the phenomena at the time, it will be unneces- 
sary to do more than briefly notice them in this place. Between the 
18th of October and the end of the month, the sky was lit up by aurore 
almost every clear night. During this period there were frequent sud- 
den torrents of rain, attended with thunder, lightning, and large quanti- 
ties of hail and snow in many places; likewise brilliant meteors, and 
other indications of violent electrical disturbances in the air. During a 
thunder-storm on the morning of the 23d, the electric telegraph on the 
Whitehaven Junction Railway was so affected by the atmospheric elec- 
tricity, that the signal bell several times rung spontaneously, during the 
continuance of the storm. 
The magnets at the Greenwich Observatory underwent unusual oscil- 
lations, (as also on the 16th, 17th, and 18th, of November), and at Liver- 
pool, the electric telegraph was, for a time, rendered useless. 
Suspended in the library of the Greenwich Observatory is a photo- 
graphic tracing, exhibiting the strangely abnormal curves formed by the 
magnets during the aurora of the 17th of November. The aurora of 
18th October, was seen all over Great Britain, except in the South of 
England, where heavy rain was falling at the time. That of 17th Novem- 
ber extended to Naples, Madrid, Oporto, Montreal in North America, 
and to the Azores, where the phenomenon had never before been wit- 
nessed. The portion of the sky reflecting the red light was greater than 
in any aurora I haye seen, not excepting the gorgeous displays which oc- 
curred on the nights of the 25th and 26th of January, 1837. 
Radiation.—The surface of the earth and all bodies upon it, have a con- 
stant tendency to throw off at night, the thermal rays which they receive 
from the sun and other sources during the day. Indeed, it is certain that 
