Meteorology. 153 
of piece goods made from silk or worsted, or of both these ma- 
terials. — 12th Feb,—4 nionths. 
To Sampson Davis, of Upper East Smithfield, Middlesex, 
gun-lock maker, for his improvement upon the lock for guns and 
other fire-arms, which enables the same lock to be used upon 
the percussion principle, or with gunpowder without charging 
the lock or hammer.—12th Feb.—2 months. 
To Thomas Brunton, of the Commercial Road, Middlesex, 
chain cable and anchor manufacturer, for his improvement upon 
the anchor which he conceives will be of publfe utilitv.—12th 
Feb.—6 months. 
To Elisha Peck, of Liverpool, Lancashire, merchant, who in 
consequence of a communication made to him by Ralph Bulkley, 
a foreigner resident in the city of New-York, and a citizen of 
the United States of America, is in possession of an invention of 
a certain machinery to be worked by water applicable to the 
moving of mills and other machinery of various descriptions for 
the forcing or pumping of water.—Feb.— 6 months. 
METEOROLOGY. 
To Dr. Tilloch. 
Hartwell, February 19, 1822, 
Sir,—There are some circumstances so remarkable in the pre- 
sent season, that I have deemed them worthy of being noted down 
in your magazine, with a view that they may be compared with 
the observations of meteorologists in different parts of the coun- 
try. That the winter has been very unusually mild, and that 
there has been a considerable proportion of wet and blowing 
weather, must have struck every body ; but on a minute inspec- 
tion of the instruments of meteorology, I find peculiarities which 
are less obvious to common observation. In four days out of seven 
(on an average ) in every week since the Ist of last December, 
the temperature has risen more than three degrees between nine 
o’clock at night and midnight ; there has been a constant fluc- 
tuation of temperature, as well as of barometrical pressure, all the 
winter, with the exception of a few weeks of late; but the above 
circumstance seems to show that the changes from a lower to a 
higher temperature have usually taken place between nine o’clock 
and midnight ; for if the weather had not changed at that time, 
the heat would have gone on declining through the night, as 
usual. Should any of your correspondeuts be desirous of it, I can 
sénd you minutes of the observations taken from my journal. Of 
the cause of the above phenomena I am ignorant ; but if elec- 
tricity be principally concerned in producing atmospherical 
changes, its irregular distribution this season (which several other 
circumstances indicate ) may perhaps account for the unusual 
Vol, 59, No, 286. el, 1822, U periods 
