of the Meteorological Observations at Wick. 341 



Numerical Results for the Year. 



Inches. 

 „ , f Max. Nov. 9th & 10th— Wind E. & S. SO-4. 



mrometer | ^^^^ j^^^ ^^^ ^ 18th— Wind S.W. & W. 28-3 



Range of the quicksilver 2*1 



Annual mean pressure 29*565 



Thermometer I ^a^™""^' ^"g- Hth— Wind S.W. 65°-50 

 Ihermometer | ^jj^in^un,^ Yeh. 5th— Wind N. 12 -33 



Annual mean temperature by approximation .... 45 -984 

 The barometrical observations having been registered only 

 to the first decimal place of an inch, there is no doubt a con- 

 siderable loss in the resulting mean pressure : this supposition 

 is verified by the annual mean result being so low, compared 

 with those of barometers that were placed much higher ; as 

 it is yf§7j or 2?/^ of an inch lower than that at Kinfauns 

 Castle, where the barometer is stated to have been 129 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and that at Wick only 45 feet, if 

 it were placed at the same height as the thermometei*. Con- 

 sidering the difference of latitude of these places, it is curious 

 that the mean temperature at Wick at 10 A.M. and 10 P.M. 

 should be higher in January, February, March, Octobei', No- 

 vember, and December 1823, than at Kinfauns Castle, at the 

 same hours, and lower in the other six months ; and also that 

 the annual mean temperatures of these places should coincide 

 within xWo ^^ ^ degree : but this must have arisen from the 

 contiguity of Wick to a more open sea, which tends to lessen 

 the chill of the atmosphere in the winter months. 



Wind. The prevailing wind, according to the scale in the 

 table, was decidedly from the S. and S.W. points of the com- 

 pass, in which direction they are influenced by the Western 

 Ocean, and its bluff eastern shore. The wind from the N. 

 was the next in duration, as coming from the open sea. From 

 the S.E., W. and N.W. they were nearly equal, but least from 

 the N.E. and E., from which points they had to travel over 

 the continents of Europe and Asia. Hence it appears that 

 the S.W. wind does not retain its prevailing character at 

 Wick, as it does along the southern shores of England. The 

 prevailing South wind at Wick may be considered as a land 

 breeze, and is a fortunate one for vegetation there. The winds 

 from the S.W., W. and N. are sea breezes; the succulent 

 state of the two first, soon counteracts the sterile effects of the 

 last. 



The second article is inserted in the Philosophical Magazine 

 and Journal, for October 1826, p. 317, and contains a table 

 of thermometrical observations made at Wick, at half-past 

 7 A.M. and half-pa>,t 8 P.M. througliout the year 1825. As 

 no results arc given in that table, I have therefore calculated 



the 



