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LVIII. Meteorological Register kept at Ftinchal, in Madeira, 

 in the Year 1826; loith some prrfatory Observations on the 

 Climate of that Island, Sfc. By C. Heineken, M.D.* 



Tj^UNCHAL forms the area to a natural amphitheatre on 

 -*- the south side of the island of Madeira : it is open to the 

 sea towards the south, and shut in on the north by mountains 

 rising to the height of 5000 feet, and gradually declining east 

 and west. 



The following Journal is, I am aware, imperfect ; but when 

 I plead continued ill-health on the one hand, and renounce 

 all scientific pretensions on the other, I trust that it will be 

 I'eceived with every allowance. Mr. Kirwan's observations 

 on the climate of Madeira, I have never seen. Those published 

 by Dr. Gourlay, twenty-five years ago, were made by the late 

 Mr. James Murdoch, at a place called the Valle, about 400 

 feet above the level of the sea, and do not therefore apply to 

 the city of Funchal : besides, they are given only in monthly 

 maxima, minima, and means ; and we are left totally in the 

 dark as to the mode by which these different results were ob- 

 tained. Mr. Bowdich in his " History of Madeira," did not 

 pretend to enter into this subject in detail ; and I am not con- 

 scious that any other person has attempted it. These, and 

 the intermediate situation of Madeira, which makes it an im- 

 portant connecting link between the tropical and northern 

 climates, are the reasons which have induced me to obtrude 

 myself upon the public, as one who has incurred the sarcasm 

 of the amiable Johnson, liy " legistering the changes of the 

 wind, in order to die fully convinced that the wind is change- 

 able ! " 



The periods of the day at which the observations have been 

 made, ax-e not those which I should have selected, had a free 

 choice been offered me; but all others were pi'ecluded, either 

 by the state of my health, or the nature of my avocations. I 

 selected therefore the least eligible, because they were likely 

 to prove the least interrupted. — As it regards the barometer, 

 the results have not, I think, been greatly influenced by this 

 circumstance; its oscillations during the four-and-twenty hours 

 being comparatively, and upon an average, so trifling : but the 

 deductions from the hygrometer are I fear of but little value; 

 one observation of this instrument during the day is obviously 

 inadequate, and I have not therefore attempted to form a 

 mean from it. I regret this the more, because it is a very in- 

 teresting, and here at least nearly novel, subject of investiga- 



* Communicated by the Author. 



lion; 



