during the Quarter ending March 31, 184-8. 509 



The average daili/ range of the readings of the ihermomeler 

 in air at the height of four feet, was 1 1^*1, which is 0^*8 greater 

 than the average range for t!ie seven preceding years. 



In January the readings of the thermometer on grass were at 

 or below 32"^ on twenty-seven nights, and the lowest reading 

 was 12°*5. In February it was at or below 32^ on fourteen 

 nights, and the lowest reading was 20°. In March it was at 

 or below 32° on twenty-one nights, and the lowest reading 

 was 18°. These low readings have generally taken place at 

 times when the sky has suddenly become clear, and for the 

 most part their periods of continuance have been short, as 

 the amount of clear sky at night during the quarter has been 

 small. The observer at Durham says, that on the night of 

 January 19, the reading of a thermometer on grass fell below 

 zero. 



The mean amount of cloud for the quarter was such as lo 

 cover upon the average four-fifths of the whole sky. The 

 amount of cloud during the period from IS-i?, November 30, 

 to 1848, Marcii 31, was larger than in any period of equal 

 length for many years. 



In the last report I spoke of the smallness of the amount 

 of the electricity which had existed in the air at Greenwich 

 during the quarter ending 1847, December 31. In conse- 

 quence of this remark, Francis Ronalds, Esq., the Director 

 of the Observatory at Kew, communicated with me, and he 

 has kindly lent the original Electrical Observations made at 

 that Observatory, both in that quarter and in the one just 

 ended. By an examination of this journal, it appears that 

 during the quarter ending December 31, 1847, the electricity 

 of the atmosphere was never in a neutral state at Kew, ex- 

 cepting for the short period of time in its transmission from the 

 one to the other state. The situation of the Observatory is in 

 the Old Deer Park, at Ilichmond, and near the river Thames. 



The electricity during the past quarter at Greenwich has 

 been about its usual amount at this period of the year. At 

 Kew the amount has been at all times very much larger than 

 at Greenwich, and there does not appear to have been any 

 period during which the instruments were unaffected. 



During the quarter there were five exhibitions of the aurora 

 borealis, which occurred on the following days, viz. February 

 20, 22, March 19, 20, and 31. At these times the magnets 

 were disturbed. 



The approximate mean monthly temperatures for other 

 places besides Greenwich are shown in the tables printed in 

 the Registrar-General's (|uarlerly report, and they diflbr from 

 those at Greenwich by small (|uantities only ; those places 

 situated south of Greenwich being somewhat higher, and 



