Meteorological Observations. 231 



NOTE ON THE INFLAMMABILITY OF HYDROGEN. 

 BY M. BAUDRIMONT. 

 It is said by Berzelius and others, that hydrogen prepared in the 

 dry way does not possess the property of inflaming by contact with 

 spongy platinum; this phsenomenon, first indicated by Faraday, 

 having been attributed by Berzelius to an allotropic condition of the 

 hydrogen, we have thought it worth while to repeat the experiment. 

 For this purpose vapour of water was decomposed by red-hot iron, 

 and the hydrogen thus produced (which is that said to be prepared 

 in the dry way) was directed upon spongy platinum, which, as we had 

 ascertained, possessed the power of igniting the ordinary gas. We 

 then found that it also inflamed the gas obtained from the vapour of 

 water. On collecting some of this same gas in a bottle with a ground 

 glass stopper, and afterwards driving it out by means of a current of 

 water, so as to direct it upon a small mass of spongy platinum, the 

 hydrogen was again ignited. If, therefore, this gas may acquire 

 various allotropic conditions, these cannot be proved by the fact ad- 

 vanced by Faraday, and which we have not been able to realise. — 

 Comptes Renclus, August 5, 1855, p. 177. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JULY 1855. 

 Chiswick. — July 1. Very fine. 2. Heavy clouds : slight rain. 3, 4. Very fine. 

 5. Clear : hot and dry. 6. Foggy : very fine. 7,8. Very fine. 9. Hazy : very 

 fine : thunder, lightning and rain at night. 10. Fine : cloudy : very fine. 11. Con- 

 stant and veiy heavy rain from early in the morning till night. 12, 13. Very fine. 

 14. Cloudy: veryfine. 15. Cloudy and fine: rain. 16. Cloudy: heavy rain at night. 

 17. Fine: cloudy. 18. Veryfine. 19. Rain. 20. Veryfine. 21. Exceedingly 

 fine. 22. Very fine. 23. Slight fog : sultry : rain. 24. Rain : cloudy. 25. Rain. 

 26. Densely overcast : constant and very heavy rain. 27. Overcast : heavy clouds 

 and showers. 28. Cloudy : heavy showers. 29. Very fine. 30. Slight haze : very 

 fine : overcast : rain at night. 31. Heavy rain : showery : clear and fine at night. 



Mean temperature of the month 62°-99 



Mean temperature of July 1854 61 "59 



Mean temperature of July for the last twenty-nine years ... 63 -12 



Average amount of rain in July 2-428 inches. 



Boston.— July 1—4. Fine. 5—7. Cloudy. 8. Fiue. 9. Cloudy. 10, 11. 

 Cloudy : rain a.m. 12. Fine. 13. Cloudy. 14. Rain and hail a.m. 15. Fine. 

 16,17. Cloudy: rain a.m. and p.m. 18. Cloudy. 19,20. Cloudy: rain, with 

 thunder a.m. and p.m. 21 — 23. Cloudy. 24, 25. Rain a.m. and p.m. 26. Fine : 

 rain P.M. 27. Cloudy : rain p.m. 28. Fine: rain p.m. 29,30. Fine. 31. Rain 

 A.M. and P.M. 



Sandwick Manse, Orkney. — July 1. Damp a.m. : showers p.m. 2. Showers a.m. : 

 drops p.m. 3. Rain a.m. : damp p.m. 4. Bright a.m. : cloudy p.m. 5. Cloudy 

 a.m. : fog P.M. 0. Bright, fine a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 7. Bright, fine a.m. and 

 P.M. 8. Bright, fine a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 9. Clear, fine a.m. : vapour, fine p.m. 

 10. Hazy a.m. : clear, fine p.m. 11. Fine a.m. and p.m. 12. Bright, fine a.m. : 

 fine, fog p.m. 13. Fog a.m. : fine, fog p.m. 14. Fog a.m. : thunder showers, fog 

 p.m. 15. Fog A.M. : showers p.m. 16. Rain a.m. : showers p.m. 17. Damp a.m. : 

 cloudy P.M. 18. Cloudy A.M. and p.m. 19. Bright a.m. : hazy, fine p.m. 20. 

 Bright A.M. : clear, fine p.m. 21. Clear a.m.: drops p.m. 22. Cloudy a.m. and 

 P.M. 23. Cloudy A.M. : showers P.M. 24. I5right a.m.: fine, fogp.M. 25. Cloudy 

 A.M.: fine, fog P.M. 26. Rain a.m. : fogp.M. 27. Rain, fog a.m. : showers, 

 thunder and lightning, clear p.m. 28. Bright a.m. : fine, drops p.m. 29. Rain 

 a.m. : damp p.m. 30. Cloudy a.m. : fine, vapour p.m. 31. Cloudy a.m. : fine p.m. 

 Mean temperature of July for twenty-eiglit previous years . 55°'08 



Mean temperature of this month 59 '19 



Mean temperature of July 1854 55 "25 



Average quantity of rain in July for fifteen previous years,., 241 inches. 



