312 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies . [April, 



nies, as well as from other parts of the world, with instruments 

 graduated to the common scales. To effectuate this purpose 

 with advantage, they consider it absolutely necessary that the 

 Meteorological Society of London should set the example of the 

 requisite precision by establishing a Meteorological Observatory 

 in the metropolis, or its vicinity, and instituting operations to be 

 conducted with undeniable accuracy, and with instruments of 

 standard excellence." 



A paper was read " On the Natural History and probable 

 Causes of the Vernal Winds of the North of England, as they 

 prevail in Westmoreland ; by John Gough, Esq. of Kendal. 

 Communicated by Dr. Birkbeck, President of this Society." 



In this paper, Mr. Gough minutely describes the phaenomena 

 which accompany and characterise the periodical easterly winds 

 of spring, especially as they prevail in Westmoreland, and 

 states the following opinion respecting their cause, with 

 various illustrations of it. The cause of these winds may 

 be referred to the progressive advances of the spring from the 

 south to the north. This season commences in Italy about the 

 20th of February ; it is equally advanced in Westmoreland 

 about the middle of April, at which time the countries situated 

 on the confines of the Arctic Circle remain buried in snow. 

 This covering will unavoidably arrest the progress of spring in 

 its advances towards the Arctic Circle, and prolong a milder 

 kind of winter in the northern regions. The delay here pointed 

 out is certain and annual, because the solar heat, instead of 

 warming the surface of the country thus buried in snow, is 

 absorbed by the icy covering, and employed in converting it into 

 water of the temperature of melting ice. While the sun is 

 employed in removing this impediment to vegetation in the 

 north, his beams are warming the plains and valleys of England, 

 in consequence of which the thermometer in the shade frequently 

 stands between 60° and 70° at noon, during the latter part of 

 April, and falls occasionally to the freezing point in the night. 



These facts show that the inhabitants of Britain enjoy an 

 advanced state of temperature, while the people of Sweden and 

 Norway are exposed to a degree of cold equal to the rigours of 

 our winter. The preceding difference in the temperature of the 

 atmosphere of Britain and the more northern regions gives a 

 greater specific gravity to the air of Sweden and Norway than 

 to that of England, as well as all the intervening countries that 

 are free from snow ; and this excess of density is, in Mr. Gough's 

 opinion, the cause of the vernal winds. 



Several other communications were likewise read. 



MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 



Jan. 15. — The Medico-Botanical Society of London held their 

 anniversary meeting, when the following Council was elected 

 for the ensuing year, viz. : — 



