1814.] made during the Year J 813. 31 



The rain which fell in London during 1812 is stated in the Phi- 

 losopliical Transactions to be only 22-03 inches : but the rain-gage 

 used stood 102-5 feet above the surrounding ground. Had it been 

 lower, tlie quantity of rain would have been greatly increased 

 Another rain-gage, placed 1 1-5 feet higher, gave only 18348 inches 

 of rain, I am of opinion that the average quantity of rain which 

 falls in London, if properly taken, would amount to 25 or 26 

 inches at least. 



The fall of rain in Edinburgh during 1812 was 2/'-112 inches 

 In Glasgow it was only 22-810 inches ; but I have no doubt that 

 the rain-gage in that city, as well as in London, had been placed 

 too high. 



The year 1813 was warmer than 1812, though the summer was 

 without any remarkable hot days ; but it being necessary to print 

 this paper before the conclusion of ihe year, it is not in our power 

 at present to draw a comparison between 1812 and 1813. 



Two very curious meteorological papers have been inserted in 

 the Arinals of Philosophy, namely, the mean height of the ther- 

 mometer at Stockholm for 50 years, and a comparison of tlie tem- 

 perature at that place with the corresponding temperature at 

 I^ndon, inserted in the 2d Number; and the simultaneous heiijhts 

 of the barometer at London, Paris, and Geneva, for one year 

 inserted in tiie 1 2th Number. We refer our readers to these curious 

 documents themselves for the information which they contain no 

 less striking than satisfactory. ' 



It does not seem necessary to recapitulate the curious facts con- 

 tained in Mr. Leslie's late publication on meteorology, after the 

 account wliich has been given of that book in the last "Number of 

 the Jnnnls, and of his new meteorological instruments in the 6th 

 Number. 



M. Cotte has pul)lishcd some observations upon the Aurora 

 Borcalis, in which he has endeavoured to show that jt is connected 

 with the increase of the declination of the needle ; that it is most 

 frequent when this declination is increasing rapidly, and that it 

 disappears when tlie declination cither ceases to increase or increases 

 ma dimiiiishmg ratio. Hence the reason, he conceives, why at 

 present this phenomenon is so seldom observed. 



Mr. Thomas Forster published during the course of last year a 

 book entitled Kesearches into Atmospheric Phenomena, in which 

 he has endeavoured to classify and arrange all the different appear- 

 ances, and he has given an appropriate name to each. 



I have now brought this historical sketch to within two sciences 

 of a conclusion ; these are zoolomj and bolamj : but it lias imper 

 ceptibly swelled to such a length that I cnnnot with propriety con- 

 tinue It iariher. The reader has little occasion to regret the 

 rcuiamdei ; for as zoo/mr,/ :im\lo/an// are conversant chiefly in 

 mirmle technical descriptions, it would be scarcely possible to do 

 jusli.e to thcin in a short abstract. Cuvicr's accoui'.t of the labours 

 of the 1 rench Institute in these departments of science will be 



