128 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



directions in which improvements in the apparatus are 

 required. No instruments have as yet been sent up, but an 

 elaborate and costly meteorograph has been ordered from 

 M. Eichard, of Paris. This instrument is being made of 

 aluminium, and will weigh less than three pounds. It 

 consists of a barometer, a thermometer, and a hygrometer, 

 which all record their readings automatically on one cylinder 

 turned by clockwork in eight hours. Scotland will thus at 

 an early date be able to join in the international scheme of 

 aerial investigation inaugurated by Mr A. Laurence Kotch, 

 director of the Blue Hill Observatory. The success of the 

 Edinburgh kite-flying experiments, so far as carried out, 

 is entirely due to the liberality and energy of Mr John 

 Anderson (late of Owensboro, Kentucky), who has directed 

 operations from the first. Another gentleman interested in 

 the work has kindly presented the costly meteorograph 

 already referred to, thus completing the equipment. To 

 these two gentlemen the author presents his cordial thanks. 



Eemarks on the Meteorology of 1898. 



January. — A phenomenally mild month, the mean tem- 

 perature of 44"*6 being the highest on record since the 

 commencement of meteorological observations in Edinburgh 

 in 1764. The nearest approach to the above high mean 

 temperature was 43°'8, in 1796. Other very mild Januarys 

 were those of 1846, 1882, and 1890, with mean temperatures 

 of 42°-l, 42°-0, and 41°-6 respectively. The wind during the 

 month blew almost wholly from the west and south-west. 

 The exceptional warmth was unequally partitioned between 

 the day and night temperatures, the nights relative to the 

 average being 2° warmer than the days. The shade maxi- 

 mum exceeded 50° on no fewer than eleven days, while on 

 no occasion was there any frost registered. The least 

 number of shade frosts previously recorded in January 

 during the last ninety-five years was four, in the year 1882. 

 The maximum shade temperature of 56°-5, recorded on the 

 19th, was the highest in January since the 31st, in the year 

 1846 ; while the mean temperatures of the 19th and 30th, 



