476 



METEOEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



BAROMETER. 



NOVEMBER 22, 1768. A remarkable fall of the barometer 

 all over the kingdom. At Selborne we had no wind, and not 

 much rain ; only vast, swagging, rock-like clouds, appeared 

 at a distance. WHITE. 



PARTIAL FROST. 



The country people, who are abroad in winter mornings 

 long before sun-rise, talk much of hard frost in some spots, 

 and none in others. The reason of these partial frosts is 

 obvious, for there are at such times partial fogs about ; where 

 the fog obtains, little or no frost appears : but where the air 

 is clear, there it freezes hard. So the frost takes place either 

 on hill or in dale, wherever the air happens to be clearest 

 and freest from vapour. WHITE. 



THAW. 



Thaws are sometimes surprisingly quick, considering tho 

 small quantity of rain. Does not the warmth at such times 

 come from below ? The cold in still, severe seasons seems to 

 come down from above : for the coming over of a cloud in 

 severe nights raises the thermometer abroad at once full ten 

 degrees. The first notices of thaws often seem " to appear in 

 vaults, cellars, &c. 



