WINTER BALLOON ASCENT.] 



METEOROLOGY. 



1209 



each observation are to be duly entered, with any other 

 particulars which may deserve remembrance. Various 

 minutiae are fully explained by Mr. Lowe, in the fourth 

 chapter of the section, which will serve as a guide in all 

 departments of practical meteorology ; so that, altogether, ! 

 even the most inexperienced need no further help than 

 is thus afforded. 



After such observations have been taken with due care, 

 and properly registered, copies should be sent either to 

 the Meteorological Society of London, or to the Meteoro- 

 logical Department of the Board of Trade. 



The following pages afford tables of average rainfall, 

 mean temperature, &c., to which reference has been 

 ir. .vie in this chapter. We have also appended, at 

 foot, an account of a winter ascent, made by Mr. 

 Glaisher on January 12, 1864 ; the results of which our 

 readers may compare with others already described at 

 page 1180, et leq. 



[To Mr. Glaisher, for whose labours science is indebted 

 for the reduction and generalisation of the observations, 

 recorded and published by the Meteorological Society (of 

 which he is the esteemed Honorary Secretary) since its 

 foundation in 1850 ; and to Admiral Fitzroy, at the 

 h -ail of the Meteorological Department of the Board of 

 Trade, we are under a debt of the greatest obligation, 

 on account of the kind assistance they have afforded us 

 I'V supplying the fullest particulars in their possession. 

 Of these we have made great use in the preceding 

 pages of this chapter ; and have much pleasure iu 

 thus acknowledging the sources of our information. 

 EDITOR ] 



MB. GLAISHER';) WINTER ASCENT, ox JANUARY 12, 

 1864. The balloon left the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, 

 sit seven minutes after two, with nearly a south wind, 

 and passed over the river Thames ; but, when at the 

 height of 400 feet, the wind changed to a point with a 

 great deal of west in it, and we found ourselves passing 

 down the centre of the river. At 2h. 9m. , at the height 

 of 650 feet, we fell into a strong S. W. current ; we 

 crossed Tilbury Railway at 2h. 14m. ; Hainault Forest 

 was west at 2h. 21m., and our course was N.E., or 

 almost directly towards the Blackwater River. Under 

 these circumstances, we did not dare to rise as we in- 

 tended. At 2h. 28m. we were 3,700 feet high ; the direction 

 of the wind changing to S. nearly. At 2h. 43m. we saw 

 a large town east of us, which we thought was Chelms- 

 ford, and inferred our course to be nearly N. At 

 2h 54m. we saw Maldon, the Blackwater River, and 

 the sea-coast, which we estimated at a distance of fifteen 

 to twenty miles east ; we were then about 7,500 feet 

 high. The wind continuing S. nearly, we determined to 

 go above the clouds. At 3h. 8m. we were 8,500 feet 

 high, and the wind veered to S.S.W. At 3h. 16m. we 

 were 9,600 feet high, and the wind changed to S.S.E. , 

 and continued in this direction, we believed, to our 

 highest point, which was 13,000 feet at 3h. 31m. There 

 the earth van quite obscured, and we had nothing what- 

 ever to guide us as to our rate of motion, or of our 

 locality. As the sun would set in little more than half- 

 aii-liour, we gave up the hope of reaching five miles, 

 resolving to pass downwards through the clouds, and 

 ascertain our position. At 3h. 37m. we were 10,500 feet 

 high ; in five minutes we descended to 8,500 feet, and 

 beneath the clouds, being still 6,500 feet from the earth, 

 which looked barren ; and, as there was no place that 

 any of us knew, we could not determine our locality at all. 

 At four o'clock we saw a forest of pines. We still de- 

 scended slowly to 1,250 feet, by 41i. 7m. We saw a 

 village ; and after passing this the earth looked barren 

 there were no villages, and scarcely any habitations. The 

 mist was so thick we could not see two miles ahead, but 

 we came to the ground at 4h. 15m. , near Brandon. 



On the ground the temperature was 42 ; decreased to 

 38J" by 2h. 10m. ; but it increased to 45 by 2h. 25m ., and 

 the sensation was then one of great warmth : at 

 2h. 28m. it decreased to 41* ; was 38 at 2h. 30m., and 

 31 at 2h. 35m. at 6,200 feet high ; it was then nearly 

 constant about 30 till 3h., when our height was 7,500 

 feet ; it then decreased to 20 by 3h. 10m. at the height \ 



VOL. L 



of 9,500 feet, and continued to decrease, and was 11 

 at 3h. 31m., at tho height of 13,000 feet ; it increased 

 to 10'' in six minutes on descending to 10,000 feet, and 

 constantly increased with decrease of elevation to 40 

 at the height of 1,000 feet, and to 42 on the ground. 

 Although it was probable that warm currents of air 

 might be met with, it was quite unexpected to encounter 

 such within 1,000 feet of the earth, and extending to 

 nearly 4,000 feet high ; the thickness of this warm S. W. 

 wind being fully 3,000 feet. At the height of half a 

 mile the temperature was nearly 4 warmer than on the 

 ground ; at this height, hitherto, we have always found 

 the temperature from 12 to 16" colder. 



Dew was deposited at the temperature of 35 before 

 starting ; at 36 between the heights of 1,500 and 3,000 

 feet ; at 26 at 4,000 feet, decreasing to zero at 9,500 

 feet ; and the dew-point was 4 D , 5, and 6 below zero at 

 heights exceeding 10,000 feet : on passing below 10,000 

 feet the dew-point was the same as the temperature 

 of the air, and therefore the air was saturated with 

 moisture, and continued so till we very nearly reached 

 the earth. 



On leaving, the earth was dull, and the air very misty. 

 When afterwards viewed, its appearance was very dif- 

 ferent from that in summer : all looked barren, bleak, 

 and ice-bound ; every sheet of water was covered with 

 ice ; and Mr. Coxwell, notwithstanding his 503 ascents, 

 said he never before had seen sheets of water in their fro- 

 zen aspect with those peculiar white-fringed edges which 

 attracted- our special attention. At 2h. 45m. , at the height 

 of 7,000 feet, we heard a railway trail), and then the tick- 

 tick of a threshing machine ; and afterwards, at the 

 height of 7,200 feet, we heard people's voices ; and these 

 were the only sounds we caught. At 3h. 29m., on looking 

 down, we saw snow falling upon a fine cloud, the surface 

 of which was unbroken and even, being free from irregu- 

 larities, and with boundary lines very sharply defined. 

 At this time dense clouds were far above us, and the air 

 seemed to be full of snow. At 3h. 31m. we were about 

 13,000 feet high; and as we are quite ignorant of all mete- 

 orological conditions in the higher atmosphere at this 

 time of the year, it was with great regret that I heard 

 Mr. Cox well's decision to descend ; we were in fine but 

 thick snow; we had lost sight of the earth, with, we be- 

 lieved, no great length of laud before us, and even that 

 being towards the sea. Had we ascended another mile, 

 our descent must have been very close to the coast ; and 

 considering that the sun was setting, with large sheets of 

 vapour obscuring the view, I felt that Mr. Coxwell's 

 judgment was again wisely exercised, and I abstained 

 from influencing him in any way whatever. 



From 3h. 32m. fine granular snow covered my note- 

 book, and continued till 3h. 47m., when we were about 

 entering a cloud in descending, having a thickness of 

 about 600 feet, through which space we passed in two 

 minutes. The balloon must have been ladeu with snw. 

 The cloud was saturated with moisture, as was the air 

 below the cloud till within 1,000 feet of tho earth. At 

 3h. 39m. Mr Coxwell was darker th in usual; Mr. XOITM 

 was reddish-bluish ; and I was redder than usual, with 

 both eyes much suffused. At 4h. 9m. it became so dark 

 that it was with difficulty I could read the instruments. 

 The sun had set, a dense mist was in all directions, and 

 we could not see far ahead. Mr. Coxwell then began 

 the descent. The place was quite barren, and, to all 

 appearances, uninhabited: the grapnel passed thruu-h 

 light sand for some little time, but the descent was man- 

 aged so admirably that we came down without causing 

 injury to a single instrument. 



Ozone papers were somewhat coloured, but those ex- 

 posed at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, remained 

 colourless. The anemometer at the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, registered six miles as the horizontal move- 

 ment of the air during the time the balloon passed more 

 than 100 miles. The sun was never seen, and there was 

 no opportunity of using the actinometer, the spectroscope, 

 or the polariscope. 



It will be seen that the above results widely differ 

 from those afforded during ascents in the summer season. 



7* 



