146 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



blocked with ice, and seemed likely to become frozen over. 

 On the 24th there were 21.6 degrees of frost, and at Mont- 

 pellier, on the 3ist, 28.8 degrees. It is well known that 

 many of the outposts around Paris, and several of the 

 wounded who had been lying for fifteen hours upon the field, 

 were found frozen to death. From the Qth to the i5th ot 

 January a third period of cold set in, the thermometer 

 marking 17.6 degrees' (14.4 degrees of frost) 'at Paris, and 

 8.6 degrees at Montpellier. The most curious fact was that 

 the cold was greater in the south than in the north of 

 France. At Brussels the lowest temperatures were n.i 

 degree in December and 8.2 degrees in January. There 

 were forty days' frost at Montpellier, forty-two at Paris, and 

 forty-seven at Brussels during these two months. Finally, 

 the winter average (December, January, and February) was 

 35.2 degrees in Paris, whereas the general average is 37.9 

 degrees.' In the north of Europe this was also a very hard 

 winter, though the cold set in at a different time than that 

 noted for France. There were forty degrees of frost at 

 Copenhagen on February 12 that is, the temperature was 

 5 degrees below zero. By the documents which M. Renon 

 furnished Flammarion with for France, *I discover,' says 

 the latter, *a minimum of 9.4 degrees below zero at Peri- 

 gueux, and of 13 degrees below zero at Moulins ! I find by 

 the documents supplied me by Mr. Glaisher,' he proceeds, 

 'that he also considers the winter of 1870-71 as appertain- 

 ing to the class of winters memorable for their severity.' 

 . Lastly, in the winter which as I write (February 10, 1879) 

 seems to be nearly over, we have had for December a mean 

 temperature of only 31 degrees in the midlands the coldest 

 December known there, followed by a January so cold that 

 the mean temperature for the midlands was only 29.8 

 degrees. Mr. G. J. Symons, the well-known meteorologist, 

 says of the past winter, that January was the coldest for at 

 least twenty-one, and he believes for forty-one years, follow- 

 ing a December which was also, with one exception, the 

 coldest for twenty-one years.' He gives an abstract of 

 the temperatures (both maximum and minimum) for 



