176 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[AvG. 11, 1882. 



on Aug. 10, and at 9.30 on Aug. 14. The constellation at 

 those hours is nioWng ascendingly, and towards the cast, 

 remaining al>ove the horizon all night. Meteors of the 

 Perseid system may accordingly l>e seen at any time of the 

 night : in greater numlier, but with shorter paths near 

 Perseus ; more scattoreJly, but with longer paths at a 

 distance from that constellation. As the moon will be new 

 on Aug. 13, tlie opportunity for observing the August 

 meteors this year is very favourable. 



Scattf reil members of the August system may be seen 

 for several days after the track of the main body has been 

 crossed. But, as the direction in which the earth travels 

 changes al«out one degree per day, science cannot admit 

 that, as Mr. Denning opines (who has done excellent work 

 in the observation of meteors), members of the August 

 system can Ix- recognised by still radiating from the proper 

 " radiant " of this system several weeks before and after 

 the time of central passage. To say that a shooting star 

 on September 14, for instance, radiated from the same 

 centre as one seen on August 14, when the earth's course 

 was thirty degrees different, is, for the mathematician, 

 equivalent to saying, not that they belonged to the same, 

 but that they belonged to different meteor systems. 



ENGLISH SEASIDE HEALTH-RESORTS. 



Bt Alfred n.vviL.\.\D, M.II.C.S., F.RM.C.S. Loud. 

 WINTER TEMPERATURES. 



THE winter isotherms link together health-resorts very 

 remote from each other ; for instance, we find tlio.sc 

 on the North Coast of \yales — Bangor (^SH), Beaumaris 

 (.'>9), Penmaenmawr (GO), Llandudno (Gl) and llhyl 

 (02) — participating in the same mean January tempera- 

 tures that characterise the South Coast, between tlie 

 isotherms 40' and 42% within which lie places having a high 

 repute as winter resorts, for instance : — the Isle of Wight 

 (3;(), Bournemouth (34), Weymouth (S.'t), Lyme Regis 

 (.•5G), Sidmouth (37), and Exmouth (38). This fact is of 

 great moment to persons living in Central England, to 

 whom the distance from their homes to the South Coast 

 would often entail a prohibitory expense. Again, we find 

 lietween the isotherms 42° and 43' the moister climates 

 of Dawlish (39), Teignmouth (40), and Torquay (41), 

 linked, so far as temperature is concerned, witli the more 

 l>racing and drier resorts of the North coast of Devon and 

 the coast of Somerset, viz. : — Linton (50), Blue Anchor 

 (51), Bumham (•')2), and Weston-super-Mare (."iS). On 

 the East coast there is a remarkable uniformity of the 

 winter temfK-ratures, as will be seen on observing liow 

 closelv the 37' isotherm follows the contour of the coast, 

 and thus Jinks Hythe (2.5), Folkestone (24), Dover (23), 

 Deal (22), and Ramsgate (21), with the health-resorts of 

 the Vorkshire coast, which latter, however, have the 

 greater advantages of l>cing further removed from the 

 Continent, and a greater sea area in front of them. 



The influence of the Irish Sea on the winter climate of 

 the whole of the west and north coasts of Wales is well 

 fchown in the chart. Those resorts which lie on the coast 

 of peninsular Cornwall have the mildest wintfir climate ; 

 for they are not only the mo.st southern, liut havi; the 

 immen.se sea area of the Atlantic l>cfore and around them ; 

 even in the coldest month, January, they enjoy a mean 

 temperature l^etwen the 44' and 4.5' isotherms, the latter 

 of which is out of the map, as its curve is found between 

 the I>ands End and the Scilly Isles. These resorts arc 



Falmouth (44), Penzance (45), Sennen (4G), and St. 

 Ives (47). 



Buchan remarks, with regard to the effect of the English 

 t'hannel on tlie course of the isothernials, that its greater 

 shallowness, its proximity to the Continent (whoso winter 

 temperature is lower than that of Groat liritain), and its 

 immediate connection with the North Sea (through tlio 

 Straits of Dover) waters are colder than the Atlantic at 

 this season ; it has a much less powerful influence in warm- 

 ing the resorts along the south coast of England than 

 the Irish Sea has on those which enjoy the mild climate 

 it transports to them. The rnjiid diminution of tempera- 

 ture from the Land's End eastwards to Kent is one of 

 the most marked features of the winter temperature. Tho 

 mean temperature of Helston (Cornwall), in January, is 

 4.">° r, from wliich it falls to 40" 5' at Bournemouth, and to 

 38° r at Canterbury. 



With regard to the observation that the waters of tho 

 North Sea are colder than those of the Atlantic, we would 

 observe that, from obser\ations made at Scarborough for 

 the last five years, the average January temperature of tho 

 sea amounted 41° 2 Fahr. 



We should be glad to receive further information with 

 regard to the temperature of the sea, as it is a most im- 

 portant factor in the climatt^s of our health-resorts. 



Communications on this or any other subject should be 

 addressed to the Editor. 



The Summer (July) Isotherms. — Wo have just seen 

 how the southern seaside health-resorts are bracketed 

 with the Northern during tho winter by means of tho 

 isotherms produced by the gulf stn^am ; we shall now see 

 how the two opposite coasts of England are, as it were, 

 brought together by the snnlieat isotherms. In tho first 

 place, we notice that these summer isotherms arch north- 

 wards over the land, showing that the sun-heat's influence 

 is felt in higher latitudes than over the sea, where in fact 

 we find the distances between each isotherm have been con- 

 siderably lessened by the cooling influence of the equable 

 sea temperature. 



Beginning from the VI. zone, wo find that nearly all tho 

 south-west resorts lie to the south of the G3° isotherm, and 

 that a greater part of Devon and the whole of Cornwall lie 

 between it and the G4°. Wo must also note the effect of 

 the large masses of land in the IV. and V. interlatitudinal 

 zones in extending the sun's influence over the large area 

 embraced within the 63° isotherm, and further observe 

 how, in the central position of the latter zone, tho mean 

 temperature for July reaches to G4°. The Climate Chart, 

 at p. 1G3, sufficiently explains which of the several resorts on 

 tho east and west coasts of England and Wales share the 

 same isothermal zones, and obviates further description. 



We have now seen what resorts, owing to their position 

 on the sea-board, enjoy the warm, moist air from the gulf 

 stream ; wo must now point out which of them liavc their 

 climate influenced by tho bracing airs of the North Seas. 

 It must bo remembered that the winds do not, as a rule, 

 in the.se latitudes blow in straight lines for any consider- 

 able distance from the several points of the compass, 

 either over England, Wales, and Ireland, or over Scotland ; 

 but that they rather perform circuits around certain areas 

 of low barometric pressure, and it is possible that a wind 

 which makes its way as a north-west wind through the 

 North Channel and over the Irish Sea to the coast of 

 Cumberland may, after passiug over GO or 70 miles of 

 land, find its way as a westerly wind in the Vale of York, 

 and assume a south-westerly direction before it reaches the 

 coast of the North and East Hidings of Yorkshire ; wlien this 

 is the case, which is by no means unfrequent, tho south-west 

 wind has the charact<;r of a cold and frosty current in the 



