LETTER LXII 



TO THE SAME 



As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, 

 you, I trust, will not be displeased to hear the particulars ; 

 and especially when I promise to say no more about the 

 severities of winter after I have finished this letter. 



The first week in December was very wet, with the 

 barometer very low. On the yth, with the barometer at 

 28.5 came on a vast snow, which continued all that day 

 and the next, and most part of the following night ; so 

 that by the morning of the Qth the works of men were 

 quite overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, 

 and the ground covered twelve or fifteen inches without 

 any drifting. In the evening of the Qth the air began to be 

 so very sharp that we thought it would be curious to 

 attend to the motions of a thermometer ; we therefore 

 hung out two, one made by Martin and one by Dollond, 

 which soon began to show us what we were to expect ; 

 for by ten o'clock they fell to 21, and at eleven to 4, when 

 we went to bed. On the loth, in the morning, the quick- 

 silver of Dollond's glass was down to half a degree below 

 zero ; and that of Martiris, which was absurdly graduated 

 only to four degrees above zero, sunk quite into the brass 

 guard of the ball ; so that when the weather became most 

 interesting this was useless. On the loth, at eleven at 

 night, though the air was perfectly still, Dollond's glass 

 went down to one degree below zero \ This strange severity 

 of the weather made me very desirous to know what 

 degree of cold there might be in such an exalted and near 

 situation at Newton. We had therefore, on the morning 



