260 Abstract of a Meteorological Journal. 



appeared in the May number of Silliman'' s Journal. It con- 

 tains a table of the temperature ; the quantity of rain ; the 

 number of fair and cloudy days ; a barometrical record, and 

 the course of the prevailing winds. This is followed by six 

 or eight pages of interesting remarks relative to the weather, 

 the crops, &c. for the year. 



Comparing the temperature, as given by Dr. Hildreth, Avith 

 our own tables, recorded in our first and second volumes, it 

 'appears that the mean temperature of the climate in southern 

 Ohio, is about 10° above that of Massachusetts, in the vicinity 

 of Boston. The mean of Boston being 41° to 43°, while that 

 of Ohio is 52° 73'. The greatest fall of the thermometer in 

 Marietta, the last winter, was 2° below 0, in December, and 

 the highest temperature was 90° in June, July, and August. 



The year of 1845 was one which "will long be remem- 

 bered in the annals of Ohio," for the cold drying winds and 

 late frosts which attended the spring months and the exces- 

 sive drought of the summer. Owing to the warm weather of 

 February and March, vegetation commenced rapidly ; but in 

 April frosts set in, and on the 9th of that month the ther- 

 mometer fell as low as 15°. Consequently apples, pears, 

 peaches, plums and cherries, were an entire failure, and in 

 the immediate vicinity of Marietta even grapes, gooseberries 

 and strawberries, were nearly or quite destroyed. 



We quote the conclusion of Dr. Hildreth' s remarks upon 

 the year : — 



'" The mean temperature of the year 1845 was 52-73°, which is about the 

 average for a series of years. The Author of nature has so arranged the sea- 

 sons that the amount of heat in any one year does not materially differ from 

 that of another, although to a careless observer it may seem not to be so. 

 It is oftentimes distributed in a different manner ; one spring being warmer 

 than another, and one summer much cooler, thus causing an exceeding 

 great variety in the seasons, for all wise and beneficent purposes. Yet 

 amidst all this diversity, the wisdom of God is displayed in the exceeding 

 regularity and certainty of the laws which govern the temperature of the 

 year, not only in the same, but in different climates. ' Summer and winter, 

 seed-time and harvest,' we are assured, shall regularly return so long as 

 the earth continuelh. 



" The amount of rain and melted snow was 33-90 inches, being about 6 

 inches less than the mean annual average for this climate. Here also the 

 same beautiful laws which regulate the heat, govern the quantity of rain 

 which is needed to supply the necessities of plants and animals, being 



