TOL. XLV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 403 



the corn be not ready to cut in August, which often is the case, the snow some- 

 times prevents it, and buries the harvest all together. At Jacutsk the Professor 

 ordered a hole to be dug in the earth, in a high open place, on the 18th of 

 June, the mould was 1 1 inches deep, below that was sand about 2-i- feet; it then 

 began to feel hard, and in half a foot more it was frozen as hard as possible. In 

 a lower place, at no great distance from this, he ordered another hole to be dug: 

 the soil was 10 inches; soft sand 2 feet 4 inches; below this, all was congealed. 

 So that the earth is scarcely thawed, even in summer, above 4 feet deep. 



Our author inclines to the received opinion, that the eastern climates under the 

 same latitude are colder than the western; and thinks this is confirmed by expe- 

 riments made in different parts of Siberia. The mercury in De Lisle's thermo- 

 meter often sunk in winter in very southern parts of this country, as near Selinga, 

 to near 226, which is equal to 55-i- below in Fahrenheit's thermometer. But 

 the cold is often much more intense than this, as appears by the following expe- 

 riments, made at Kirenginski. 



Feb. 10, 1738, at 8 in the morning, the mercury stood at 240 degrees in De 

 Lisle; which is 72 below O in Fahrenheit's. On the 20th it sunk one degree. 



At the same place in 1736, Dec. 11, at 3 in the afternoon, 254 in De Lisle. 

 Almost QO below in Fahrenheit. 



Dec. 20, 4 o'clock p. m. 263 in De Lisle, or 99tVo^ below O in Fahrenheit. 



Nov. 27 12 at noon , . 270d = 107-,Vo^f below O. 



Jan. g. 275 = 1 13-rV-F. 



Jan. 5(1735).... 5 in the morning 260. 



. , ... 6 280 = 120. 



8 250 and rose by degrees till 1 1 



at night, when it stood at 252. 



Such an excess of cold could scarcely have been supposed to exist, had not 

 experiments, made with the greatest exactness, demonstrated its reality. During 

 this extreme frt)st at Jenisea, the magpies and sparrows dropped down as they 

 flew, and to all appearance dead; though they mostly recovered when brought 

 into a warm room. This was quite new to the inhabitants of that country; 

 though it frequently happens in Germany in much less intense cold, when the 

 weather sets in at once very severe. The air, says the author, was at that time 

 extremely unpleasant; it seemed as if itself was frozen, being dark and hazy; 

 and it was scarcely possible even to bear the cold in the door way for 3 or 4 

 minutes. . 



But the utmost limits of cold are yet unknown ; or to what degree an animal 

 can subsist in it when gradually inured to it. The history of heat is alike im- 

 perfect. Boerhaave thought, that a man could not bear, without the utmost 

 danger, a greater heat than that which would raise the mercury to 90 in Fah- 



