YOL. LXXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 381 



is 2 miles from Kingston, with a very gentle ascent. Near Rock-Fort is a spring, 

 immediately at the foot of the long mountain, which throws out a great body of 

 water ; the heat of it is 79°. All the places mentioned are but very little above 

 the level of the sea, probably not more than the depth of the wells at the respec- 

 tive places ; for near Kingston there are springs that appear just below the water- 

 mark of the sea, and those that supply the wells are probably on the same 

 level. 



The temperature of the air at Kingston admits but of small variation. The 

 thermometer, at the hottest time of the day, and during the hottest season of 

 the year, ranges from 85° to 90° ; in the coolest season, and observed about sun- 

 rise, which is the coldest time in the 24 hours, it ranges from 70^^ to T]^. I have 

 seen it once as low as 69°, and 2 different times as high as 91°. The annual 

 mean temperature cannot therefore either much exceed, or fall much short of, 

 80°, as indicated by the wells. 



The following springs were examined with much accuracy by the Hon. Mr, 

 Sewell, Attorney-General of the island. Ayscough's spring, on the road 

 from Spanish Town to Pusey's, in St. John's parish, 75°. Pusey's spring, still 

 higher in the mountains, 724^°. A spring near the barracks at Points Hill in 

 St. John's parish, 70°. The thermometer in the shade at Pusey's, during part 

 of the month of June, was found to range from 694-° to 794-°. It was observed 

 both late at night, and early in the morning before sun-rise. The spring in 

 Brailsford Valley, about 10 miles above Spanish Town, is 75°. The spring at 

 Stoney Hill is 71°. These were examined by Mr. Home. 



Mr. Wallen's house, at Cold Sprin-g, stands the highest of any in the island. 

 By a measurement, said to have been made by Mr. M'Farlane, it is reported to 

 be 1400 yards above the level of the sea. On the road to it, and about a mile 

 below Mr. Wallen's house, there is a spring that issues from the side of the hill, 

 of the temperature of 65°. Cold Spring, which gives a name to the place, is 

 about 50 feet below the house, and the heat of it is 614.°. The thermometer in 

 the shade at Mr. Wallen's house, for some days in the month of April, ranged 

 from 57° to 67°. It may be remarked, that the higher the springs the colder 

 they are ; and, as far as a conjecture can be formed from so few observations, 

 they would appear not to difter much from the mean temperature of their re- 

 spective places. 



It will not be out of place to add some observations made in England, relative 

 to the same subject. The wells in and about London are either of no great 

 depth, or are full of water, which are both considerable objections to their giving 

 a mean temperature. The want of depth will make them subject to the varia- 

 tions of the seasons ; and a large quantity of water, even in a deep well, will 



