No 199.] 303 f 



boikr took plac€, the temperature at New- York vrais 16^ ahoxK zero, 

 at Saratoga 6** below, and at Somerville 23*^ below. At 9 o'clock 

 that morning the iron rails of the Saratoga railroad were ^ warmer 

 than the atmospheric air three feet above the ground. 



I have thus briefly stated some few facts in reference to a very 

 important discovery in the meteorological field of my research. My 

 observations on temperature are made hourly on four setts of instru- 

 ments, from 4 A. M., to 10 P. M., and during extraordinary states of 

 the atmosphere, throughout the entire 24 hours. These observations 

 are more extensive and more minute than are shown by any records 

 of the kind heretofore made, and they have been extended to distant 

 and different points, and made simultaneously at each. The cycles 

 are computed from the hour at which the temperature falls to the 

 freezing point of Fahrenheit, to the hour on which it rises above that 

 point. 



Equilibriations are computed on the hour records during the period 

 in which the temperature of the air remains unchanged for several 

 consecutive hours. This system of keeping meterorological records 

 shows when changes take place in temperature, and the extent of the 

 change. 



I have in this system of observation connected my records with 

 accounts of the phenomena of nature, as developed in the occurrence 

 of earthquakes, lightning, thunder, hail, snow, rain and wind, showers 

 j5f meteors, and Aurora BoreaHs, and in these investigations I have 

 become convinced that the sudden changes of temperature of our 

 atmosphere are produced by the earth, and that it regulates its own 

 atmosphere. 



I had hoped to have made this communication more full, but the 

 opportunity of leisure does not now serve me in this, and I am qf 

 necesaty compelled to close without completing it. 



Yours very respectfully, 



EBEN MERIAM. 

 Brooklyn Heights^ Feb. 16, 1850. 



