THE WEST-AMERICAN SCIENTIST. 
23 
Meteorological Data compiled from 13 years observations at San Diego, Cal. 
including the year 1884, 
RELATIVE 
TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY RAINFALL 
SEASONS | AVERAGE | MAXIMUM { MINIMUM | jontHs | AVERAGE Av'rse| Total 
FOK OF EACH | OF EACH FOR. -lofeach| for 
M'nths|Seas‘n. Mnths Seas’n. Mnths!Seas’n. M’nths Beas'n.| Month/Seas’n. 
Dons 99.0 38.0 Marchi... -.< 75.5 oe 
Spring..... 57.7] 58.1] 87.0)*99.0| 39.0] 38.0/April....... 73.0) 74.0) 0.84! 2.63 
61.0 94.0 45.4 CS eee 73.6 0.41 
64.4 94.0 51 30 aes ccs - 74.2 0.07 
Summer, ...|: 67.1} 66.7) 86.0) 94.0) 54.0) 51.0)July........ 76.6} 76.0) 0.02) 0.37 
68.7 91.5 54.0 August ..... Vi ire 0.28 
66.8 101.0 49.5 September ..| 76.3) | 0.04 
Autumn. 62.9) 62.7) 92.0)101.0) 44.0) 38.0)October..... 72.0) 71.8] 0.49) 1.14 
58.3 85.0 38.0 November...| 67.1 0.61 
Doel 82.0 32.0 December. ..| 69.2 2.4] 
Winter ....| 53.7) 54.4) 78.0) 82.6) 32.0) 32.0|January..... 70.6) 71.3) 1.81} 6.83 
int 54.3 | $2.6 35.0 February ...| 74.1 2.61 
Annual ae, | HIGHEST LOWEST es i. 
Average. cide loll *101.0 32.0 as sue 
The Average Relative Humidity between sunrise and sunset is about 9 per 
cent. lower than recorded in above table. Prevailing direction of wind is West. 
CASTOR OIL PLANT. 
The castor oil plant of com- 
merce is obtained from the nuts 
of Ricinus communis, a euphor- 
biaceous plant supposed to bea 
native of Barbary but now widely 
naturalized in Africa, the sonth of 
Europe and America. The oil is 
a mild purgative, but the entire 
plant possesses active properties. 
The ancients administered the 
seeds entire but their variable ac- 
tion, producing sometimes fatal 
effects, led to their disuse. 
Castor oil is much used in ori- 
ental countries and the south of 
Europe for burning, as well asa 
medicine, and its manufacture is 
actively carried on at St. Louis the 
beans being produced in southern 
Illinois. The method of extracting 
the oil is simple the product equals 
about one-third of the seeds em- 
ployed, and when of a good qual- 
ity is a thickish fluid of a very pale 
yellow color. 
The castor plant is naturalized 
_to a considerable extent in the vi- 
einity of San Diego, where it 
‘forms a fair sized shrub equal to 
,any of the indigenous plants and 
its cultivation in the future may 
furnish another profitable indus- 
try for southern California. 
——_@—__—_ 
*An unusual degree of temper- 
ature continuing less than two 
hours, and due, no doubt, to for- 
est fires, which were raging at the 
time in the vicinity of San Diego. 
