Fune 10, 1886 | 
NATURE 125 
greater part of the Midland Counties, and the north of 
Ireland, temperature was also below the average in 
December, whilst in the north-west of England and overa 
great part of the north of Scotland each of the six months 
was below the average. There was no part of the British 
Islands, except the Channel Islands, in which the tem- 
perature for each week, from the commencement of 
January until the third week in March, did not fall to the 
freezing-point or below, whilst in the south-west of Eng- 
land there was not a single exception after the first week 
in October, and in the east of Scotland, the north-east 
and north-west of England, the thermometer fell to 32° 
or below in each week from the commencement of 
November. The lowest shade-temperatures observed in 
the British Islands were: in January, — 2° at Braemar on 
the 19th, and 11 at Alston on the 20th; in February, 
2°°5 at Braemar and 71 at Alston on the 5th; in March, 
—2° at Alston and 1°°2 at Buxton on the 7th, and 2° at 
Braemar on the 12th. There were extremely few in- 
stances of the temperature falling below 5°; but tem- 
peratures below 10° were observed in January and March 
over the greater part of Great Britain. 
From the commencement of January to the middle of 
March there was almost continuous frost, and during this 
period it froze for upwards of 60 nights at many places 
in the British Islands. At Great Berkhamsted the mini- 
mum temperature registered 32° or below in January 
22 days, February 23 days, March 18 days, making a 
total of 63 days between January 3 and March 18 ; whilst 
on the grass it froze for 73 consecutive nights, from Janu- 
ary 5 to March 18. At Cheadle in Staffordshire, Church- 
stoke in Montgomery, Llandovery in Carmarthen, and 
Great Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, it froze for 33 
consecutive nights, from February 14 to March 18, 
whilst at very many stations the frost continued 30 days 
or more. In Great Britain the longest period of frost 
occurred between the middle of February and the middle 
of March, but in Ireland it occurred generally in January. 
At Greenwich it froze on 28 consecutive days from Feb- 
ruary 19 to March 18; the observations from 1845 do 
not show another instance of frost continuing for so long 
a period without interruption. The only instances of 20 
or more consecutive days are :— 
24 days in 1858, from February 17 to March 12. 
22 days in 1879, from November 20 to December II. 
21 days in 1855, from January 1:4 to February 3. 
21 days in 1878, from December 6 to December 26. 
For the three months from January to March there are 
but few years since 1845 that have a period of continuous 
frost of one-half the length of that in 1886. The years 
with fifteen days or more are respectively :— 
1886 (28), 1858 (24), 1855 (21), 1861 (19), 1881 (16). 
Taking the actual days with frost at Greenwich, irre- 
spective of continuity, there was frost on 53 days in the 
present year (1886) from January to March. In 1855 the 
number of frosts in the corresponding period was 58, but 
the only other instance of more than 50 days was in 1858, 
when the number was 53. 
Probably the most interesting feature in connection 
with the past winter was the excessively cold weather 
experienced over the whole country at the commencement 
of March. The Greenwich observations from 1814 only 
show two instances of a similarly low temperature—these 
were in 1814 and 1845. The unusual frequency with 
which snow fell was also a matter of interest, and the 
heavy drifts occasioned serious blocks on many of the 
northern railways. 
The records of the London Skating Club show that 
there was skating on the Club water in Regent’s Park 
on 38 days during the winter, and 1885-86 was the only 
winter in which there was skating in each of the four 
months from December to March since the formation of 
the Club in 1830, and the only March records of skating 
in the 56 years are 16 days in 1886, 12 days in 1844, 10 
days in 1858, and 1 day in 1853. Ona pond at Pinner 
there was almost continuous skating for 3 months, and 
and at Rickmansworth for about 70 days, but at both 
places the ice was most carefully nursed. On January 7 
there was safe skating on snow-ice after one night’s frost. 
The temperature of the water in the Thames at Dept- 
ford was, on the mean, slightly in excess of the air. From 
January 8 to March 20 the entire range was from 40° to 
34°; and from March 1 to 19 the maximum temperature 
was 36°75 and the minimum 35°, showing a total range of 
m5: 
The recent temperatures observed at several stations 
over England show that at 1 foot below the surface the 
greatest cold for the winter was reached during the first 
17 days of March. The mean was generally about 2° in 
excess of the mean air temperature. In January the 
earth temperature at 1 foot was from 2° to 3° below the 
average over the whole country, whilst in February it was 
from 4°°5 to 6°°5 below the average ; the first 17 days of 
March, however, show a much larger defect on the 
average, the deficieney ranging from 6°°3 at Lowestoft to 
8°*5 at Norwood. The temperature of the soil at 2 feet 
was generally about 2° in excess of that at 1 foot. 
The logs of ships traversing the North Atlantic show 
that the abnormal conditions which prevailed over the 
British Islands and indeed over nearly the whole of 
Europe extended also a considerable distance to the 
westward. They show a decided tendency to a low baro- 
meter, during the early months of 1886, in the locality 
where a high barometer generally prevails, and to the 
north of this low barometer strong and persistent easterly 
winds were experienced. These facts tend to show a 
general reversal of conditions over the Atlantic which 
would doubtless be very intimately related to our own 
exceptional weather. 
THE ASTRONOMICAL DAY 
aRHE recently published report of the Science and Art 
Department contains some most important informa- 
tion showing what the recent Government action has been 
in relation to the resolutions passed at the Washington 
Conference. 
The first letter that we need refer to is one from 
the Astronomer-Royal, in April last year, suggesting 
that reference should be made to various scientific 
Societies, in order to obtain an authoritative expression of 
opinion from the scientific men in this country interested 
in the question. This was followed by a meeting of the 
committee appointed to advise the Science and Art 
Department on the matter. The following resolution was 
adopted by the committee, which consisted of Prof. Adams, 
the Astronomer-Royal, General Strachey, Captain Sir 
Frederick Evans (since deceased), Captain Wharton 
(the Hydrographer), and Colonel Donnelly :—‘ The com- 
mittee recommend that the report of the British Dele- 
gates to the Washington International Prime Meridian 
Conference, with the resolutions adopted by that body, 
be communicated to certain Departments of State, 
learned Societies, telegraph companies, &c., and that they 
be informed that the resolutions appear to be such as 
commend themselves for adoption ; but before informing 
the American Government to that effect they would be 
glad to receive their opinions on the subject.” : 
The Science and Art Department then addressed a 
letter to various public offices, scientific bodies, and 
telegraph companies. Their replies may be thus con 
densed. 
The Eastern Telegraph Company, and the Eastern 
Extension, Australian, and China Company, state that 
they have always adopted the twenty-four-hour system 
in timing their messages, thus avoiding the necessity of 
signalling the letters a.m. and p.m. 
