METEOEOLOGT. 



87 



the average, as for their small measurement of rain ; but there is a marked 

 difference between the two months in the proportion borne by the humidity 

 of each to the average of the series of years, as shown in the first four 

 columns of the table — the dryness of the atmosphere being most unusual in 

 June ; whilst in September, although little or no rain fell, the air was only 

 to a very trifling extent less charged with moisture than in ordinary years. 

 To this very important distinction between rainfall and humidity we invited 

 attention in our summary for last year. 



An interesting and instructive view of the climate of Cornwall, during 

 the past year, in regard to temperature, may be obtained from a comparison 

 of Scilly, an almost oceanic site, specially influenced by a warm sea ; — Hel- 

 ston, so situated as to partake largely of the alternating land winds and 

 genial currents from Mount's Bay ; — ^Truro, a place equidistant from the 

 north and south coasts, and a fair sample of the interior of the county, where 

 the land is not much elevated ; — and Bodmin, a spot sufficiently sheltered 

 itself, but distinctly promontane, and liable to partake in that extreme qual- 

 ity which belongs to high tracts in regard to heat and cold, as well as rain 

 and snow. Such a comparison is presented in the followuig Table ; and a 

 few notes from observations made at Penzance, a locality presenting strongly 

 the general characteristics of a soft marine air, but not uninfluenced by the 

 adjacent high hills, and at Altarnun, in the centre of elevated moorland, will 

 nearly complete a picture, which includes, on a small scale, most of the ele- 

 ments by whose conflict or accord the peculiar climate of all places and 

 countries is made up. 



