302 METEOROLOGY. 
' November had its old characteristics, chilliness and gloom without severe 
cold; indeed the last fortnight was mild, and the mean monthly temperature 
was about 1 degree in excess. The rainfall was about the average generally ; 
at Bodmin it exceeded it by about 1:44 inch, chiefly owing to the heavy fall 
of 1:60 inch on the 5th, which was local. 
December was ‘“‘vemarkable for its excessive mildness, the absence of 
high winds, and especially for its very small rainfall.” This is Capt. 
Liddell’s summary for Bodmin, and it may be applied generally. The mean 
temperature was about 23 degrees above the average for the month. There 
was fine frosty weather from the 9th to 13th; the minimum (9th) being 25°. 
This was, as Mr. Tripp remarks, ‘‘a pleasing contrast to the fog which 
enveloped the eastern and northern counties at that time.” Mr, Glaisher 
observes that the 9th, 10th, and 11th, when the cold was very severe, ‘‘ were 
distinguished in London by a most remarkable continuance of very dense fog. 
The fog of the 9th was darker in colour and more dense than I have ever 
known a fog or cloud to be before.” The rainfall at Truro, (1-23 in.) was 
little more than a quarter of the average amount, and was the least recorded 
here for December during the last thirty years. The results at the other 
stations were similar. As regards the Greenwich Observatory, Mr. Glaisher 
states that ‘till the middle of the month there was no rain, and only a few 
showers fell subsequently, the total fall being only 0°3 inch, and less than in 
any December back to 1829, when it was 0°1 inch; this is the only instance 
back to 1815 of a smaller fall than in the present December. The fall of 
rain over the whole country in these three months was but little more than 
one half of the fall in the same months in the year 1872.” 
Mr. Tripp has sent me the results of observations, similar to those at 
Altarnun, made at Trent College, Derbyshire, at 150 feet above the sea. 
The total rainfall in 1873 was only 20°82 inches, that in February being 
°80 inch when it was 5:32 inches at Truro. Cold was a good deal more severe, 
of course. 
Iam indebted to Rev. G. L. Woollcombe for a table of the rainfall at 
Hemerdon, above Plympton, at 360 feet above the sea. It agrees generally 
with that for Bodmin. The total for 1873 was 49-90 inches. : 
The observations on surface temperature, partially illustrated by annexed 
diagrams, have been continued by Mr. R. W. Fox, Mr. Moyle, Mr. Whitley, 
and myself, and some light will be thrown on the effects of shelter. 
C. BARHAM. 
