Miscellanies. 183 
among other remarkable occurrences, that the weather had been two 
or three degrees colder than had been known for thirty years prece- 
ding. The degrees in extreme cold by the thermometer, were as fol- 
lows :— 
Dec. 31, 1766, extreme cold, deg. 16 
Jan. 1, 1767, af $ 25 
2: 66 ce (+4 261 
3, (<9 (43 (15 18 
5, there fell a very heavy and warm rain. 
We take it for granted that the extreme cold here intended, is be- 
low 0; otherwise the phrase could have noreasonable meaning. The 
coincidence in time of the year and in intensity with the late severe 
cold, and the occurrence of a deluge of warm rain immediately after 
it, are very remarkable. 
It was the same season in which died the eminent President Clap, 
the author of a theory of meteors. 
At Philadelphia, Jan. 1, 1767, the mercury in the thermometer 
was 1!° below 0; on the 2nd, 24°; onthe 5th, 48'° above. Va- 
rious statements have been made in the papers, that the mercury had 
frozen in different places in the late cold, as at Bangor, Montpelier, 
Newport, Me. &c., but we have seen no statement sufficiently pre- 
cise and authenticated, to command full belief, although we must pre- 
sume that the mercury did congeal in some places. 
We should be glad to receive more correct information on the sub- 
ject. It might be difficult to be quite sure of the fact, without 
breaking the bulb, although it is remarked in the Dartmouth record, 
that the freezing of mercury may be known “by its having a leaden 
color, and a crystalline appearance.” 
2 Notice of extraordinary seasons of cold. 
To the Editors of the Connecticut Journal. 
Gentlemen,—If you think the followmg relation of facts selected 
from my History of Diseases, or supplied by my own knowledge, to 
be of any value, it is at your service. N. Wester. 
Winters of uncommon severity.—Anno Rome, 356. The win- 
ter was uncommonly cold ; the streets in Rome were obstructed with 
snow, and the Tiber was covered with ice, so as to be rendered in- 
navigable.—Liv. lib. 5. 13. 
Another instance is mentioned, in a subsequent period, when the 
snow lay in Rome forty days. 
