5° 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Ofttimes during February there are a few mild 

 days when the soft breeze and welcome sun give a 

 pleasant foretaste of spring, causing the leaf-buds 

 of the garden shrubs to swell almost to bursting, 

 and throwing the whole bird-world into fluttering 

 excitement. This year, however, we had no such 

 delusive interval ; though there was much sunshine, 

 the keen air and ice - bound earth never let us 

 forget that we were still in a winter month. In 

 many parts of the country the mean temperature 

 for the twenty-eight days did not exceed thirty 

 degrees, whilst even in London on only six nights 

 was there an absence of frost. The soil at Berk- 



was: Paris, 0-05 inch (1*25 inches less than mean 

 for month) ; London, o - i6 inch (i - 57 inches less); 

 Leith, 036 (i - o9 inches less); Parsonstown, 060 

 (1 60 inches less). When it is borne in mind that 

 on an average about twenty-four inches of rain 

 fall in London annually, it is evident that if we 

 are to attain our usual record, we must look for a 

 much higher proportion during the ensuing months. 



Exceptional amounts of sunshine were recorded 

 at many of the meteorological stations ; the duration 

 in London on February 16th was about six hours, 

 that result being obtained by taking the average of 

 the registers of three instruments, one being at 

 Kew, another at Westminster, and a third at 

 Bunhill Row, Finsbury. As much as nine hours' 

 sunshine was experienced at Scilly during one day, 

 but for the total amount of sunshine Jersey heads 

 the list with a record more than treble that of 

 London. 



The subjoined list gives some of the most 

 interesting of the sunshine comparisons, the means 

 for every week being computed from the observa- 

 tions taken during the ten years, 1881 to 1890. The 



Aurora Display of 13th March, 1895, IN North of England. 



hampstead was frozen to a depth of twenty inches, 

 and the share that frost takes in aiding the ceaseless 

 work of sub-aerial denudation was strikingly shown 

 by the frequent fall of portions of the cliff between 

 St. Margaret's and Dover. 



For a considerable portion of the month, an anti- 

 cyclone spread over our islands and North Europe 

 generally, its centre for several days being over 

 Ireland, and it was to its continuance that the 

 prolonged cold was due, it causing a comparative 

 absence of cloud, which, under cyclonic conditions, 

 would have been present, and kept the earth warm 

 by checking its radiation. It is remarkable that 

 when the thaw did set in, it was not accompanied 

 in England either by cyclonic systems, southerly 

 wind or rain. 



In spite of the oft-quoted phrase " February fill 

 dyke," which Leader's beautiful picture has firmly 

 impressed on the popular mind, February is, in 

 fact, one of the most dry months, and this year was 

 exceptionally so, the rainfall not having been so 

 slight since the February of 1891, when at some 

 stations the drought continued throughout the 

 month. The amount of rain actually experienced 



figures represent hours, an asterisk (*) indicates 

 " hours more than mean," and + " hours less than 

 mean. 



Week ending February 9th — Jersey, 41, *2i ; 

 Cirencester, 39, *24 ; Brighton, 31, (no mean 

 available); Oxford, 31, *i8 ; York, 22, *n; 

 London, 10, *i. 



Week ending February 16th — Durham, 39, *24 ; 

 York, 36, *23 ; Cirencester, 34, *i6 ; Jersey, 32, *io ; 

 Brighton, 26, (no mean available) ; Oxford, 20, *4 ; 

 London, 14, *4. 



Week ending February 23rd— Valencia, 40, *ig; 

 Jersey, 32, *y ; Dublin, 23, *a t \ Brighton, 15, (no 

 mean available) ; London, 3, +8. 



Week ending March 2nd — Scilly, 40, (no mean 

 available); Falmouth, 44, *ig ; Jersey, 39, *i2; 

 Glasgow, 35, *2o ; York, 33, *i6; Brighton, (no 

 mean available) ; London, 13, fi- 



A solar halo was observed at Oxford, and 

 lightning was reported from Holyhead, but no 

 aerial phenomena occurred at all worthy of being 

 compared with the brilliant display during the 

 memorable storm of January 23rd. 



March opened with a thaw, which for several 



