BY THE KEY. R. F. WHEELER, M.A. 235 



December. — 



" He who sows his land trusts in God." 



— Spanish Proverb. 



Greenwich. — The mean temperature of December was 46-0°, 

 being 6*9° higher than the average of ninety-seven years, and 

 higher than any corresponding temperature in the period 1771 

 to 1867, with the sole exceptions of 1806 and 1852, when 46-8° 

 and 47'6° were respectively recorded. 



The rainfall in December (5|- inches) was the greatest in quan- 

 tity ever recorded for that month at the Royal Observatory. 

 The mean daily readings of the barometer during December 

 were with one exception below the average, on two occasions 

 being over an inch in defect. On the 24th the reading recorded 

 was 28-53, being the absolute minimum in 1868, and the mean 

 value for this day was as much as 1*22 in defect of the average. 

 The mean reading for the month was 29"38 inches ; the average 

 for December is 29*83 inches. The mean reading for December, 

 1868, were therefore 0*45 inches below the average. The range 

 was 1*64 inches. 



The lowest mean reading in any month, back to 1841, was 

 29*40 inches in January, 1865. The other instances of mean 

 readings below 29'50 inches were 29*44 inches in October, 1841 

 and 1865 ; 29*47 inches in November, 1862, and January, 1856; 

 and 28*49 inches in December, 1860. 



Violent gales were experienced on the 27th and 28th, and 

 pressures of thirty to the square foot were recorded. 



Horsley, near Wylam. — On the 27th the barometer stood at 

 28*12 in the morning, and fell to 27*98 during the day, the low- 

 est reading observed for seven years. 



Wylam. — December was an exceedingly changeable month, 

 one day very fine, the next very coarse, and the next fine again. 

 A great deal of wind. The barometer only on one day (the 

 19th) rose above 29*97, the mean height at the sea-level, and 

 was throughout the month in a most disturbed condition, its 

 general tendency being downward from the beginning to the 



