208 



REMARKABLE WEATHER IN ENGLAND. 



[1854. 



renco with those pursuits which are essential to our welfare, and 

 which are manifestly designed to exorcise our industry and skill. In 

 respect to all the inferior animals we may accept of the decision of 

 the poet : 



If man's convenience, 

 Or health or safety interfere, his rights 

 Arc paramount and must extinguish theirs. 

 Else they are all, the meanest things that ore, 

 As free to live ami to enjoy that life 

 As God was free to form them at the first, 

 "Who in Ilis sovereign wisdom, made them all. 



Let me conclude with one word as to the pleasure to be derived 

 from the study of Natural History in connection with a country life. 

 AVhat pursuit can we name in which the charms of beauty, variety, 

 and the exercise of various mental faculties are so united ? What can 

 we imagine so well calculated to enliven our interests in the scenes of 

 nature, to make each changing season only a change in our pleasures, 

 and to connect the ordinary occupations, and even the sports of rural 

 life with observations and inquiries full of entertainment as well as 

 usefulness. 



In conclusion, as connected with the severity of the weather as fall- 

 ing "beneath his own observation, Mr. Glaisher remarked that trees 

 were sheathed over with ice for some days, till Jan. 4, when it began 

 to crack, and fall to the ground. Beneath a row of trees in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of his house it was literally strewn with large frag- 

 ments, each retaining the curvature of the branch it originally encased. 

 Animals, ordinarily exposed on Blackheath, suffered severely, and two 

 were observed frozen to death ; also birds, which had fallen dead from 

 the trees, Were picked up in the immediate neighbourhood. The 

 number of crystallised flakes mingled with the snow was another indi- 

 cation of the low temperature under which it had been formed. Mr. 

 Glaisher laid before the meeting a number of photographic copies of 

 several he had himself observed on January 1 of the present year. 



At the conclusion of the paper, J. C. Whitbread, Esq., rose and 

 commented upon the value of the paper, and the elaborate nature of 

 the work. A vote of thanks was moved to Mr. Glaisher, and unani- 

 mously carried. The meeting was numerously attended. 



The Late Remarkable Weather In England, 



At the last meeting of the British Meteorological Society, January 

 24, a paper was read, " On the Meteorology of the Past Quarter, in con- 

 nection with the Fall of Snow at the beginning of the Tear," by 

 James Glaisher, Esq., F. R. S. In commencement, Mr. Glaisher spoke 

 of the value of association as afforded by the society, to the members of 

 which he was chiefly indebted for the observations upon which his paper 

 was based. The different elements of investigation were treated singly, 

 that the bearing of each upon the other might be clearly shown. 

 "For," observed Mr. Glashier, "the correctness of the accepted 

 truism that in nature no phenomena is isolated was never better illus- 

 trated than at a time when the readings of the barometer and ther- 

 mometer, the dense fogs, the heavy snow, and the pertinacious east 

 wind formed a combination — one scarcely more abnormal in its 

 departure from the average than the rest." 



In October, between Jersey and lat. 51°, the mean temperature de- 

 clined 4° ; between lat. 51° and 53°, there was no difference. In 

 November, south of lat. 51° and north of lat. 53° it declined about 6° ; 

 but between these parallels to 9°, forming a band of cold the greatest 

 that was experienced, and Which held its ground during the long 

 period of two months. Eog was one of the most remarkable features 

 during the quarter. In November fogs frequently enveloped the 

 whole country at one time, and were of great density. They chiefly 

 occupied the band of cold between lat. 51° and 53° before mentioned. 



The first fall of snow took place in the neighbourhood of Chester, in 

 November. After Dec. 15, it fell at nearly every place ; but more 

 frequently between lat. 51° and 53° than elsewhere. On December 15 

 it was, in many places, as deep as six inches. On the following day, 

 the temperature as registered at Manchester, was as low as 6°,but the 

 maximum cold for the season took place on the night common to Dec. 

 28 and 29. This cold extended as far as our meteorological stations, 

 from Jersey to Arbroath, in the North of Scotland. The extreme 

 severity of Jan. 3rd was not at all felt south of the parallel of Uek- 

 field, in Sussex. About London and its vicinity the reading of the 

 thermometer fell early in the morning to 10°, 11°, 12° and 13°. It had 

 reached the low points at one o'clock in the morning, and did not rise 

 above them till eight o'clock. It was most severely felt in the Midland 

 Counties, where the reading was as low as zero. By Mr. Lowe it was 

 estimated at 4°, this is the lowest reading observed by any one — it was 

 lower, than any in the immediate neighbourhood. 



A number of original communications from various observers were 

 read by Mr. Glaisher, on the fall of snow on January 3, which was 

 generally distributed over the country, but lay deepest between the 

 parallels of latitude occupied by the fog and extreme cold. In parts 

 of Cornwall there was none or very little ; whilst at Holkham, on the 

 Norfolk coast it was 18 inches on the level. At Whitehaven there was 

 scarcely an inch; but at Liverpool, and other places in the same parallel 

 6, 10, and 14 inches fell. The north was, in parts comparatively 

 clear ; and in parts of Northumberland no snow at all fell on the day 

 of the great and general fall. There had been much snow previously, 

 and it then lay on the ground to the depth of several feet. The drifts 

 over England and Wales varied from 3 feet to 10, 12, and 15 feet. They 

 were very deep at Derby and at Grantham, and upon the Norfolk 

 coast. 



The Iron Trade* 



The number of iron furnaces in Scotland on Dec. 31, 1853, was in 

 blast, 114; out of blast, 29; total 143. The stock in hand at the 31st 



December, 1852, amounted to 450,000 tons. 



The production during 1852 was equal to 710.000 ,, 



Total 1,160,000 



The home demand in founderies and maleable works 



in 1853 was 300,000 tons. 



The exports 650,000 „ 



950,000 



Stock on hand at the close of December last 210,000 ., 



The reduction of stock is thus 240,000 tons on the transactions of the 

 year; and another season of similar business would entirely sweep it 

 away. The average price of pig iron during the year has been 61s., 

 and the value of the manufacture has therefore been £2,165,000. The 

 average price of bar iron has been 187s. ; and if the Scotch makers 

 had turned their pigs into that class of iron, the value would have been 

 £6,638,500. The average prices of bar and pig iron for the last nine 

 years are appended : — 



Bars. 



Pigs. 



1845 

 1846 

 1847 

 1848 

 1849 

 1850 

 1851 

 1852 

 1853 



190 80 



195 67 



165 65 



110 44 



117 45 



109 44 



107 40 



210 45 



187 61 



Bar iron does not invariably follow the rise or fall of pigs, and the great 

 fluctuations in price are more severely felt in the crude than in the 

 finished production. This fact should induce the Glasgow capitalists to 

 manufacture a greater quantity of bars and castings, and sell less of 

 their iron in the first step from ore. 



The iron produced in Great Britain is now equal to three millions of 

 tons. In pigs, as Scotch bring lower prices than Staffordshire or Welsh, 

 the total present value is not less than ten and a half millions sterling. 

 In its manufactured form into bars the value must be twenty-eight mil- 

 lions. The value of the metals produced at present within the island 

 is quite fifty millions — a larger sum than was ever formerly extracted 

 from any land in the metallic business. A calculation of the value, 

 with the additions in the cutlery, edge-tool, engineering, and hardware 

 trade, would bring up the aggregate to one hundred millions for 1853. 



