BY GEORGE CLAYTON ATKINSON, ESQ. 119 



November, with exceeding disturbance of tbe barometer, bad 

 some violent storms ; in one of which, on the 24th, the " Stanley" 

 steamer was wrecked on the Black Middens, and thirty-nine lives 

 were lost ; but as in October, the violent falls in the barometer 

 were not attended by corresponding disturbance of the air in this 

 neighbourhood. 



In December the barometer again steadied, and though the 

 weather was sometimes rather windy, the month was on the 

 whole fine. 



Of the barometer, I give the mean of the of the 9 a.m., 3 p.m., 

 and 9 p.m. daily observations (excluding Sundays) at the Literary 

 and Philosophical Society. It will be observed that the mean 

 monthly height for April, May, June, July, and August, is above 

 the average height for the whole year, as might be supposed from 

 the rainless summer we had. 



The returns of temperature which have been sent in are even 

 more meagre than last year ; which is exceedingly to be regretted. 

 The mean temperature for the year at Wylam, as will be seen by 

 the table, is 46'7 ; that of seven years under the same circum- 

 stances being 47'5 ; showing 1864 to have been -08° below the 

 average. There does not seem to be any remark called for as to 

 its distribution. The lowest point to which the thermometer fell 

 at Wylam, was 15° on January 4th and 7th; and the highest 

 was 81-5° on July 19th. 



I must not close these circumscribed observations on our local 

 temperature, without calling attention to a remarkable fact elabor- 

 ately worked out by Mr. Glaisher, from the records of the obser- 

 vations at Greenwich, of nearly a century ; and recorded by him 

 in the February Proceedings of the Meteorological Society; to 

 which, as an instance of the ingenious employment of a stupend- 

 ous collection of observations, and of scientific tact and courage 

 in grappling with them, I must refer my readers. 



The facts he deduces are, 



1. That our climate in the last 100 years has altered. 



2. That the temperature of the year is 2° warmer now than it 

 was 100 years since. 



8. That the month of January is 3° warmer. 



