540 THE PAEKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XXXII. 



salubrity, dryness, and heat, the climate of that city is incompar- 

 ably, superior to that of London. The idea has no doubt arisen 

 from the fact that. most visitors to the French capital choose either 

 summer or autumn for their trip. At these periods even our own 

 smoky metropolis is at its best ; but the Londoner who for the 

 first time finds himself walking down the boulevards or the Eue 

 Eoyale upon a lovely June or August afternoon, sees the Paris 

 climate in its fullest perfection. The air is free from smoke, the 

 buildings and houses are either dazzlingly white or of a delicate 

 cream colour, and even the mud itself is of a clearer and brighter 

 hue than the greasy, metallic-looking paste with which we are so 

 familiar her^. Let him, however, choose November or December 

 for his excursion, and he will soon discover that Paris can be as 

 cold and cloudy, and even as foggy, as our own city. A few 

 figures from various unimpeachable sources, both French and 

 English, will perhaps do something to dispel the prevailing notion 

 of the great superiority of the climate of Paris over that of 

 London. 



The climate of Paris may be taken as being typical of that of 

 the whole of the north-west of France, its changeableness, how- 

 ever, being somewhat less than that of the districts bordering on 

 the sea. In general characteristics it may be said to stand mid- 

 way between the climates of the north-eastern portions of the 

 country and the channel-shores. It is less cold in winter than the 

 former, being warmed by the breezes from the Atlantic Ocean, but 

 is colder than the south and west. In summer it is more temperate 

 than the south and east, but hotter than the extreme west. The 

 mean temperature of Paris, taken from a series of official and 

 private observations running over thirty-six years, may be taken 

 at 51-55° F. The lowest temperature observed during fifty-two 

 years was 2° below zero F. ; the highest during the same time 

 was within a fraction of 99° F. 



These figures deserve a little consideration. For a similar 

 period the averages of the observations taken in London by the 

 officers of the Eoyal Society are 6.S follows: Mean temperature 

 50-50° F. ; highest temperature, 97° F. ; the lowest, 5° below zero 

 F. The mean temperature of Paris is therefore one-twentieth of 

 a degree over 1° F. higher than our own, while the highest 

 temperature only exceeds ours by something less than 2° F. 



