158 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ture. In an examination of the barometric range in European Russia 

 and Siberia, some time ago, I have stated that not only does the pres- 

 sure of the air rise in winter as we advance from the western coast of 

 Europe into the interior of the continent, but the barometric minima 

 rise even more ; so that, for example, in Nertschinsk, in Eastern 

 Siberia, the mean of the barometric minima of January, reduced to the 

 sea-level, is 30*23 inches, and the lowest pressure happening in seven- 

 teen years in this month was equal to 29'93. If we consider that at this 

 place the temperature never rises above 14° F. in January, the effect 

 of cold and small quantity of vapour in the air in arresting the progress 

 of storms in winter will be clearly seen. In European Russia the 

 barometric minima are lower in winter than in the other seasons. 

 This shows that the storms of the Atlantic take their course over 

 our country. Speaking generally, the path of storms is from N.W.. 

 to S.E. in winter, because they cannot advance in an eastward di- 

 rection as they began, being arrested by the cold. The colder the 

 temperature is, the sooner the storms must turn to the southward ; 

 and this will be much more the case in January than in November 

 and March, when the storms of Europe sometimes advance into the 

 interior of Siberia. 



Another feature of the snow is that of arresting the progress of 

 temperature above the freezing-point so long as it lies. In rising 

 above, the heat is employed in melting the snow ; or, in the language 

 of the mechanical theory of heat, it is transformed into work. We 

 have some striking facts of this kind in Russia. For example, Bar- 

 naul, in Western Siberia, has a winter temperature lower than St. 

 Petersburg by nearly 1 8° F. Yet the thermometer sometimes rises as 

 high as in this last place in winter, because Barnaul has the Kirghi- 

 steppes to the south-west. As they are seldom covered with snow, 

 warm winds can pass across them and without losing their heat, 

 while before arriving at St. Petersburg they must lose much of their 

 heat in melting the snow over an extensive tract. The result is that 

 seldom a winter month passes without temperatures above freezing- 

 point ; but in January and February the thermometer does not rise 

 above 39°, while at Barnaul a temperature of 42° may occur at that 

 time (for example, on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of February 1855). 



I have mentioned already the effect of the snow in checking the 

 rise of temperature, and employing more abundant heat in melting. 

 This is most felt in spring, and lowers much the temperature of this 

 time of the year— as, for example, while in Central Europe, at some 

 distance from the sea, April has nearly the same temperature as October 

 in the same latitude, in Russia the warmth of the sun's rays cannot 

 raise the temperature of the air so much, and April is generally 4° F. 

 colder than October, while May has the same temperature as Sep- 

 tember. As soon as the snow is melted our climate assumes its 

 true continental character. In more northern parts of Russia it is 

 May which stays behind September — as, for example, at Archangel, 

 Berezoe, and even Yakutsk in one of the most continental cli- 

 mates of our planet : in this last place May is more than 3° colder 

 than September, while March is 13|° warmer than November. 



