70 



MR ROBERT COCKBUEN MOSSMAN ON 



Month. 



Highest. 



Year. 



Lowest. 



Year. 



Range. 



January, .... 



43-8 



1796 



26-5 



1814 



17-3 



February, .... 



47-2 



1779 



29-8 



1838 



17-4 



March, ..... 



46-5 



j 1779 ) 

 1 1841 j 

 J 1792 1 

 } 1798/ 



34-2 



1785 



12-3 



April, 



49-8 



38-9 



1837 



10-9 



May, 



55-8 



1833 



45-1 



1810 



10-7 



June, ..... 



61-9 



1846 



51-5 



1860 



10-4 



July, 



65-2 



1779 



54-4 



1879 



10-8 



August, .... 



63-7 



1779 



52-6 



1830 



11-1 



September, .... 



59-5 



1846 



48-2 



1807 



11-3 



October, .... 



52-7 



1831 



42-0 



1817 



10-7 



November, .... 



46-7 



1818 



34-0 



1807 



12-7 



December, .... 



47-8 



1843 



31-0 



1878 



16-8 



Year, ..... 



49-6 



/ 1779 ) 

 t 1846 / 



43-8 



1879 



5-8 



The mean warmest month is July, 58°'6, and the coldest January, 36° - 8, the range 

 being 21° '8. 



In the years 1854 and 1857 the mean temperature was above the average in each 

 month, while it was below the average in each month in the years 1816 and 1879, both 

 of these years being most disastrous from an agricultural point of view. The longest 

 spell of cold was from April 1859 to January 1861, only one month in this period, viz., 

 May 1860 having a mean temperature in excess of the average. The coldest five year 

 period was from 1812 to 1816, and the warmest from 1777 to 1781, the excess or defect 

 of temperature being the same in each case, viz., 1 0, 2. 



Table XIII. shows the extremes in the mean and absolute daily temperature. The 

 table is incomplete from 1770 to 1821. For this period the values given are (1) the 

 extreme maximum and minimum temperatures observed by Hoy at Hawkhill from 1770 

 to 1776, the observations being made several times a day from 8 a.m. to midnight; (2) 

 the observations taken from 1785 to 1798 were " near the foot of Arthur's Seat" or 

 "near the Castle," the hours of observation being " before sunrise " and "at noon"; 

 (3) the lowest and highest mean daily temperature from 1795 to 1804 taken by Adie 

 at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and corrected to mean temperatures ; (4) the absolute minimum 

 temperatures from 1803 to 1821 given in the Edinburgh Advertiser register. From 

 1822 to 1896 the observations were taken first by Adie till 1850, and under the 

 auspices of the Scottish Meteorological Society from 1856 to 1896. The hiatus from 

 1851 to 1855 was made good from records kept by Adie & Son and the Royal 

 Engineers. During the last seventy-five years the highest mean temperature of any day 

 was 75°'5 on August 5, 1868, and the lowest 12 0, 4 on December 24, 1860, showing 

 an extreme range of 63° '1 between the mean temperatures deduced from the average of 

 the daily maximum and minimum readings. The earliest date of highest mean tempera- 

 ture was May 19 in the year 1888, and the latest date September 2 in the year 1824. 



