Meteorology of Whitehaven. 33 



33 hours. Mr Forbes of Culloden states, that the depression be- 

 tween 10 p.m. of the 26th and 9 a.m., on the 27th, was 0'923 inch. 

 At Culloden, the mercury, at 9 a.m., stood at 27*888 ; at 11 a.m., 

 27*872 (the minimum) ; and, at noon, at 27*879 ; so that the mer- 

 cury, in the north of Scotland, attained its lowest depression at least 

 two hours later than at Whitehaven. Between 3 p.m. of the 17th, 

 and the same hour on the 18th, the barometer at Whitehaven rose 

 from 28-880 to 30*142, or through the space of 1*262 inch. 



During the last two months, excessive and unprecedented floods 

 prevailed from time to time all over the kingdom, particularly in the 

 neighbourhood of London, at Gloucester, Lincoln, Nottingham, North 

 Shields, Newcastle, Carlisle, and Cockermouth ; and, in North Wales, 

 they were also of a very destructive character. In the Southern and 

 Midland Counties, the great weight of water fell in November, and, 

 in the Northern Counties, in December. The floods visited the Lake 

 District last of all ; they were at their height from the 12th to the 

 17th ; but the whole country was deluged with water till the close 

 of the year. At several stations, the depth of rain in December ex- 

 ceeded 31 and 32 perpendicular inches, equalling the average for all 

 England for twelve months. The greatest fall (34-60 inches) took 

 place on the " Stye," in Borrowdale, 948 feet above the sea level, 

 or 580 feet above the hamlet of Seathwaite and about a mile 

 distant from it. 



The mean difference between the temperature of the air and 

 that of the dew-point is only 2 0- 86. Lightning was seen on five 

 days or nights during the month, on two occasions accompanied by 

 loud thunder ; and the new year was ushered in by a storm of thun- 

 der, lightning, and hail, which continued three-quarters of an hour. 

 Numerous shooting stars and caudated meteors were noticed during 

 the rare and transient intervals of clear sky. 



Last Quarter. — The mean temperature of the quarter ending De- 

 cember 31st, is 1°-19 above its average value, and the fall of rain is 

 very much greater than is due to the season. The deaths in the 

 town and suburb were 131, or four under the average number for 

 the autumn quarter. Febrile diseases, the ordinary concomitants of 

 an unnaturally high temperature conjoined with excessive humidity, 

 were very prevalent towards the close of the year ; and scarlet fever 

 was very fatal amongst young children. 



By the Registrar-Generai's report for this quarter, it appears, 

 " that the rate of mortality in the last quarter of 1852, throughout 

 England, is 2-197 per cent., which is higher than the average rate, 

 or than the mortality in the corresponding quarters of 1842-45, in 

 1848, in 1850-51, but much lower than 2-545 and 2-389, the 

 rates of mortality in 1846-47. It is found that the mortality in 

 the town districts was, during the quarter, at the rate of 2*514 per 



VOL. LV. NO. CIX. — JULY 1853. C 



