398 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



In the foregoing meteorological table, the months of June 

 and August 1791 have been unavoidably omitted. Many cu- 

 rious and interesting results may, notwithstanding, be drawn 

 from a comparison between the respe6live temperatures of the 

 air in that part of Peru, and Great Britain. At Lima, the 

 winter begins at the latter end of June ; iand consequently, 

 although the table may, on account of the above omission, 

 be in some measure defedtive, sufficient information may be 

 colle6led from it relative to the degrees of temperature in each 

 of the seasons. It appears, then, that the greatest heat at 

 Lima, during the continuance of the meteorological observa- 

 tions, made at noon, in the open air, and in the shade, was 

 84° ; and the lowest temperature of the atmosphere, 62° ; a 

 variation of 22° only, the lowest of which was 30° above the 

 freezing point. During the summer, the gentle breezes from 

 the south moderate the heat ; and the slight degree of cold felt 

 in the winter season, is owing to the constant fogs, 'which not 

 only intercept the rays of the sun, but, by affording a shelter to 

 the winds, enable them to retain the particles of cold they col- 

 le6l beneath the frozen zone. 



The meteorological journal for 1791, kept at the apart- 

 ments of the Royal Society, gives, as the result of the obser- 

 vations made at two in the afternoon of each day, withoutside, 

 80° as the highest temperature of the air in London ; and 

 31° as the lowest, at that particular hour. The extremes are 

 not, however, so distant and marked as they have been in 

 other years. For instance, on the following year, 1792, the 

 thermometer rose, in the summer, at two in the afternoon of a 

 particular day, to 84° ; and sunk in the winter, at the same 

 hour, to 26°, or 8° below the freezing point. In this case there 

 was a difference of 58° of temperature; while that difference in 

 Lima, as has been seen, did not exceed 22°. In the latter city, 



the 



