288 



Scientific Memoranda. 



Summary for October 1831. 



Therm. Barom. 



Proportion of clear weather days 23 



Proportion of cloudy, 8 



Whole days clear, 19 



Days on which rain fell, 8 

 Quantity of rain, inches 8 



Northerly winds prevailed, days 12 



Easterly, 6 



Southerly, (S..to W.) 13 



Average at sun-rise, 48°.81 in. 29.87 



Average at mid-day, 62°.43 29.84 



Average at 10 P. M, 51° 74 29.84 



Monthly average, 55°.65 29.855 



Maximum, 75°. 30.18 



Minimum, 36°. 29.39 



Range, 39°. .79 

 Warmest day (3rd,) 67°.50 

 Coldest day (28th,) 44°. 



An aurora, on the 29th, followed in two days by a transient easterlystorm, 

 and subsequently by northerly winds. Several heavy rains this month ; six 

 inches fell on the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Temperature moderate and season- 

 able ; the middle portion of the month delightful. Winds tolerably constant ; 

 during the first week, and also in the last week, stormy. A few electric 

 clouds in the first week. One slight easterly storm, following the aurora ; 

 also a violent storm from north, with heavy rain, of 36 hours duration, on the 

 9th, and 10th. Several partial frosts, and one pretty general one, with ice 

 in places, on the 29th ; but the tomato (Solanum Lycopersicon) and other 

 garden vegetables which are considered sensitive to frost, appear very little 

 injured yet. The haziness of the atmosphere, observed during the summer, 

 continued through this month. The sky was scarcely ever clear of it. 



Account of an ancient Body, found in a Bog in Ireland. — The body of a 

 man, in a bog ten and a half feet deep, was found about nine feet below the 

 surface. The abdomen was collapsed, but it, in all other respects, bore the 

 appearance of recent death. The face was that of a youth of fine features, 

 with hair long and black, loosely hanging over the shoulders. The dress, 

 which was tight, and reached to the elbows and knees, was composed of the 

 skin of an animal, probably the moose deer, laced with thongs, and having 

 the hair inwards. There were no weapons, but a long staff* or pole was laid 

 on each side the body. Varro derives the Sagum of the Romans from the 

 Sac, or skin dress of the Gauls and Britons, which probably was tight, and 

 not flowing, from the nature of the material. The Suevi according to Ta- 

 citus bore flowing hair, and the staffs were familiar to the Silures, according 

 to the same author. From the depth at which it was found, an immense pe- 

 riod of time must have passed to admit of nine feet of vegetable matter having 

 grown over the body, and all the circumstances concur to make it probable 

 that the body was of a very remote period ; for before the arrival of the Eng- 

 lish, the Irish wore^ for the most part, ill made garments, made from their 

 black sheep. — Abstract of a paper in Edin. N. Phil. Jour. June 1831. 



Collection of Natural History from India.— M. Delamare Picot has brought 

 from India, into France, an extraordinary collection, for a private individual, 

 of objects in natural history, and of Indian antiquities. Fifty three species 

 of Mammifera, among which the Rhinoceros Javanus, found hitherto in Java 

 only, and which the Jardin des Plantes did not possess. 



Pros. R. A, S.of Paris. 



