IvIABE HOUHLY AT LEITH. 
17T 
a task that might be accomplished, in particular situauons, 
by the co-operation of many, although it never could be 
done by a single individual. 
As far as our information extends, a prolonged series of 
this kind has never been instituted in Britain ; but it is pro- 
posed, at present, to give an account of such a set of obser- 
vations, on a small scale, lately carried on in Leith, and 
M'hich have been productive of results, that prove well the in- 
terest and importance of the subject. 
In the twelfth number of the Edinburgh Philosophical 
Journal, Dr Brewster, at the conclusion of some remarks 
on a set of like observations carried on by Dr Dewey, at 
Williamston, in the United States of America, mentioned, 
that " it would be desirable to possess a series of observa- 
tions made in Scotland for every hour of the day, for a 
small number of days;"*' and that he begged leave ear- 
nestly to suggest such a series of experiments, to some of 
those active meteorologists who have undertaken to keep 
regular registers of the thermometer in Scotland 
Immediately on reading the above quoted suggestion, I 
set about a series of hourly observations, and continued 
them for six successive days, beginning on the 1st April 
Not being so well satisfied with the manner in which 
this series was conducted, I take no notice at present of 
the results obtained. Soon after, I began those observa- 
tions which form the subject of the present communication. 
I proposed to myself to observe the thermometer for 
twenty-four successive hours every month, commencing on 
the 1st July, and this plan, with the occasional assistance 
of a friend, I continued regularly throughout the year. 
The following is a copy of the journal of this series. 
* It appears from the notice of Dr Dewey's paper, here alluded to, that 
he observed for thirty days, at different times of the year, twenty- four times 
a- day. 
VOL. V. M 
