XX 
NEW LETTERS. 
weatlier became most interesting, it was quite useless. On the 
lOtli at eleven at night, tho' the air was perfectly still, Dolland's 
glass went down to 1 defjree heloiv zero I This strange severity 
had made my Bro : and me very desirous to know what degree 
of cold there might be in such an exalted situation as Newton : 
We had therefore on the morning of the lOtli written to Mrs. 
Yalden, and entreated her to hang-out her Therm^ made by 
Adams ; and to pay some attention to it morning, and evening, 
expecting wonderful doings in so elevated a region. But behold 
on the 10th, at 1 1 at Night it was down only to 19 ! and the 
next morning at 22, when mine was at 10 ! We were so dis- 
turbed at this unexpected reverse of comparative local cold, that 
we sent one of my glasses up, thinking Mr. Y :'s must, some how 
be constructed wrong. But when the instruments came to be 
confronted, they went exactly together. 8o that for one night 
at least, the cold at N : was 20 degrees less than at S : and the 
whole frost thro' ten or twelve. And indeed, when we came to 
observe consequences, we could readily suppose it. For all my 
laurustines, bays, llexis, and what is much worse my fine 
sloping laurel-hedge, are all scorched-up, and dead ! while at 
Newton the same trees have not lost a leaf ! We had steady 
frost on to the 25th when the therni^" in the morning was down 
to 10 with us, and at Newton only to 21 ! Strong frost continued 
till tlie 31st when some tendency to thaw was observed: and 
by Jan: 3rd: 1785 the thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell. 
There w^as a circumstance that I must not omit, because it was 
new to my brother and me ; which was that on Friday, Dec^ 1 0th, 
being bright sun-shine, the air was full of icy spicula3, floating 
in all directions, like atoms in a sun-beam let into a dark room. 
We thought at first that they might have been particles of the 
rime falling from my tall hedges : but were soon convinced to 
the contrary by making our observations in open places, where 
no rime could reach us. Were they the watry particles of the 
air frozen as they floated ; or were they the evaporations from the 
snow frozen as they mounted ? We were much obliged to the 
Therm for y^ early intimations that they gave us ; and hurryed 
our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, &c., into the cellar, and warm 
closets : while those, that had not these warnings, lost all their 
