414 
Recent  British  Weather. 
Table  II. — Mean  Temperature  of  each  Year  at  Greenwich,  from  1771 1< 
1882,  both  inclusive. 
1770. 
1780 
1790. 
1800. 
1810. 
1820. 
1830. 
1840. 
1850. 
1860. 
1870. 
1880 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
0 
48-8 
48-1 
48-3 
48-7 
47-4 
47-8 
47-8 
49-3 
47  0 
48-7 
49- 
1 
45-4 
49-8 
48-1 
490 
49-6 
49-3 
50-4 
48-7 
49-2 
49-4 
48-7 
48- 
2 
47-1 
45 '5 
48-0 
48-0 
46-5 
51-0 
491 
49-6 
50-6 
495 
50-7 
49- 
3 
46-6 
48-0 
47-9 
48-2 
47-2 
47-3 
490 
49-4 
477 
503 
48-9 
4 
47-7 
45 -1 
48-9 
49-5 
45-8 
48-3 
51-0 
48-7 
48-9 
48-5 
49-3 
5 
50-0 
46-5 
47-2 
47-7 
490 
49-6 
49-2 
47-6 
47-1 
50-3 
49-2 
6 
48-3 
45-8 
47-8 
50-5 
46-4 
49-9 
481 
51-3 
490 
49-8 
50  1 
7 
48-2 
48'1 
47  2 
48-3 
47-7 
48-5 
473 
49-6 
510 
48-6 
49-4 
8 
49-2 
47-9 
48-6 
48-1 
50-8 
50-1 
46-4 
50-2 
49-2 
51-5 
49-6 
9 
51-2 
46-7 
45 -7 
48-0 
493 
46-6 
4/  *7 
49-9 
50-7 
49-5 
46-2 
Aver- 
age 
|48'2 
472 
47-8 
48*5 
481 
48-8 
48-6 
49-3 
49-3 
49-4 
49- 1 
(Note. — It  will  be  observed  that  in  order  to  ensure  compactness  in  the  table,  the  year 
have  to  be  read  off  by  the  top  and  side  figures — eg.,  the  first  entry  45°  ■ 4 is  for  1771,  th 
next  47° '1  for  1772,  and  so  on,  the  values  for  each  decade  being  arranged  in  one  column 
and  the  average  for  the  ten  years  given  at  the  bottom.) 
show,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  one  cold  year,  1879,  and 
one  hot  one,  1868,  the  temperatures  of  the  past  twenty  years 
have  been  singularly  near  the  average.  This  is  clearly  indicated 
by  the  following  diagram,  in  which  the  values  in  Table  II.  for 
1840  and  for  each  subsequent  year  are  laid  off,  upwards  in 
years  of  which  the  temperature  was  above  the  average,  down- 
wards in  years  in  which  it  was  below  it.  I may  mention 
that  1868  was  the  hottest  year  of  the  whole  112,  and  1879  the 
coldest  since  1814. 
51 
50 
49 
45 
47 
46 
45 
It  appears  legitimate  to  conclude  that  the  records  of  mean 
temperature  show  no  recent  variation  which  can  be  regarded  as 
important. 
It  is  therefore  necessary  to  turn  to  more  detailed  records. 
