( V ) 
sucli being the case. The moan teinpcratinc of the j car 1879 was 
-1:6°'2, being lower than that of any other year in this century, with 
the exception of the year 1814, when it was 45°-8 ; but in this year 
both May and December were more than 2° above their averages. 
Tlie month of December was the fourteenth month in succession 
of low temperature. The mean for this period was 44^-8, and it is 
necessary to go back to the years 1813-14 for a corresponding 
period of a similar low temperature, so that there is no instance in 
this century of a period of lower temperature than the one we are 
passing through. In 1815 the cold period of fourteen months 
was followed by a cold January, but both February and March 
were warm. 
The mean temperature for the quarter was 39°-9, being 3°'7 and 
4°-6 respectively, below the averages of the preceding 108 years 
and 38 years. The mean showed a deficiency of 0""5 in October, 
4°-0 in November, and Q'^'l in December, compared with the average 
for corresponding periods of 108 years. It was the coldest De- 
cember in this century, and there are but three instances of so cold 
a December back to 1771, viz. in the year 1784, 31°-0, in 1788, 
29°-0, and in 1796, 30°-4. 
The fall of rain in the months of October, November, and De- 
cember was 2-3 inches, being 4-9 inches less than the average for 
this quarter, but, in consequence of the excess of rain in the pre- 
vious months, the year 1879 will rank as a wet one ; the fall in the 
year was 31*3 inches, being greater in amount than in any year 
since 1860. 
The number of hours of bright sunshine recorded during the 
quarter at Greenwich Observatoiy was 138-3, against 184-7 and 
157-6 hours, respectively, in the fourth quarters of 1877 and 1878. 
The largest proportional deficiency of sunshine occurred in 
October. 
THE YEAE. 
The meteorological elements of the year 1879 differed consider- 
ably from their respective averages, and the weather generally 
was cold, wet, and sunless. Low temperatures were recorded in 
every month of the year ; the rainfall was in excess of that in the 
previous year, and also of the average : only 983 hours of bright 
sunshine were recorded at Greenwich, against 1250 hours in the 
previous year. 
The mean of the barometrical values for the year was almost 
identical with the average of the preceding 38 years, but the 
readings were principally below the average during the first nine 
