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care; but they cease in 1736. The next series, printed in the 
Essays of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh , commence in 
1764, and are continued till 1770. A parallel Register was begun 
at Hawkhill, near Edinburgh, and continued till 1776, and probably 
later. Professor Playfair’s Observations (printed in the Royal Society 
Transactions) only supply one year (1794) of the interval which 
elapses before we enter upon the elaborate Register kept by the late 
Mr Adie and his family. 
Second Section. Mr Adie’s Observations were continued from 1795 
to the middle of 1805. They then ceased until the year 1821, 
after which they were steadily pursued, with the assistance of differ- 
ent members of his family, until 1850. In order to supply the 
missing years 1805—1820, the author was fortunate enough to recover 
(through the kind agency of Mr David Laing) a Register kept at 
Dunfermline for above thirty years by the late Rev. Henry Fergus, 
whose son, the Rev. John Fergus, kindly lent the Register, and 
allowed him to make use of it.* 
The history of this Register and its results are given in a short 
separate paper. The climate of Dunfermline has a very close 
approximation in character to that of Edinburgh, not only as regards 
the mean annual temperature, but also as to the distribution of heat 
at different seasons. 
By availing himself of the Dunfermline Register for the years 
1805-1820, and using simple reductions, the author is enabled to 
estimate with considerable confidence the mean temperature of each 
year, and each month of each year, from 1795 to 1850, at Edin- 
burgh. 
The Third Section contains the monthly means of the entire series 
in a tabular form. The highest mean annual temperature (49 ’*60) 
was that of 1846, the lowest (44°*44) that of 1799. The mean of 
the whole period, deduced from nearly 35,000 observations, was 
46°-77, or, excluding the Dunfermline observations, 46°*88. A 
series of Tables is also given, classifying the seasons according to 
the annual range, and by the temperature of the hottest and coldest 
months respectively. The hottest month was July 1808, the coldest, 
* Mr Fergus has, since this paper was read, presented this interesting M S 
register to the Royal Society. 
