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extraordinary; as ’tis abovo double what D r Arbuthnot supposes 
falls upon the Globe viz 22 inches. Essay on Air. p. 83. where you 
find but 19 inches at Paris. 2 Indeed, when i was last in Scotland 
(about G weeks) it was every day rain, more or less. We had a 
good deal of rain last Winter, tho’ little laying snow, whilst the 
papers spoke of much, both in the North & West. — The Spring 
has been very watery, and still continues, to the grief of the 
Farmers, for their Hay: & notwithstanding these rains, i find the 
season has not been kind to my Trees. All sorts appear not in 
good health. My favourite Beeches appear brown rather than 
green, from the abundance of Mast, & very few have as yet, 
increased an inch in circumf. A Cedar had gained an inch & 
half on y 6 5 th - but my best Oaks not above half an inch. For 
Indications of Spring. Jan. 25 Snowdrop F. y® 29 th at Selburnc. 
Jan. 30 th Ilepatica F. 21*‘ at Selburnc, — Feb. 11 Crocus F. at 
Selburn Feb. 4. Crocus b. Feb. 12 brimston Butterfly, at Selburne 
Feb. 13. Mar. 21. Daffodil F. at Selburne Mar. 1G. Perhaps 
my deafness might deprive my hearing of Spring Birds, but i have 
heard hardly any Thrushes this year ; &: i heard not the Fern 
Owl, ’till Juno 26. Hero i must observe with mortification that my 
Phil. Trans, brought me no account of tho fern-Owl, which i 
1 John Arbuthnot, M.D. Born 1675. Died 1735. Distinguished alike 
for his skill as a physician, and for his literary attainments ; he was an 
intimate friend of Swift, Pope, and Gay. Pope used to say that of all the 
men he knew, D r Arbuthnot had the most prolific wit, and that in this 
quality Swift only had the second place (See Ruffhead’s ‘ Life of Pope,’ p. 209). 
D r Johnson speaking of the eminent writers in Queen Anne’s reign, 
observed “ 1 think D r Arbuthnot the first man among them. He was the 
most universal genius, being an excellent physician, a man of deep learning, 
and a man of much humour.” 
His essay on air to which Marsham alludes was first published in 1733, and 
is entitled “ An Essay concerning the effects of Air on human bodies.” A 
second edition appeared posthumously in 1751 and a third in 1756. The 
particular passage (p. 88) above referred to, runs as follows : — 
“ The quantity of vapour raised and the quantity of water precipitated 
“ from the air, as I observed before, seems to be pretty uniform, the year 
“ round, over the surface of the terraqueous globe, perhaps about 22 inches 
“ deep over the whole ; but from accidental causes it differs considerably as 
“ to quantity in different places, and in the same place in different years. In 
“ a period of eight years, the quantity of water fallen from the clouds was 
“observed to lie, at Zurich 22.J inches, at Paris 19, at Upminster 19], at 
“ Pisa 43B in Lancashire 42 j.” — J. E. II. 
Q 
