44 
TOPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
August . — Temperature now begins to decrease again. A 
fall of one or two degrees is noticed both in the Thames valley 
and in Scotland, but the changes elsewhere are unimportant. 
The northern islands of Scotland appear to be getting colder, as 
the isotherms are again crowding together over North Britain. 
September . — A fall of 3° or 4° has taken place over the whole 
country. The isotherms are more uniform and regular in this 
month than any other, though there is still a slight ridge to 
the northward over the central stations. 
October . — A rapid fall has occurred amounting to 5° or 6° in 
the north and to 8° or 9° in the south. The warmest place is 
once more the Scilly Islands ; while, owing to the excess of 
decrease in the south as compared with the north, the isotherms 
are becoming wider apart, and the chart is acquiring more the 
appearance observed in the spring. 
November . — The thermometer shows a further decrease, 
though the difference between November and October is not so 
great as that between the last-named month and its predecessor. 
The warmest point is still Scilly. The isotherms turn sharply 
southward over England, and a small region of low temperature 
is appearing over the central parts of the country. 
December . — A further decrease has occurred everywhere ; but 
the change is again greater over the central stations than in 
the west and north, so that the cold region has become much 
more pronounced. This chart affords an excellent example of 
the rapidity with which temperature decreases as we travel 
inland from the western coasts, the isotherms between Holyhead 
and Nottingham being exceedingly close together. The tem- 
perature of this month bears a very close resemblance to that of 
February, though at some stations February is the colder of the 
two. 
As we have advanced through these charts, numerous 
instances of the influence of the sea have been mentioned ; but 
its power is much more noticeable when discussing the maximum 
and minimum observations than when dealing with the means 
of such readings, the great difference between what are termed 
continental and insular climates lying in the large range of 
temperature in the one case as compared with that in the other. 
Taking, then, a mean of the maxima and a mean of the minima, 
we much more readily realise the sort of climate which prevails 
at a given station than if we confine our observations merely to 
the mean temperature. Within our islands it is of course im- 
possible to show any very extensive range in the thermometer, 
the climate, though varying somewhat in degree, being tho- 
roughly insular over the whole country. Thus no station within 
our limits has a climate anything like that of Quebec, which, 
lying in the same parallel as central France, enjoys summers 
