46 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
as warm as those at Paris, and experiences winters as cold as 
those at St. Petersburg. Nevertheless a comparison of the 
maximum and minimum readings will show that within the 
narrow compass of the British Isles the phenomena of conti- 
nental and insular climates are, though on a very small scale, 
as distinctly to be traced as on the great continents of Asia and 
North America. 
If we take the mean maximum of the hottest month of the 
year, and the mean minimum of the coldest month of the year, 
the difference will show the average annual range of temper- 
ature at the different stations. Arranging them in threes from 
west to east, as nearly as possible in the same parallel, we find : — 
Stornoway . 
July 
Mean Max. 
. 62° 
February 
Mean Min. 
33° = 
Range 
29° 
Nairn . 
. 66° 
34° = 
32° 
Aberdeen . 
. 65° 
34° = 
31° 
Moville 
. 64° 
37° = 
27° 
York . 
. 71° 
31° = 
40° 
Shields 
. 66° 
35° = 
31° 
Yalentia 
. 65° 
40° = 
25° 
Nottingham 
. 74° 
31° = 
43° 
Yarmouth . 
. 68° 
34° = 
34° 
From these figures it will be seen that on both sea-coasts the 
climate is eminently insular ; while over the central parts of the 
country it is in a slight degree continental. The difference 
would be still more marked were the waters of the North Sea 
as equable in their temperature as those of the Atlantic. 
The remaining portion of the tables just published deals 
with observations which, though interesting, are of less im- 
portance than the observations we have just been discussing. 
They are the extreme temperatures which have been experienced 
over the country during the whole period over which the obser- 
vations extend. They are interesting as showing to what degree 
of heat or colrl we are liable ; and in some cases no doubt this 
might be important ; but it is impossible to give any summary 
of the results. The readings show, however, to what a very 
large range of temperature the central parts of the country are 
subject, notwithstanding the favourable position of these Islands, 
the thermometer carefully shaded and exposed having, during 
the three or four years under discussion, risen at one time to 91°, 
while at another it has fallen to 10°, showing a range of 81° in 
the short interval of five years. 
The mean temperature given above must be regarded by the 
agriculturist and the farmer in a very general and liberal spirit, 
