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ARGUMENTS FOR THE RE-DISTRIBUTION OF 
THE MONTHS AMONGST THE SEASONS. 
By E. G. Aldridge, F.G.S., E.K.Met. Soc. 
r has long been my idea that the present distribution is 
not the best. Summer and Winter may be regarded 
as the superior or predominant seasons : Spring and 
Autumn as the inferior or transitional seasons. Meteoro- 
logically, Summer commences at midnight between May 31 and 
June I : astronomically, it does not begin this year till 3 a.m. of 
June 22. The meteorological season is continued to the mid- 
night between .*\ugust 31 and September i : the astronomical 
season runs on till 5 p.ni. of September 23. Now, I would 
venture to suggest that the commencement of Summer should 
date from May 22 (inclusive). My reasons for offering this 
suggestion are that the duration of light is then almost at its 
greatest ; that the mean temperature (all mean temperatures in 
this article, unless otherwise stated, have been derived from daily 
maximum and minimum) has risen to a fairly high point (56'’ at 
Greenwich) ; and that the leafing of the forest trees is nearly 
complete, or, at any rate, advanced very much beyond the 
springing. The counter argument that frosts sometimes occur 
at this period is of no worth, as a temperature very little higher 
than the freezing point is possible at times and in certain places 
all the Summer through. In the Greenwich records the first 
instance in the year of a minimum temperature of 60° or upwards 
is found on May 24 in 1847 (61-3°). This date is just after the 
beginning of my Summer. Having regard to the high mean 
temperature of September (in the Scilly Islands it is 1° higher 
than that of June), to the occasional occurrence of excessive heat 
during the month, and to the fact that the autumnal tints have 
scarcely commenced, I would carry on the Summer to the 
Autumnal Equinox, and allow it to terminate on September 23 
(inclusive). Few exceedingly high maximum temperatures have 
been recorded after the end of the third week of September, and 
this alone seems to suggest a line of demarcation between 
Summer and Autumn. By this arrangement 125 days would 
fall to the lot of the Summer season. 
The occurrence of great cold at times towards the end of 
November appears to show that the Winter season may with 
advantage be commenced at an earlier date than that now 
observed both meteorologically and astronomically. Moreover, 
the length of the day is almost at its shortest ; the weather, if 
not cold, is often changeable and stormy; the autumnal tinting 
has mostly disappeared ; and there is little or no sign of reviving 
vegetable life, such as we often observe even in January with 
the advent of hazel blossoms. From near the end of November 
to Christmas or early in the New Year may indeed be regarded 
as the “deadest’’ time of the twelve months. These, I think. 
