46 
peninsula, there is found an almost perpetual summer, and this, 
combined with the splendid scenery and the numerous bays 
and inlets of the sea, give to that country a degree of enchant- 
ment, scarcely to be found in any other in the same degree of 
latitude. Such is not, however, the case in Northern Italy or 
in the country bounded by the Alps on the North and the 
Apennines on the South. Between these two mountain ranges, 
the wide plains of Piedmont and Lombardy intervene, and 
here, during some parts of the year, the piercing cold of an 
almost Russian winter is occasionally experienced. During 
the months of December and January last, the Piedmontese 
and Lombardians have been visited by the most severe winter 
which has been felt for the last twenty-eight years, and the 
cold was so intense, that, as rarely happens, the waters of the 
Po were frozen, and by the end of January the canals of Venice 
were frozen over. During the four days I spent in that city, 
from the 23rd to the 27th of January, most of the canals were 
congealed, and the Grand Canal was covered with floating ice, 
from the Western parts of the city to the mouth of the harbour. 
On the other side between the city and the mainland, the 
Lagoons or shallows by which the city is approached,, were 
covered with a mass of solid ice. 
The following are the observed temperatures and state of 
the thermometer during my stay in that city, and in Milan. 
Observed Temperature (Fahrenheit ) at Venice, from the 
2‘6rd to the 26^/^ of January, 1858. 
DATE. 
1858. 
Ttmperalttre 
in the Sun at 
12 o'Cloch. 
Temperature 
in the Shade. 
Temperature 
atlQp.m. 
Temperature 
in of 
the Hotel dc 
la Ville,at\0. 
Temperature 
at Sun rise. 
REMASKS. 
Jan. 24 
54°2 
35°4 
32° 3 
34°2 
29° 3 
On Inquiry I found 
that the Therraome- 
» 25 
53°4 
35°0 
32°2 
33°4 
29° 1 
ter had been some 
„ 20 
53° 1 
35°2 
32° 1 
34°0 
29°2 
degrees lower on 
previous days. 
From the above it will be seen that the temperature at all 
times of the day and night was exceedingly steady, and it 
remained so without change for several weeks. At Milan the 
