326 
MR. J. F. MILLER ON THE METEOROLOGY OF THE LAKE 
little value, as it would be almost impossible to protect it from the eifect of solar, 
radiation. 
The following are the readings of the minimum thermometer for each month from 
July to the end of the year 1848 : — 
July, 22°; August, 24°; September, 18°; October, —6°; November, —6°; De- 
cember, — 9°, or 41° below the freezing-point of water*. 
The lowest extreme in these months, in the Vale of Borrowdale, at 4 feet above the 
ground, was as under : — 
July, 45°; August, 41°'5 ; September, 38°'5 ; October, 29°'5 ; November, 24°; 
December, 26°. 
The Mountain Gauges , — The results are in strict accordance with those of the two 
previous years, and confirm the correctness of the conclusion drawn from them in a 
former paper, “ that the quantity of rain increases from the valley upwards to an 
altitude of about 2000 feet, above which it begins to diminish.” 
'riius, in thirteen months, — Inches. 
The Valley . . . 160 feet above sea, has received 127'47 
Stye Head . . . 1290 feet above sea, has received 138’72 
Seatollar Common 1334 feet above sea, has received 139'48 
Sparkling Tarn . 1900 feet above sea, has received 148'59 
Great Gabel . . 2925 feet above sea, has received 9T32 
I regret to state that the whole quantity of water collected in the Sea Fell gauge 
during the winter of 1847-48 was lost, in consequence of injury caused by the frost. 
In the spring of last year I had a new set of receivers constructed for these stations, 
which are made of very heavy sheet copper, double-lapped at the seams, and with the 
bottoms convex inwards, to enable them the better to bear the expansive force of the 
water during its conversion into ice; so that a similar accident is not likely to 
occur again. 
From the table for the summer months, it appears that between the 1st of May and 
the 31st of October, the gauge at 1290 feet has received 20^ percent, more rain than 
the valley; at 1334 feet, 15^ per cent, more; at 1900 feet, 41^ per cent, more; at 
2928 feet, 6 per cent, less-, and at 3166 feet, about 1 per cent, less than tlie valley. 
The excess over the valley is somewhat greater at all the stations than in the two 
previous years, and Sea Fell, which usually obtains less rain than Gabel, has this 
summer received more. 
By referring to the table for the winter months, we find that the station at 1290 
feet has obtained 0’5 per cent, more rain than the valley; at 1334 feet, 5^ per cent. 
* On the 29th and 31st of January 1849, the box containing the thermometers was so thickly encased in 
ice, that it could not be opened. The minimum temperature for the month was read off on the 12th of 
February, being no less than 34° below the zero point of Fahrenheit’s scale. This unheard-of extreme of 
cold undoubtedly occurred on the night between the 2nd and 3rd of January, when a naked thermometer 
on grass, at Whitehaven, fell to -f-4°, and one on raw wool to — 2°’8. — J. F. M. 
