ESTIMATION OF MEAN TEMPERATURE. 
17 
the difference would be material. At the equator, the mean meridian altitude of the sun, 
instead of being 90°, is but 76° 20'; and at the pole, instead of being 0°, it is to be con¬ 
sidered 13° 4(y, since aside from refraction the sun exerts no heating power when below 
the horizon. In calculating the temperatures of Havana, Cumana and Quito, which lie 
in the torrid zone, I corrected the formula as here suggested. 
V 
PLACE 
OF 
OBSERVATION. 
Latitude. 
| Elevation. 
s -d 
+* <u 
5 S 
?! 
! § 
£ 
Ditto reduced to 
the standaid of 
Albany, & to the 
level of the sea. 
Calculated 
temperature. 
No. of years 
observed 
Nain, Labrador . 
57° 08' 
30ft. 
26° 42 
£26°51 
25° 46 
Quebec, Canada. 
46 47 
340 
37.19 
38.45 
41.50 
8 
Plattsburgh, New-York, 
44 42 
105 
43.97 
44.73 
44.95 
2 
Cambridge, do 
43 01 
f600 
45.39 
47.22 
47.67 
14 
Lansingburgh, do 
42 47 
30 
48.17 
48.23 
48.05 
16 
Williams College, Mass. 
42 43 
800 
45.59 
£47.88 
48.16 
23 
Albany, New-York ... 
42 39 
130 
48.27 
48.64 
48.26 
17 
Salem, Massachusetts . 
42 31 
50 
48.68 
£48.82 
48.47 
33 
Kinderhook, New-York, 
42 22 
125 
46.91 
47.73 
48.71 
13 
Hudson, do 
42 15 
150 
48.29 
48.75 
48.90 
10 
Redhook, do 
42 02 
t50 
48.36 
48.95 
49.27 
12 
Kingston, do 
41 55 
188 
49.46 
50.97 
49.44 
14 
Poughkeepsie, do 
41 41 
£50 
51.65 
50.88 
49.81 
11 
Newburgh, do 
41 30 
150 
48.96 
49.59 
50.10 
13 
Newport, Rhode-Island, 
41 30 
30 
50.55 
£50.64 
50.10 
10 
Mount-Pleasant, N. Y. 
41 09 
125 
49 33 
50.44 
50.66 
11 
Flatbush, Long island . 
40 37 
40 
51.25 
51.39 
51.53 
17 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
39 56 
30 
53.42 
£53.51 
53.01 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 
39 06 
510 
53.78 
£55.24 
53.92 
8 
Washington, D. C. ... 
38 53 
30 
56.57 
56.66 
54.26 
Natchez, Mississippi.. 
31 28 
180 
64.76 
£65.27 
65.50 
8 
Havana, Cuba. 
23 10 
30 
78.08 
£78.17 
76.39 
8 
Cumana, S. America .. 
10 27 
30 
81.86 
£81.95 
83.87 
8 
Quito, do 
0 13 
9510 
62.00 
*£83.75 
85.48 
* Reduced by Humboldt’s observations 
t Height estimated. When a place is said to be at the level of tide water, I have assumed the height 
of the instrument to be 50 feet. 
t Mean temperature as observed, reduced to the level of the sea. 
Note. The observed temperature of Nain, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Natchez and Havana, was taken 
from a table in the Bridgwater Treatises; th *t of Washington and Newport, from the meteorological 
register of the United States Army ; that of Quito, from Rees’s Encyclopaedia; and that of places in 
New-York State, from the Regents’ Report 
After these preliminary investigations, I proceeded to examine the climate of the State, 
in reference to the mean temperature, the extremes of heat and cold, the length and 
forwardness of the seasons, and the progress of vegetation. 
In estimating the mean temperature of the several localities where observations had 
been taken, I took it as given in the Regents’ Reports for all places where the period 
of observation amounted to ten years or more. For all others, I compared the mean tem¬ 
perature on the years observed, with the mean for the State on the same years, and the 
latter with its mean temperature for the whole seventeen years since the observations under 
the instructions of the Regents were commenced. The mean of the observed temperatures 
[Agricultural Report.] 3 
