54 
PROCEEDINGS OP THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
when alive—hence it has been common to have such ob¬ 
servations recorded in cemeteries where the dead 
are under the constant attention of some watchful 
eye. The North and South Inches would make splendid 
stations for meteorological observations, as they are on the 
same level as the bulk of the town, and exposed to all the 
changes of weather to which it is subject. 
The hills which surround the city keep oS theforce of winds 
and weather, whilst they also exclude the beneficial effects 
which especially come from south-west winds. This exclu¬ 
sion from a free exposure to all the influences to be got by an 
open situation tells much against the city in times of fog and 
hoar-frost in the winter season, when the damp exhalations 
from the river rise to settle again in a frozen form, 
wherever they alight. The rift between the hills of Kin- 
noull and Moncreiffe acts also as a funnel through which 
a draught of wind is continually flowing across the city, 
and that always of an ungenial kind. This gateway to the 
sea, which, as may be seen in these winter mornings, as 
the sun gets up out of his lair in the east, is a splendid 
barometer for weather-observers to gauge and study the 
science by, and predict therefrom what in these hard times 
of trade competition everyone requires to watch more 
closely. 
The sunsets on the hills to the north and north¬ 
west are sometimes, in winter, beautifully kindled 
by an intense bright fiery circle of luminous cloud, 
which can be often traced for hours in the distant horizoD, 
as its effulgence gradually changes into the clear deepness 
of a dark ethereal blue, spangled with stars, sparkling as 
diamonds in the solemn grandeur of celestial quiet and 
majesty. 
Other conditions as to situation might be referred 
to, such as rainfall, &c. As regards the moisture, 
all other things being equal, I believe it is an understood 
fact that a place at a low sea-level has a larger rainfall 
than that which stands higher—consequently rain-gauges 
in the neighbourhood of the city, but not on the same 
level, record greater or less rain according to their altitude. 
The average rainfall of Perth is somewhere about 34 
inches, and the place where observations -— rainfall 
and temperature—come nearest this in the Registrar- 
G-eneral’s weekly reports, is Paisley, which, as some of 
you may know, possesses many things common to our¬ 
selves,—being about a like distance from the estuary of 
the Clyde, having the River Cart passing through it, and 
being also surrounded on the west and south-west by rising 
ground similar to Perth. 
We have no fogs with a north-west wind, and 
very rarely snow, and more seldom rain. I have 
observed the soft heavy flakes of snow come most 
when the wind is in a south-west direction ; and that fogs 
prevail when the wind is off the east, immediately after a 
dry period, and also when the drifts of the upper current 
of air is from the north-west or north. The fogs from the 
east, previously referred to, are most common in the 
summer time, and arise, I think, from the intense heat at 
sea and further south being drifted inwards off the sea, 
as the warm steam from the ocean and colder inland air 
of the early summer months change places. 
The bulk of our rain comes from the east, — never failing, 
when it is carried cloudwise over the top of Kinnoull, to 
drench and purify the streets of the fair, yet filthy city. 
Our hails, in the summer months, come in time of early 
heat from the congealed vapours chilled by a top current 
of north-west air solidifying the drops of rain formed out of 
the layers we see floating about. 
Our sleets, again, are almost invariably the gift of the 
north-east, and bitterly cold and keen they are. 
The area of hoar-frost in the neighbourhood of Perth I 
have not yet discovered, but the fogs, I know, are seldom 
to be seen in the west, and never 90 ft. above meantide. 
Prom the month of September on to ’ the end of 
February, west and south-west winds are most pre¬ 
valent. From March on to June, east, north-east, and 
north-west winds are the most prevalent, and in July and 
August west and south-west winds. 
In the course of my observations I have noticed that 
thunder-storms come mostly from the south, and I do not 
thinklever knewof acaseofathunderstormfrom the north. 
My idea of the cause of this is that the electricity evolved 
in a highly-rarified atmosphere, by heat or other causes, 
acting on the earth’s surface, are, on account of their 
lighter character, borne into a denser atmosphere, and 
coming into air of a different character, the detonation 
takes place which we call thunder. 
I have noticed frequently that, in the spring months of 
March and April, the country adjacent to Edinburgh, in 
the neighbourhood of Ratho and Dalkeith, was often no 
further advanced at such times in vegetation than we see 
north here. Visit the same places, however, six weeks later, 
and you will find that vegetation in our own place is laggard; 
and whilst the potatoes may be growing and filling the drill, 
these with us have not passed beyond cleaning with the 
hoe. The reason for this is that until the beginning of 
March the influence of east winds do not affect the 
verdure or growth of seeds and plants. The advancing 
season causes a large quantity of vapour to rise from earth 
and sea, and this, borne towards us, is met by the cold 
winds issuing from behind our background of Highland 
