1797] 
Jo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
yor readers are already acquainted 
with JEROME LALANDE, one of 
the greateft aftronomers in Europe, by 
means of his ‘* Hiftory of Aitronémy 
for 1794, inferted in your Magazine 
for Auguft, p. 551+ 
I now take the liberty of prefenting 
you with a tranflation of one of the laft 
papers publifhed by him. ‘The fubject is 
a very Curious one, 
Ot, 30, 1796. VIATOR. 
Memorr on the Cald of the third year of the 
Frenco Republic (1794-8) by JEROME 
LALANDE, Affronomer io the Republic. 
THE winter of 1794-5 was one of 
the longeft and moft rigorous that has 
been experienced during the prefent 
century. The froft commenced on the 
26th Frimaire (16th December, 1794) 
and did not ceafe until the 4th Veptofe 
(Feb. 24, 1795) that is to fay, at the 
end of 68 days, fome fhort intervals ex- 
cepted. Onthe sth Mevof the thermo- 
meter fell to 10 degrees, but the cold 
diminifhed afterwards, until the iith 
(1 January, 1795); it however foon 
re-commenced ; and, onthe 16th Nvof, 
the mercury was again at Io deprees. 
A fecond diminution of cold took place 
until the 20th; but it quickly aug- 
mented ; and, between the 25th and 2d 
Piuviofe, we had 10 degrees every morn- 
ing; at length, on the 4th Pluaiofe 
(23d January) there were 16 degrees 
and a half of cold, according to Citizen 
Messier, at the Marine Obfervatory, 
Rue des Maiburins ; and even 18 4, 
according to C, Novety at the Obfer- 
vatory of the Republic. ~ The more 
or lefs, expofed to the wind, the in- 
fulated fituation, and the height of the 
ylace, make a great difference in refpeét 
piace, g Pp 
to the cold. On the following days, we 
had’ 12, 11, and 10 degrees ; but on the 
evening of the 7th, a thaw took place. 
This continued no more than two 
days; for the froft refumed its energy 
until the 18th. On the roth Plevio/e, 
another temporary alleviation took place ; 
but, on the 26th, the froft was predomi- 
‘nant, and great uneafineis once more pre- 
vailed in*Paris, where the want of wood 
for firing became areal calamity. Luckily 
the weather did not continue long inthis 
ftate ; and, on the ath Nrvofe, we again 
had a thaw. 
During the veriod of the greateft cold, 
the moft frightful prefages were attri- 
buted to mes thefe I difayowed in the 
Lalande on the Cald of 1794-5. 
23 
Fournal de Paris of the ath Phywiofe; fta- 
ting, at the fame time, that I did not 
believe in the influence of the phates of 
the moons; but in that of the 7th, 1 ad- 
ded a refiriétion, obferying, that on the 
ath, the day of the thaw, the moon had 
crofled the equator, in order to pafs inta 
our Northern hemifphere; and that it 
was at the fame time in its perige?, or, in 
other words, the neareft to the earth. 
Thefe two circumftances, when they oc- 
cur at the fame time, are capable of pro- 
ducing an effcét on the atmofphere ; as 
may be feen in Mémoires far la Meéicoro- 
lozie, publifhed by CoTTs, in 1788, in z 
vols. gto. Citizen LE Monntier, one of 
the moft celebrated, and, indeed, the 
elder brother of aftronomers, obferved, 
in 1764, that the paflage of the moon 
acrofs the meridian frequently produced 
a change of wind, [Halley’s Tables, 
page 281]. 
Jn 1789, they alfo did me the honour 
to athx my name throughout Paris, to 
pretended predictions relative to the ri- 
gour of frofts, and alio concerning thaws s 
this afforded me occafion to remark, that 
the paffage of the moon acrofs the equa- 
tor, on the 1ft and 13th, were accom- 
panied with fenfible changes in the winds, 
and of confiderable diminution in refpeét 
to the froft. I fhall only add, that the 
terrible thaw which produced fo much 
calamity on the 26th January, 1709, oc- 
curred during the ferigée of the moon ; 
no feffion was held at the Academy on 
that day, a circumftance, perhaps, unex- 
ampled. It was the return of the froft 
that did all the mifchief; and it froze 
again on the 13th of March. The corn, 
the vines, and even the trees, perifhed 
during this terrible winter. War, fa- 
mine, and all the maladies in their train, 
united their deftructive encrgy againft 
unhappy France. 
But, it is more efpecially the duration 
of winters that renders them fatal :_ that 
of 1740 is even now mentioned with hor- 
ror; the froft then continued from the 
ft cf January to the 9: h of March; yet 
the mercury in the thermometer de- 
fcended no Jower than 10 degrees. In 
1776, an uninterrupted froft continucd 
during twenty-four davs; from the oth 
of January to the 2d of February. The 
hard froft of 1776 is ftill remembered ; 
this gave occafion to many enquiries in 
the Mémoires of the Academy for 1776 
and 1777; and alfoto a feparate work by 
M. Van SWINDEN, acclebrated Dutch 
phyfician. The refule of the labours of © 
C, LAvoOIsiER is, that the cold of the 
29th 
© 
