366 
original contriver, and his admiring co- 
adjutor ; two divines, of great expecta- 
tion in their profeilion.. I mean not to 
catt any flight or reflection on the re- 
fpectable parties engaged in this extra- 
ordinary * adventure, which the RR. 
biographer fo minutely defcribes: but 
if they are to gain fo much credit for the 
ingenuity and fuccefs of their /tle firaia- 
gon, tet not poor Chatterton be irre- 
deemably condemned for his contrivance, 
though perhaps not quite fo ingenious, 
and certainly lefs fuccefsful. Adieu. 
FUuRC Fo 1798. O——N. 

JMETECROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
To the Ediuor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, Chichefier, Apr. 2. 
HOUGH not « young man, J ama 
young meteorologifit, and, perhaps, 
have fomething of the eagernefs, as well 
as the inexperience, which commonly ac- 
companies anew purfuit: I was, there- 
fore, much gratified in finding that the 
Firft Article of the Firft Number of your 
liberal and inftruétive Mifcellany con- 
fifted of Remarks on the unufual Circum- 
ftances of the Temperature of the latt 
Year. As I do not know that any con- 
neéted obfervations on the weather, made 
in this part of the fouthern coaft of our 
ifland, have been communicated to the 
public, I am willing to flatter myfelf, 
that my imperfect eflays may open a way 
which may hereafter be purfued with 
fome fuccefs. I thall fabjoin a table of 
the mean ftate of the barometer, ther- 
mometer, and hygrometer (De Luc’s) 
the direétion and eftimated force of the 
wind, and the total of rain for the years 
1794 and 1795, and another of the flate 
of the thermometer for each month of 
the year 1795. As an introduction to 
thefe tables, I beg leave to give a brief 
explanation of the principles on which 
they are conftructed, and fhall be happy 
to be favoured with fuch remayks and 
corrections as any of your ingenious cor- 
re{pondents fhall think proper to com- 
muiiicate. 
In keeping my regifter, I have availed 
myfelf of a ufeful publication, entitled, 
= Te Meteorologift’s Aff fiant, in keeping 
2 Drary of the Weather’ An obferva- 
tion is taken three times a day, viz. at 
By A Mateo Pe IN and ats. vis sdohe 
mean of the barometer and hygrometer 
is the mean of all thefe obfervations; 
that of the thermometer is only the mean 
of the two firft, viz. thofe at 8 A.M. and 
2, P.M. the reafon of which I fhall pre- 

% See Warburton on Grace, chap. iy. 
Meteorological Obfervations at Chichefter. 
any degree of corre€tnefs. 
[June 
fently expluin. The ftate of the wind is 
alfo noted only at the two firft obfer- 
vations. The force of the wind 1s guefied 
-at; reckoning a very gentle breeze at 
o.s5. and a violent hurricane at 4.0. efti- 
mating the intermediate degrees as cor- 
rectly as may be. The method of noting 
the fum of the dreétions of the wind is, 
I fear, liable to obje€tion. . It is put 
down each time in the regifter NE. SSE. 
SSW. &c. as it happens to be. At the 
end of each month the number of times 
in which each letter N. E. S. and W. 
occurs, isreckoned ; and fo many times 
is the wind confidered as having had, in 
that month, a northerly, eafterly, fouth- 
erly, or wefterly diceétion, which 1s ex- 
preffed in numbers, under thefe refpec- 
tive letters; and the fum of thefe num- 
bers, through the twelve months of the 
year, is what 1s given in the firft of the 
two following tables. I fufpeét, it 
would have been better, if I had confider- 
ed all thofe winds to have a northerly 
direétion which came from any point be- 
tween north-weft and north-eaft ; and 
all thofe between north-eaft and fouth- 
eaft to have an eafterly one, and fo on: 
but my fscuation with refpeét to any 
vane, or weather-cock, that I could de- 
pend on, is fuch, as to prevent my 
making obfervations of this fort with 
With refpeé 
to the force of the wind, I have only to 
add, that when a very high wind or 
form may have happened at night, or at 
a diflance from the time of obiervation, 
the number: expreffing that degree of . 
the wind’s force is added to the numbers 
entered at the ufual hours. In this mat- 
ter any attempt at great exaétnefs feems 
unneceflary ; for if we had any machine 
or method fit to meafure exactly the 
force of the wind, at any one inftant, 
an obfervation every hour, and fome- 
times much oftener, would be requifite 
to give acorreét ftatement of the fum 
of the wind’s force during any one day. 
The fame may be obferved ef the mean 
temperature of the day; we can only get 
at the relative mean of different climates 
and places: on thisaccount, it is much tobe 
wifhed, that thermometrical obferyations 
were every where takenat the fame hours. 
I have made choice of the hours 8, A.M. 
and 2, P.M. becaufe we have been ia- 
voured by Dr. HEBERDEN (magnum et 
venerabile nomen!) with a * table of the 
mean heat of every month in the year, 
for ten years, froin obfervations taken at 
thofe hours in London. From this view 

* Philofoph. Tranfact. Vol, LAX VII. : 
° 
