480 
Charters and Grants of the {1th and 
12th centuries, will discover in them 
the origin of block-printing, (that which 
was first_practised,) and will be sensible, 
that the pretended novelty of the disco- 
very of this art at Haerlem, Mentz, &c. 
consis'ed in nothing mere than making 
the &upression on Paper, instead of 
Wax! 
The origin of seals may be referred 
Back to the rudest ages, anterior, doubt- _ 
less, to the earliest records, aud must 
have arrived at considerable perfection, 
before the same principle was applied to 
the art of coining, which we know to be 
at least three thousand years old. 
Those who have, mistakenly, had at- 
tached to them the honour of the whole 
discovery, it is well known, made use 
only of wooden blocks; but the greatest 
improvement in the art of printing was, 
doubtless, that of moveable types, made 
at a subsequent period. Our modern 
steryotype printers would, however, carry 
us back again to solid pages, blocks, or 
seals ! . 
Let us then hear no more of the won- 
derful anecdotes about Laurentius, Fause 
tus, and others, to whom the invention of 
this art has been ascribed; but let ts 
expunge them from our books, and bury 
them with the natienal vanity which first 
gave them currency. 
London, 
Nov, 4, 1809. 
Your’s, &c. 
Common SENSE. 
Eee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
IVE me leave to interpose a word 
or twe in vindication of ‘* honest 
Jotn Bailey,” the dictionary-maker, who 
bas not had fair play in your Magazine. 
In one place he is charged with having 
defined the word “ Gregorian,” as a 
wig so called; and, in another, it is 
stated, that, in the edition of 1783, the 
absurd definition of thunder, as ‘‘ a 
noise known by persons not deaf; a 
bright flame ;” is continued. Now, in 
the second edition, printed in 1736, the 
above articles stand as follows :—*‘ Gre- 
gurian Aes Gregory, a barber in the 
Strand,| a cap of hair.” This is not 
only a just definition, but, at the same 
time, a curious article. It is immedi- 
ately followed by another, and a very 
proper one, relating to the Gregorian 
Calendar, and totally unconnected with 
the other.* 
In the same edition, thunder is de- 
® See Magazine for November; p. 577. 
On the Thermometrical Calendar. 
[ Dec. 1, 
fined ‘a noise in the lowest region of 
the air, excited by a sudden kindiing of 
sulphureous exhalations ; a ratuing noise, 
which seems as if it passed through arches.” 
When this was first aitered reffains to 
be ascertained ; but I eannot suppose, 
that Bailey himself would have exchanged 
sense for nonsense. 
Your’s, &e. 
Nov. 7, 1809. E. 
MAES 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, 
PON looking over the different co- 
lumns usually to be found in the 
calendars of our almanacs, such as sun’s 
rising, moon’s age, time of high water, 
&c. it occurs to me, that in addition to 
these, the mean temperature (in degrees 
of Fahrenheit) might be stated, not only 
of each month, but of every day of the 
month, taken from the observation of 
several years, as applying to any parti- 
cular place ; and on this subject I beg 
leave to offer a few remarks. 
For the sake of illustration, I annex 
the mean temperature of each month, as 
calculated from the observation of seve- 
ral years, in this city (Edinburgh), with 
the degrees of progression, from heat to 
cold, and from cold to heat. 
1 - - - January 36 
February -- S7 --- 12 . 
3 - - .- December 372 
March ----40 --- 32 
4 - - ~ November 41 
April ---- 446 ---74 
7 - - = October 48! 
May ---- 5if --- 61 
5£ - - - September 55 
June <<: 3° ~ 5F See . 
4i - - ~ August 60 
July - + -6ii --- 14 
Annual Mean 4725 
From this table it appears, in the first 
place, as is pretty well known, that July 
is the warmest, and January the coldest, 
months in the year, and that there is a 
progressipn in temperature, from the one 
to the other, but that this progression is 
far froin being regular or uniform. 
From the winter solstice to the vernal 
equinox, and from the summer solstice 
to the autumnal equinox, the advance 
from a cold to a mildez, and from a warm 
to a colder, temperature, is so slow, as 
to require the mean cf several years to 
ascertain its existence; for if we take 
some particular years, we find this rule 
reversed. ‘Thus, in 1807, February was 
colder than January, and March than 
February. 
