tal of the year 23.567028 inches; days of rain 197, on 10 of which some snow fell. Storms in the year, 24. 1801. Greatest height of the barometer, April, 30 76; least, December, 28.80; mean of the year, 30.531. Greatest height of the thermometer, July, 75; least, October, 34; mean of the year, 49.278. Greatest quantity of rain fell, November, 3.468058 inches. Total of the year, 21.965855 inches; days of rain 175 and 19, on which a little snow and some hail fell. Storms in the year, 22. 1802. Greatest height of the barometer, June, 30.68; least, November, 29′10; mean of the year, 30.586. Greatest height of the thermometer, August, 76; least, January, 22; mean of the year, 48.637. Greatest quantity of rain fell, December, 6.226619 inches. Total of the year, 27.97878 inches; total days of rain, 222. Storms in the year, 13. 1803. Greatest height of the barometer, June and September, 30.77; least, October, 20.80; mean of year, 30.64. Greatest height of the thermometer, July, 79.50; least, December, 22; mean of the year, 49.16. Greatest quantity of rain fell, November, 5.926320 inches. Total of the year, 19.67748 inches; days of rain, 193, on 17 of which snow fell. Storms in the year, 17. 1804. Greatest height of the bar. Feb. 30.87; least, Jan. 28.86; mean of the year, 30.567. Greatest height of the thermometer, Sept. 75; least, Dec. 3 1; mean of the year, 49.916. Greatest quantity of rain fell, March, 4.348204 inches. Total of the year, 30.033722 inches; days of rain 231. Storms in the year, 23. Register of the Rain Guage kept at the Botanic Garden near Dublin. Years. Jan. Feb. March April May 1802 870 4.060 2.260 2.400 900 3.020 1.290 2.130 1.670 3.920 2.220 24.490 570 3.450 1.350 1.330 1.830 7.332 2.998 1.750 1.780 26.500 1808 674 1.500 654 1.280 2.340 1.670 4.500 1.834 1.590 2-040 2.330 2.770 23-182 1809 4.960 2.246 1.390 2.800 1.400 1.980 456 4.510 3.640 1.770 1.789 2·170 28.899 1810 1.240 700 1.674 .989 .843 720 2.890 2.280 2.777 2.223 3.867 2.460 22.663 1811 1.500 1.780 1.560 2.145 2·030 ⚫500 Total 21.666 12.321 14.694 13.544 19-503 12.070 24.146 22.474 22.269 20 121 23-492 27.310 By the above register it will be seen that the order of the months, in regard to the quantity of rain which falls in each, beginning with the driest, is as follows; June, February, April, March, May, October, January, September, August, November, July, December. This seems to vary considerably from the order observed at Belfast. Dr. Rutty says, that the range of variation of the barometer at Dublin, is about 2 inches; and according to another estimation 2. The range of the thermometer is about 36 degrees.* Dublin, according to Arrowsmith, lies in lat. 53° 21′ N. lon. 6° 15'.+ The medium atmospherical heat of five years in Dublin, viz. 1794, 1796, 1797, 1799, and 1800, is 50°15 plus; the maximum is 81°.50; the minimum 14°50; the medium heat of the earth in the same city, as found by the temperature of the water in covered deep wells, in the year 1788, was from 50° to 52°. The thermometer in January 1789, at eight o'clock A.M. stood at 17°.5 in London; at two o'clock P.M. it rose to 24°, in Dublin it rose to 28°. It was my intention to add to the preceding information in regard to the climate of Ireland, a regular series of observations made in different parts of the country, but as the study of meteorology has not yet made that progress there which it has in England, the materials which I have procured on the subject are not so complete as I could wish. In England many individuals keep registries of the weather, and are acquainted with the use of the common meteorological instruments; but in Ireland the case is different, for I never saw a barometer or a thermometer in the possession of any farmer. The documents, therefore, which I have obtained, are not sufficiently extensive to afford any satisfactory results; for to enable one to draw general conclusions with regard to the climate of a whole country, so extensive as Ireland, it would * Essay towards a Nat. Hist. of the County of Dublin, vol. i. p. 4. + The observation was made in Mecklenburgh Street. The observatory at Dunsink is in lat. 53° 27′ lon. 6° 20′. Observations on the Climate of Ireland, by W. Patterson, M.D. Dublin, 1804, p. 162. be necessary to have a series of observations made for a number of years, and at various places, distant from each other. I have, however, to return thanks to several respectable friends who furnished me with such information as they were able to procure. To General Vallancey and Mr. John Leslie Foster, I am indebted for a register of the rain-guage kept at the Botanic Garden, belonging to the Dublin Society. I am under great obligations also to Archdeacon Hill, of Limerick, who obtained for me from the widow of the late Dr. Crump, whose polite attention to my request I also acknowledge, a journal kept by her late husband at Limerick during the year 1795; and I cannot help regretting the premature death of that ingenious physician, whose talents and knowledge qualified him in an eminent degree for being useful to his country. Dr. M'Donnell, of Belfast, procured me much information from that place. My thanks are due also to Mr. Aldworth of the county of Cork, and Mr. Phelps of Limerick, for their communications; nor must I forget Mr. Robertson of Kilkenny, who has distinguished himself not only by his skill in horticulture, but by a laudable desire to cultivate and improve every branch of useful knowledge connected with his profession. The subjoined table,* containing the quantities of rain which fell at different parts of Great Britain, lying chiefly on the western coast of the island, during the course of five years, that is, from 1788 to 1792, inclusive, was drawn up by the late Dr. Garnet, and is here introduced, as the Rev. Mr. Sampson refers to it in his remarks on the quantity of rain which falls at Londonderry. It is to be observed, that Kendal bears north, 30° west from London, distant 226 miles, measured on a great circle of the earth, and according to the observations of Mr. Dalton, the town is elevated about forty-six yards above the level of the sea; Keswick bears north, 30° west; from Kendal 22 English miles, measured on a great circle, and according to Crosthwaite, is elevated about seventy-six yards above the level of the sea. Fellfoot lies at the south end of Winandermere, where the lake contracts into a river, and is about twenty-six yards above the level of the sea. These places are surrounded by high hills, some of which rise to the height of more than a thousand yards above the level of the sea. Salford joins to Manchester, and Youngsbury is near Ware in Hertfordshire, 20 miles north of London. The difference in the quantities of rain which fell in these different places, according to this table, is surprising. Much more falls in hilly than in level countries. 8 LONDONDERRY.-LAT. 55° 0'. LONG. 7° 17'. The Rev. Mr. Sampson, in his Survey of Londonderry,* gives the following Tables in regard to the climate of that place, from the papers of his friend the late Dr. Patterson. On the above tables the author makes the following remarks:-"To what degree the climate of Ireland, when compared with others, should be deemed wet, a few observations will tend to ascertain. By the rain-gauge in the preceding summary, it appears that the maximum annual quantity at Londonderry in the space of seven years, does not amount to 35 inches, the minimum is below 26 inches, and the mean is 31-118147. The greatest quantity that I have found to fall in this place did not exceed 36 inches, whereas, at Keswick in Cumberland, the maximum amounts to the enorVOL. I. 2 C mous quantity of 84.6051. the minimum to 34.3057, and the mean to 68.5 inches. At Kendal, in Westmoreland, the rates are nearly the same. The medium quantity in Ireland, at large, is from 24 to 28 inches. Taking the annual quantity of rain that falls on the east coast of England, which is rarely less than 18 inches, and the maximum of the west coast of that country, the average will exceed 54 inches, and we cannot suppose that Scotland would produce a lower. "The frequency of our showers in Ireland, and not the quantity of rain, has given rise to the popular notion of the peculiar wetness of our climate; but I hope I have brought cogent arguments to shew that, in this respect, it is neither hurtful to animal nor vegetable life, and that in fact it is not comparatively humid and rainy. Sometimes in spring, the seed time is retarded a little by the wetness of the weather, but our spring seasons are so often cold and backward, that early sowing is not always most eligible in this district. "If, in summer and autumn, frequent showers render the hay and grain harvests brittle, vigilance and industry would, on these emergencies, be as successful as they are in the catching harvests of England, and improved culture would prepare the crops to meet the exertions of the husbandman. "During nine years, from 1795 to 1803 inclusive, the winds were: north 295, south 398, east 283, west 1005, north-west 737, north-east 265, south-west 599, south-east 454. "Of sixteen terms noted at Derry, from 1795 to 1802 inclusive, the mean heat was 49°, which corresponds with the highest medium temperature of the earth in the same place, ascertained by experiment. The maximum of the sixteen terms was 81°, the minimum 17°. "At Derry, in twelve years, from 1791 to 1802 inclusive, the medium number of fair days was above 126; the maximum 148, minimum 113. It appears from nine years observation, that the medium number of fair days at Belfast is also above 126; maximum 161, minimum 90.* The yearly number of fair days at Dublin, is from 168 to 205, and the middle number is 179. At Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, in the year 1798, there were 233 fair days. Taking twenty-three terms in Derry, Belfast, Dublin, and Edgeworthstown, from 1783 to 1802, the medium number is nearly 140; so that even the annual mean of fair days, in the kingdom at large, may be stated at nineteen above the third.”+ → Dr. Patterson supposes this to be a mistake, since it does not rate in proportion with the maximum. + Essay on the Climate of Ireland, by W. Patterson, M.D, Dublin, 1804, p. 164. |