nadian Journal. we regard this more full statement as due both the bodies to which we have been indebted in this matter.

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ARTICLE V.-On the cold term of January, 1859, from observations taken at St. Martin, Isle Jésus, C. E., Lat. 45° 32′ N., Long. 73° 36′ W., 118 feet above the level of the Sea. By CHARLES SMALLWOOD, M.D., LL D., Professor of Meteorology in the University of McGill College, Montreal.

(Presented to the Natural History Society of Montreal.)

The unprecedented cold term of January, 1859, has induced me to place on record the principal atmospheric phenomena with. which it was accompanied. Its advent possessed some peculiar features, not common to the normal or usual cold terms of this climate. It is much to be regretted that we possess no regular and extended system of meteorological observations, upon which we can found conclusions as to the centre or turning point of the storm. All that we know at the present is, that its course was eastward, and that its duration and intensity were remarkable.

The weather at the beginning of January, was somewhat mild, the mean temperature of the 1st day, was 30°9 F. The thermometer fell on the morning of the 3rd to-4°, and was followed on the 4th day by light snow. The wind was from the N. E. by E. with a mean velocity of, from 9-18 to 4.17 miles per hour. The barometer on the 3rd indicated 30.416 inches. The wind, at noon on the 5th, veered by the South to S. by E., and the barometer fell to 29 621 inches. At 3 am., on the 6th it veered to the S. W. with a rising barometer. The CANADIAN NAT.

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VOL. IV. No. 2.

mean of the temperature on the 5th was 34°6, and on the 6th 27°3. At sunrise on the 7th day, the wind veered to N. E. by E. with a decrease in the barometric column; the lowest temperature recorded was 17°1 and the highest 36°7; snow commence to fall at 1 a.m., and ceased at 3-15 p.m., and indicated a fall of 2.16 inches; rain then set in and continued to fall till 10 p.m., and amounted to 0.021 inches; the wind veered at 10 p.m. by the North to W. by S.; the mean velocity attained during the night was 36-22 miles per hour and very squally; heavy cumulo-strati clouds were passing and occasional slight precipitation of snow took place in the shape of slight snow-showers during the night, and until day break, and at 3 a.m. On Saturday the 8th day the thermometer indicated 0 (zero), barometer 29.576 wind, W. by S., and varying from 13.22 to 18.33 miles per hour. The thermometer continued falling and attained a record of temperature, I believe unequalled in Canada, both as to its intensity and its duration. The following table indicates the temperature:

Saturday, 8th January, 1859, 3 a.m.

0°0 F.

7 a.m.
Noon.

307

This table shows a period of 124 hours 30 minutes during which the temperature was below zero-mercury froze in open vessels; but the column of mercury in the tube of the thermometer did not cease to contract at the lowest temperature-43°6 (below zero); and Dr. Kane in his arctic voyages mentions the fact that the mercurial column descended as low as-44°; and Sir E. Belcher is said to have observed the mercurial thermometer as low as-46°. The mean temperature of Sunday the 9th, was -27°8; and of Monday the 10th-29°0; and of Tuesday-28°2 The barometer attained at 10 p.m. on Sunday the 9th the unusual height of 30.614 inches, the mean velocity of the wind during the day which was from the E. N. E. was 8.89 miles per hour.

On the 10th the wind was from the S. W. by S., mean velocity 0-08 miles per hour. The Aurora Berealis was visible on the nights of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but not attended with any great display.

The cold term ended by a fall of snow which commenced at 9.45 p.m. on the 12th, and ceased at 6-10 a.m. on the 13th day, and amounted to 1.10 inches in depth.

This cold term was felt generally throughout Canada and the Eastern States, and seems to have travelled from the west, eastward. At Rochester the extreme cold was felt some hours earlier than at this place, which is 4°15′ west of this observatory, and 398 feet higher above the Sea-level, there-10° below zero was the minimum temperature. At Brooklyn near New-York, it was -9°, and is the lowest temperature recorded there for the last 70 years. At Boston it reached -14°, at Toronto -38°, at Quebec -40°1, at Huntingdon about 60 miles south of this place the mercurial thermometer indicated -44°, and mercury is said to have been frozen quite hard in 15 minutes when exposed in a saucer. The Ozonometer indicated during the excessive cold but a moderate degree, varying from 3 to 5 of Schonbein's scale.

The electrical state of the atmosphere, indicated positive signs,

and its mean intensity during the cold term was about 5° degrees of intensity in term of Voltas' Electrometer, No. 1.

The indications of the Psychrometer at these low temperatures, appears somewhat remarkable and perhaps defective, the Ice coated Bulb, indicated at the lowest temperature a little more than a degree higher then the dry bulb, and this continued so with a decreasing temperature, but as the temperature gradually rose the ice coated bulb indicated as usual a lower temperature then the dry bulb, which would lead to the supposition that at these extreme cold points, the ice formed rather a sheath or covering over the bulb and prevented the uniform and gradual contractions for decrease of temperature consequent on evaporation in the mercurial column, corresponding to the dry bulb, and it was also observed that the ice coated bulb was not so easily affected by slight increase of temperature as generally takes place at more moderate indications.

I have not seen the fact noticed, and would call the attention of observers to this point, but these remarks are only applicable to the extreme cold temperatures above noticed, and of which we have had hitherto so few examples.

St. Martin, Isle Jésus, C. E.,

March 1, 1859.

ARTICLE VI.-Report on the Fisheries of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. By H. M. PERLEY, Esq., Her Majesty's Emigration Officer at Saint John, N.B.

(Continued from our last.)

THE MACKEREL.

The common Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) abounds in the Gulf of St Lawrence, and is one of the chief objects of pursuit. with the numerous fleets of American fishing vessels, which are to be found yearly in every part of the Gulf. The Americans begin fishing for Mackerel, in the Gulf, on the first of July, and finish at the end of September; but the resident fisherman might begin this fishing earlier, and continue it until the very close of the season.

Mr. MacGregor describes the Mackerel of the Gulf as being of much finer flavour than those caught on the shores of Europe. It has been generally supposed that the Mackerel was a fish of passage, performing certain periodical migrations--making long