MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, ST. MARTIN, ISLE JESUS, CANADA EAST-DECEMBER, 1861. Barom. corrected (NINE MILES WEST OF MONTREAL.) BY CHARLES SMALLWOOD, M.D., LL.D. Latitude-45 deg, 32 min. North. Longitude-73 deg. 36 min. West, Height above the Level of the Sea-118 feet. Temp. of the Direction of Wind. Horizontal Movement 24 hours. t'nths 6A M. 2 P. M. 10 P. M. MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER, ST. MARTIN, ISLE JESUS, CANADA EAST-JANUARY, 1861. (NINE MILES WEST OF MONTREAL.) BY CHARLES SMALLWOOD, M. D., LL.D. Latitude-45 deg. 32 min. North. Longitude-73 deg. 36 min. West. Height above the Level of the Sea-118 feet. 6A.M. 2P.M. 10PM. 29.482 28.863 29.268 19.1 914 6.5 997 -11.4 903 840 918-16.1-1.0 2.3 3.0 4.7 870 931 30.186 8.0 24.0 749 30.025 19.0 17.4 8 30.317 30.101 29.824 9 29.804 29.797 811 10 752 450 319 22.2 8.0 30.0 37.0 19.2 21.1 11 30.088 30.02830.007 9.4 1.3 12 29.510 29.328 29.376 1.0 14.2 925 30.188 30.410-1.0-1.2-10.3.036 028.015.84.68.55 W N WNwbw W 14 30.561 565 568-27.7 0.0-5.0.009-028-025.89.56.80 NEBENEBENE BE 15 651 29.774 29.510 2.0 15.4 17.0.030-065-073-80-74.83 N EbENEbENEbE 16 29.698 26.0 10.0.087.123.045.84.87.68 NEbENW bw W 6.11.6.026.035.034.80.61.84 wbN WNW WNW 7.0.014.034.022.53.71.69 W N w wbNwb N 6.6.019.028.026.43.68.80 w b N wbNwb N -2.9.020.042.032.76.86.83 w b 8 wbNwSW 3.7.021.044.046.77.84.87 NE b EN EDESSE 7.0.048.100.048.77-79.77 wbs W 24.4.020.084.111.66-71.86 17 30.367 30.278 2962.0 17.4 18 228 054 036 19 29.995 29.884 29.927 20 894 851 967 21 30.119 30.176 30.097 22 089 151 114 8.4 18.1 23 094 052 139 17.4 33.6 24 241 019 174 8.4 22.1 25 29.946 29.741 29-618 14.1 24.1 26 571 647 867 20.0 25.2 27 30.184 30.314 30.666 12.1 28 414 274 253-15.5 29 29.886 29.814 29.874 3.0 80 954 967 30.050 31/30.315 30.831 345 15.1 21.2 3.0 20.1 19.2.041-081-087-74-77.84 N E bENEBENEbe 205.40 5.5 1.01 Do. 10. Cu. Str. 10. Do. 10. 17.1 20.1 19.1.098-091-091-83-85.85 N E b ENEBENEbE 366.10 5.5 7.00 Snow. Snow. Snow. REMARKS ON THE ST. MARTIN, ISLE JESUS, METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER FOR DECEMBER, 1861. Rain fell on 5 days, amounting to 1.306 inches; it was raining 31 hours, and was accompanied by Thunder on 1 day. Snow fell on 7 days, amounting to 8.27 inches; it was snowing 80 hours and 55 minutes. Most prevalent wind, W. S. W. Least prevalent wind, N. Most windy day, the 11th day; mean miles per hour, 27.18. Least windy day, the 31st day; mean miles per hour, 0.25. Aurora Borealis visible on 3 nights. Solar Halo visible on 3 days. Lunar Halo visible on 3 nights. The Electrical state of the Atmosphere has indicated high intensity. Winter fairly set in on the 23rd day. Encke's comet visible. REMARKS ON THE ST. MARTIN, ISLE JESUS, METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER Snow fell on 13 days amounting to 36.85 inches. It was snowing 95 hours and 28 minutes. Most prevalent wind, the N. E. by E. Least prevalent wind, the S. Most windy day, the 27th; mean miles per hour, 19.85. Least windy day, the 17th; Calm. Aurora Borealis visible on 3 nights. Lunar Halo very bright on 1 night. Zodiacal light bright (but Venus presents an early and well defined view.) Postscript.-MR. CHAPMAN wishes to announce, for the information of correspondents and others, that, with the issue of the present Number, his connexion with the Canadian Journal as General Editor, is brought to a close. A projected visit to Europe, combined with the pressure of other work, has compelled him to place his resignation in the hands of the Editing Committee. He is happy to add, however, that the Journal will be carried on, at least for the present, under the able management of Professor HINCKS of University College, Toronto. March, 1862. THE CANADIAN JOURNAL No. XXXIX.-MAY, 1862. NEW SERIES. NOTES ON ANCHOR ICE. BY T. C. KEEFER, ESQ. CIVIL ENGINEER. Read before the Canadian Institute, February 1st, 1862. THOSE who visit Montreal for the first time during the season of navigation, will be struck with the absence of warehouses upon or near the wharves; and-unless previously informed of the fact-will be surprised to learn that those wharves, at which transatlantic vessels are loading and discharging, are, for four months in the year, invisible, -being submerged from the middle of December until the middle of April:- that the Sault Normand, opposite the city, is obliterated, and that, over the track of that swift current which can now only be stemmed by the most powerful steamers, winter roads for the heaviest description of traffic are regularly balizéed out, and maintained, for one-third or one-fourth of the year. The average winter level of the St. Lawrence, opposite Montreal, is about fifteen feet above the summer one, but the extreme range from the lowest summer level has, at the taking or departure of the ice, sometimes attained a maximum of twenty-five feet. A full and graphic description of the causes which bring about this VOL. VII. M winter elevation of a mighty river, where it is beyond the tidal influence, and while its volume is daily diminishing, will be found in a paper "On the Packing of Ice in the River St. Lawrence," by Sir William Logan, published in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London for 1842. This rise of the river at least so far as to secure the formation of a winter road in front of the city-has always been viewed with satisfaction rather than alarm, and is confined to the section below the Lachine Rapids. Above the Rapids the level is uninfluenced by the annual icepacks below it; and as the current is very strong,-the fall between Lake St. Louis and the head of the rapids being about three feet per mile average-the river is open throughout the winter, and is navigated by a steam ferry-boat between Lachine and Caughnawaga. But, in the latter part of January, 1857, after a cold "term of unexampled severity and duration-long after the ice had taken opposite the city, and when, according to all previous experience, no farther rise was to be apprehended, either above or below the rapids, until the "break up" in the spring-the River, above the Lachine Rapids (where it is always unfrozen,) rose suddenly four to five feet, pouring an Arctic current down the aqueduct of the new Water Works. A few feet more of elevation would have sent the river over its banks, and the consequences might have been most serious. Such intense cold was followed, as is usnal, by a rapid rise of temperature, whereupon the water fell about two feet, but thereafter remained for weeks at least two feet above its ordinary level. There is a tradition of something similar having occurred about seventy years ago, but this was not heard of until after the irruption; all recent experience and inquiry going to shew that after the ice has taken, the water in this reach lowers gradually with slight fluctuations until the spring. This flashing above the rapids was independent of any movement of the fixed ice below, either opposite Montreal or in the Laprarie Basin, the levels of which remained undisturbed. Another peculiarity wasthe absence of any visible cause; no ice had descended or was descending, and on the surface nothing but blue water was to be seen. The continuous descent, for days and weeks before the river is frozen over above the city, of large masses of ice which being arrested below would dam back the water, is sufficient to account for the rise at Montreal; but in this case there was no descending ice, the Lake St. Louis |