As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, you, I trust, will
not be displeased to hear the particulars, and especially when I promise
to say no more about the severities of winter after I have finished this
letter.
The first week in December was very wet, with the barometer very low. On
the 7th, with the barometer at 28.5 degrees--came on a vast snow, which
continued all that day and the next, and most part of the following
night; so that by the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite
overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground
covered twelve or fifteen inches without any drifting. In the evening of
the 9th the air began to be so very sharp that we thought it would be
curious to attend to the motions of a thermometer; we therefore hung out
two, one made by Martin and one by Dollond, which soon began to show us
what we were to expect; for by ten o'clock they fell to 21 degrees, and
at eleven to 4 degrees, when we went to bed. On the 10th, in the
morning, the quicksilver of Dollond's glass was down to half a degree
below zero; and that of Martin's, which was absurdly graduated only to
four degrees above zero, sank quite into the brass guard of the ball; so
that when the weather became most interesting this was useless. On the
10th, at eleven at night, though the air was perfectly still, Dollond's
glass went down to one degree below zero! This strange severity of the
weather made me very desirous to know what degree of cold there might be
in such an exalted and near situation as Newton. We had, therefore, on
the morning of the 10th, written to Mr. ---, and entreated him to hang
out his thermometer, made by Adams, and to pay some attention to it
morning and evening, expecting wonderful phenomena, in so elevated a
region, at two hundred feet or more above my house. But, behold! on the
10th, at eleven at night, it was down only to 17 degrees, and the next
morning at 22 degrees, when mine was at 10 degrees! We were so disturbed
at this unexpected reverse of comparative local cold, that we sent one of
my glasses up, thinking that of Mr. --- must, somehow, be wrongly
constructed.
But, when the instruments came to be confronted, they went exactly
together; so that, for one night at least, the cold at Newton was 18
degrees less than at Selborne; and, through the whole frost, 10 degrees
or 12 degrees; and, indeed, when we came to observe consequences, we
could readily credit this; for all my laurustines, bays, ilexes,
arbutuses, cypresses, and even my Portugal laurels, and (which occasions
more regret) my fine sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up; while, at
Newton, the same trees have not lost a leaf.
We had steady frost on the 25th, when the thermometer in the morning was
down to 10 degrees with us, and at Newton only to 21 degrees. Strong
frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency to thaw was observed;
and, by January 3rd, 1785, the thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell.
A circumstance that I must not omit, because it was new to us, is, that
on Friday, December 10th, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy
_spiculae_, floating in all directions, like atoms in a sunbeam let into
a dark room. We thought them at first particles of the rime falling from
my tall hedges; but were soon convinced to the contrary, by making our
observations in open places where no rime could reach us. Were they
watery particles of the air frozen as they floated, or were they
evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted?
We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early information they
gave us; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, etc., into the
cellar, and warm closets; while those who had not, or neglected such
warnings, lost all their store of roots and fruits, and had their very
bread and cheese frozen.
I must not omit to tell you that, during these two Siberian days, my
parlour cat was so electric, that had a person stroked her, and been
properly insulated, the shock might have been given to a whole circle of
people.
I forgot to mention before, that, during the two severe days, two men,
who were tracing hares in the snow, had their feet frozen, and two men,
who were much better employed, had their fingers so affected by the
frost, while they were thrashing in a barn, that a mortification
followed, from which they did not recover for many weeks.
This frost killed all the furze and most of the ivy, and in many places
stripped the hollies of all their leaves. It came at a very early time
of the year, before old November ended; and yet may be allowed from its
effects to have exceeded any since 1730-40.