Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 2.djvu/193

 Lewes, at or below zero. At Bristol and the Hotwells, the lowest observed was 12°. In other winters since that period, a nearly similar difference has been noticed; and even on a more elevated and exposed situation on Clifton Hill, from 180 to 200 feet above the level of the sea, the lowest temperature we ever remarked was 10½, by Six's thermometer.

To any one in the habit of considering such matters, a single glance at the map will suffice to account for these phenomena; and whoever is acquainted with the superficial structure of the southern counties, would be led to expect that the country about Bristol must be comparatively exempt from the severity of the north-east winds which so remarkably pervade the east and south coast in winter, and particularly in spring. The reason is clearly this: the English Appennines which run through the middle of the Kingdom, from Cumberland to the Landsend, in a somewhat curved direction westward, turn aside the bleak north-east winds which sweep along the frozen continent of Russia, Poland and Germany, from the further Tartary and the sea of Otchakof, giving them a south-westerly direction down the coast of the Channel all the way to Cornwall; while the vale of the Severn, the low lands of Somerset and Gloucestershire, are protected by the intervening high lands of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorset, and thus escape, in part, their frigorific influence. So striking has the effect of this geographical barrier been sometimes observed to be, that invalids and valetudinarians who resorted to Devonshire for mild winter quarters, and who felt well and comfortable during the proper winter months, have been compelled