Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 4.djvu/225

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If this is true, and repeated observation has confirmed (with me) the fact, then an inclined slope thus circumstanced, towards the east, has another important advantage; for not only is it sheltered from the east wind, but, after the diminished temperature of night, such an inclined surface is the first to receive, in the most favourable manner, the rays of the morning sun; and in the afternoon, when the sun withdraws behind the hill, the temperature, in the shade, is many degrees above what it was in the morning; besides, it very frequently happens, especially in the colder months, that the sun rises with great splendour, and shines brightly for three or four hours, but, towards midday, clouds gradually form and obscure it: thus the balance of advantages, in this respect, is wholly in favour of an eastern slope. The early disappearance of the sun in the afternoon, at Malvern, has often been deplored in the winter months; and the gloom cast by the shadow of the hill over the village, two or three hours before sunset, when all the plain below is illuminated by his brilliant rays, is not cheering at this season; but, I believe, the decline of temperature is not commensurate with the feelings thus produced.

The ground gradually sloping from the village facilitates, in a material degree, the subsidence of the cold damp air which results from the cooling of the earth by radiation at night; and, very frequently, a dense fog may be seen overspreading the vale below, while the village is quite clear, and enjoying the bright and warm rays of the sun; at such