DEDICATION. TO THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY. MY LORDS, HAVING accumulated evidences of the Recurring Monthly Periods of the Atmospheric Actions, and which seem to be the indication of some general and all-pervading law; and proposing to test their validity by an appeal to the tribunal of public opinion, I was anxious to obtain the sanction of your Lordships' name, as the most appropriate and honourable distinction I could receive. Because 1st. Your Lordships are the only department of the Government that have had, and still continue to have, any connection with Meteorology, as at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and in the Hydrographical Office at the Admiralty. 2nd. From your Lordships' most munificent patronage bestowed upon the Magnetical and Meteorological Observations at under the direction of the Greenwich, Astronomer Royal. 3rd. From the noble series of Polar Voyages undertaken and published by your Lordships' orders, and which contain those most accurate and valuable tables, from which I derived the first ideas and confirmation of the Monthly Periodic Actions, amid the vicissitudes of the Polar Regions. 4th. From the special favour and kindness I experienced from Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, in permitting me the use of many documents from the Hydrographical Office, while under his direction. Having derived the principal portion of my facts from works undertaken and expressly published by the Admiralty, which has fostered and sustained some of the noblest pursuits, it is not only decorous, but natural, to offer my humble tribute of grateful appre ciation. Moreover, from being in the Naval Service, to whom could I more becomingly apply than to your Lordships, as I had uniformly obtained the strongest recommendations from all under whom I had served, from "Haslar" to "the Voyage of the Chanticleer' inclusive. The advantageous privilege so graciously conceded excites the most earnest desire not to disparage such distinguished patronage, and with a grateful estimation of your condescension, CONTENTS. A general and cursory View of the Transfer of Heat, producing difference of Seasons in distant Inducements to the study of Meteorology.-Epitome of 23-48 The Climate of London compared with that of Melville Island, 1819-1820. The Aurora Borealis at London and Melville Island simultaneously.— b |