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§G Letters written during the late Voxjage of Discovery more remarkable thnn another appear while we are here, you shall have an account of it. As October drew to a close, and the sun was preparing to leave us, the appearance of the heavensathis rising and setting was sin gularly beautiful: a rich bluish purple bordering the horizon and gradually passing into a deep red above. Such was the mildness (that is to say what we reckon mildness) of the weather at the same time, that the thermometer which on the 22d stood at 3° be low zero, rose on the 23d, to 6°, on the 24th, to 1°, on the 25th, to 5°, on the 26th, to 4°, all above zero, and again on the 27th fell down to 4° below zero. It was also observed that, on deck and the outside of the Hecla, the temperature was always from 2° to 5° and and even J° higher than on the beach ; an effect produced doubt less by the comparative warmth arising from the fires and the peo ple on board. In the last three days of the month the thermo meter sunk to 28° below zero : but in the course of the S 1st, it re mained for some time at only 4° below that point. During all these days we had only light breezes off the land, and generally fine weather. It has been frequently, indeed I may say constant ly remarked, that when the wind blows from the northwards no particular coldness is indicated by the thermometer more than in winds from the opposite quarter. When it blows fresh, however, From any point of the compass, the thermometer always rises or indicates an increased temperature ; although at that very time the cold, if we judge by our feelings when exposed to the wind, appears much more intense than in calm weather, even with a lower indication of the thermometer. If in the course of our ob servations we discover any fixed correspondence between the rise and fall of the instrument, and the strength or feebleness of the wind, you shall be informed of our discoveries. By being exposed for a course of months to the variations, and often to the intense severity of the northern and arctic climates, our bodies have, by a happy fitness of structure and susceptibility, become so far habituated to the state of the atmosphere, that it appears to me, and to others also, like a dream, to find that we can, without serious inconvenience, perform all necessary operations in the open air, whilst the thermometer indicates a temperature of which in England you can have no experience. I remember to have read, some years ago, of experiments of a contrary nature made in London, by several scientific persons, in the view of dis covering how high a degree of artificial heat they could sustain. The results I do not now recollect, but the thermometrical degree was greatly above what could be supposed. To whatever extent human beings and other animals may possess this power of adap tation, not so is it with metallic bodies ; for we always found them to assimilate themselves precisely to the temperature in which