The winter of 1870-71 will always be remembered as that during which the siege of Paris was carried on, and the last scenes of the Franco-Prussian war took place. As Flammarion justly remarks, this winter will be classed among severe winters, because of the extreme cold in December and January (notwithstanding the mild weather of February), and also because of the fatal influence which the cold exercised upon the public health at the close of the war with Germany. 'The great equatorial current,' he proceeds (meaning, no doubt, the winds which blow over the prolongation of the Gulf Stream), 'which generally extends to Norway, stopped this year at Spain and Portugal, the prevailing wind being from the north. On the 5th of December there was a temperature of 5 degrees, and on the 8th, at Montpellier, the thermometer stood at 17.6 degrees. A second period of cold set in on the 22nd of December, lasting until the 5th of January. In Paris the Seine was blocked with ice, and seemed likely to become frozen over. On the 24th there were 21.6 degrees of frost, and at Montpellier, on the 31st, 28.8 degrees. It is well known that many of the outposts around Paris, and several of the wounded who had been lying for fifteen hours upon the field, were found frozen to death. From the 9th to the 15th of January a third period of cold set in, the thermometer marking 17.6 degrees' (14.4 degrees of frost) 'at Paris, and 8.6 degrees at Montpellier. The most curious fact was that the cold was greater in the south than in the north of France. At Brussels the lowest temperatures were 11.1 degree in December and 8.2 degrees in January. There were forty days' frost at Montpellier, forty-two at Paris, and forty-seven at Brussels during these two months. Finally, the winter average (December, January, and February) was 35.2 degrees in Paris, whereas the general average is 37.9 degrees.' In the north of Europe this was also a very hard winter, though the cold set in at a different time than that noted for France. There were forty degrees of frost at Copenhagen on February 12--that is, the temperature was 5 degrees below zero. By the documents which M. Renon furnished Flammarion with for France, 'I discover,' says the latter, 'a minimum of 9.4 degrees below zero at Périgueux, and of 13 degrees below zero at Moulins! I find by the documents supplied me by Mr. Glaisher,' he proceeds, 'that he also considers the winter of 1870-71 as appertaining to the class of winters memorable for their severity.' Lastly, in the winter which as I write (February 10, 1879) seems to be nearly over, we have had for December a mean temperature of only 31 degrees in the midlands--the coldest December known there, followed by a January so cold that the mean temperature for the midlands was only 29.8 degrees. Mr. G.J. Symons, the well-known meteorologist, says of the past winter, that January was the coldest for at least twenty-one, and he believes for forty-one