The proximate cause of the exceedingly fatal character of the disease at this seaport is probably to be found in the effluvia engendered by the extensive tract of marshy land, called the “Cloffocks,” adjoining the river Derwent, and in the immediate vicinity of the town. What is most remarkable, the first case of cholera at Workington occurred on the same day of the same month, in the same house, and even in the same room in the said house, where the epidemic first broke out in the summer of 1832. There is no peculiarity in the situation of the house, nor can any reason be assigned for this most singular coincidence. I am informed that very few insects were seen about the river, and, during the height of the disease, the rooks entirely forsook their old-established quarters in the grounds adjoining the Hall.[29]
October.—Cold, with an average fall of rain (5¼ inches.) The mean temperature is 2°·5 below the average. The grain crops were above an average in point of quantity, and they were got under cover in excellent condition. Garden fruit, as pears, apples, &c., were not so plentiful as usual. On the evening of the 28th, that rare phenomenon a lunar rainbow, was seen from the grounds at Tarn Bank, near Cockermouth, by Isaac Fletcher, Esq., to whom I am indebted for the following description of it:—
In the early part of the evening the sky was clear, but at 8h 30m a dense mist rose from the river Derwent and entirely overspread a large segment of the northern horizon; whilst to the south, the atmosphere continued comparatively clear, the moon, within four days of full, shining brightly near the meridian. About 9h 10m, there was a faint luminous arch in the north, which was evidently a lunar rainbow, or rather a fog-bow, for no rain whatever was visible at the time. The light reflected by the arch was white, and perfectly free from prismatic colour. Its breadth was considerable, perhaps 4° or 5°, and its centre or highest part, passed close under the star [Greek:b] Ursæ Majoris, so that the extreme altitude of the arch was probably about 18° or 20°. The edges were not sharply defined, but gradually shaded off. It was noticed that the denser the fog became, the more apparent was the arch, and vice versa, so that the phenomenon could not have been of an auroral character. The phenomenon was watched for ten or fifteen minutes, when the gradual dispersion of the fog, by destroying the refracting medium, put an end to this interesting appearance.
November.—As usual, a very dull, damp month, with but little difference between the temperature of the days and nights. Temperature 1°·20 above the average.
Early on the morning of the 2d, a swallow was seen on the wing in the immediate vicinity of this town. The maximum temperature of the day was 55°. Between the 9th and 12th inclusive, the extremes of day and night temperature only varied 2 degrees.
December.—A fine dry month with occasional frosty nights. Temperature 2°·15, and rain 2·19 inches below the average. Two loud peals of thunder and much lightning on the night of the 14th.
The remarkable meteor observed at Edinburgh on the evening of the 19th, and minutely described by Professor Forbes who witnessed it, was also seen at Whitehaven under the same circumstances and at the same time.
Last Quarter.—The mean temperature of the last quarter of 1849 is 1°·15 below the average, and the complement of the dew-point is 0°·87 below the mean of the two preceding years. The average depth of rain for the quarter is 14·64 inches; in 1849 the quarterly fall is 12·62 inches, or 2·02 inches under the normal quantity. The deaths in this quarter, in the town and suburbs, are 131, being 4 below the average number.
It is pleasant to have to announce a favourable change in the sanitary condition of this town, and to record the termination of an excessive mortality, which uninterruptedly prevailed for a period of two years and a half; for this is the only quarterly period wherein the deaths have not exceeded the average since March 1846.
In the corresponding quarters of 1846, 1847, and 1848, the deaths were 215, 161, and 176 respectively. The births exceed the deaths by 34.