In St. Petersburg, nevertheless, the thermometer falls much more frequently to a very low point than in Moscow, where the average temperature for the whole winter is considerably higher than in the newer capital. The climate of St. Petersburg oscillates continually between two extremes. In summer the heat often rises to + 30^ (99° of Fahrenheit), and in winter the cold as often falls to — 30° (55° below Fahrenheit's zero). This gives to the temperature a range of 154° of Fahrenheit, which probably exceeds that of any other city in Europe. It is not merely in the course of the year, however, but in the course of the same twenty-four hours, that the temperature is liable to great variations. In summer, after a hot sultry morning, a rough wind will set in towards evening, and drive the thermometer down 12'" immediately. In winter also there is often a difference of 12° or 18° between the temperature of the morning and that of the night. It would be impossible to preserve existence in such a cHmate, if man did not endeavour to counteract its fickleness by his own unchangeableness. In Germany, where the transitions are less sudden, we endeavour to follow the vagaries of the weather, by putting on a cloak one day and leaving it off the next, by putting an additional log or two into the stove, or by economising our fuel. In St. Petersburg people are less variable in their arrangements. The winter is considered to begin in October and end in May, and in the beginning of October every man puts on his furs, which are calculated for the severest weather that can come, and these furs are not laid aside again till the winter is legitimately and confessedly at an end. The stoves, meanwliile, are always kept heated in winter, that the house may never cool. Inconsiderate foreigners attempt sometimes to follow the caprices of the climate, and often pay for their temerity with illness and death.
It is only when the cold falls to an unusual degree of severity than any change takes place. When the thermometer stands at — 20° every man pricks up his ears, and becomes a careful observer of its risings and fallings. At — 23° or 24° the police are put on the alert, and the officers go round day and night, to see that the sentinels and butshniks keep awake. Should any one be found nodding at his post, he is summarily and severely punished, for sleep at such a time is a sure state of transition from life to death. At — 25"' all the theatres are closed, as it is then thought impossible to adopt the necessary precautions for the safety of the actors on the stage, and of the coachmen and servants waiting in the street. The pedestrians, who at other times are rather leisurely in their movements, now run along the streets as though they were hastening on some mission of life and death, and the sledges dash in tempo celeratissimo over the creaking snow. I don't know the reason, but 20°
Throughout the present work, Reaumur's thermometer must always be understood to be the standai-d by which the temperature is measured. Eiich degree of Reaumur is equivalent to 2i« of Fahrenheit of cold in St. Petersburg signify a great deal more than in Germany, and are attended by more injurious consequences. Faces are not to be seen in the streets, for every man has drawn his furs over his head, and leaves but little of his countenance uncovered. Everyone is uneasy about his nose and his ears ; and as the freezing of these desirable appendages to the human face divine is not preceded by any uncomfortable sensation to warn the sufferer of his danger, he has enough to think of if he wish to keep his extremities in order. " Father, father, thy nose !" one man will cry to another as he passes him, or will even stop and apply a handful of snow to the stranger's face, and endeavour, by briskly rubbing the nasal prominence, to restore the suspended circulation. These are salutations to which people are accustomed, and as no man becomes aware of the fact when his own nose has assumed the dangerous chalky hue, custom prescribes among all who venture into the streets, a kind of mutual observance of each other's noses, a custom by which many thousands of these valued organs are yearly rescued from the clutches of the Russian Boreas. A man's eyes at this season cost him some trouble likewise, for they are apt to freeze up every now and then. On such occasions it is customary to knock at the door of the first house you come to, and ask permission to occupy a place for a few minutes by the stove. This is a favour never denied, and the stranger seldom fails to acknowledge it on his departure, by diopping a grateful tear on the hospitable floor.