The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-15 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.

During the whole of yesterday the frost in Lon-
don continued very severe. At 9in the morning
the thermometer at the receiving-house in Hyde-

park stood at 13 deg. only, but between 9 and 12 it
had advanced to 25 deg. It again fell in the after-
noon, until 5 o'clock last night, when it was again
down to 20 deg. Early yesterday morning there
hung over the metropolis a yellow fog, which wos
extremely dense at the east-end. By noon, how-
ever, the fog had pretty well cleared away. As was
expected from the continuance of the frost, the ice on
the waters in the parks, with the exception of the
less exposed part, the western end of the Serpentine,
was tolerably firm, and in good condition for skat-
ing, being, on an average, from 2 to 2i inches in
thickness, and a consideeable number of persons were
thus enabled to enjoy the exercise. A large number
of accidents took place during the day, but noun
were fatal. In the Regent's-park about 3 ,000 persons
were on the ice during the day. The members of
the Skating Club, both ladies and gentlemen, mus-
tered in large numbers. About 2 o'clock, when
there were nearly 2,000 persons on the ice, an alarm
was given that some one had fallen in. A rush took
place towards the spot whence the cries for help
came, and the consequence was the giving way of the
ice in several directions, and no less than 21 persons
were in the water, which was very deep at the spot.

The icemen promptly came to the rescue with their
lines, poles, and wicker boats, and several of them,
who were provided with cork jackets, at once jumped
into the water. In about five minutes they had suc-
ceeded in rescuing the whole of the 21 persons from
their perilous position. One only required medical
attendance, and it was some minutes before he was
restored to consciousness. With the exception of
injuries from falls, no other accident of importance

occurred in the park during the day. On the Long
Water and Round Pond in Kensington-gardens, the

ice was very firm, especially in the former place, and
fully 5,000 persons were on it during the day, in-
cluding a number of ladies and gentlemen of the
Skating Club, who have two spacious tents erected
in the gardens.
The Serpentine was entirely frozen over, brit from
the receiving-house westward the ice was riot more
than half an inch thick, and the park-keepers and
icemen prevented any person from going upon it,
although several persons were foolhardy enough to
desire to do so. At the eastern end, near the Albert
Bridge, the ice was tolerably safe, and several hun-
dreds were upon it during the day. About three
o'clock in the afternoon Mr. J. Harman, of Ports-

down-terrace, Kilburn, had a narrow eseape from
drowning. He was skating very rapidly and the mo-
mentum carried him over the rope laid down where
the ice became dangerous. In asecond he fell through
into water nine feet deep. His shouts for help soon
brought some of the icemen to the spot, but several
minutes elapsed before any effectual aid could be
rendered to him, and he was at last got out ex-
hausted and carried into the receiving-house, where
he was placed in bed and attended by Dr. Christian.
It was not until a late hour in the evening that he
had sufficiently recovered to proceed to his home.
One of the icemen, named James Taylor, also nar-
rowly escaped drowning while attempting to rescue
Mr. Harman, having fallen through the ice into
deep water. In addition to the above seven cases of
severe injury from falls were brought into the re-
ceiving-house and attended. In one of these cases
the skate twisted round the foot of the wearer and
inflicted a deep wound just above the ankle. The
wound was dressed, and the injured man went home
in a cab, he having previously deposited a sum of