PHYSICS OF THE GLOBE. 193 



astrous famines by instituting a comprehensive system of hy- 

 draulic engineering, such that the surplus rains of one season 

 may be husbanded for use in time of need. 



Perhaps the greatest boon possible to confer upon Ceylon 

 and India will be the restoration of the ancient system of 

 tanks and irrigation, by which, a thousand years ago, the des- 

 olating effects of a scarcity of water were almost complete- 

 ly averted. Similar tanks will, at some future day, doubtless 

 be introduced into our own western country. 



Mr. Meld rum read a memoir before the British Association 

 at Plymouth, showing that the number and severity of the 

 cyclones in the Indian Ocean during 1875, 1876, and 1877 

 had been much below the average, and entirely confirmed 

 the hypothesis of an eleven-year cycle. 



Mr. O. A. Derby, of Rio Janeiro, communicates to Nature 

 for August 8 a table of Rainfall in Tropical Brazil, showing 

 that the relation between rainfall and sun-spots, as deduced 

 by Dr. Hunter for India, holds good also for Brazil. 



In Nature for September 26 are two important papers by 

 C. Meldrum and F. Chambers respectively; the former dis- 

 cusses Rainfall at Madras, Edinburgh, and Paris, and the lat- 

 ter discusses Barometric Pressure at Bombay. Both make 

 out a series of remarkable parallels between sun-spots and 

 terrestrial meteorology. 



The latest communication on this subject is from J. A. 

 Broun, in Nature, November 7, where he enumerates several 

 conclusions bearing on the researches of Chambers and oth- 

 ers. With regard to the question of the generality of their 

 results, he concludes first, years of greatest and least mean 

 pressure are the same for all India ; second, the apparent re- 

 lation to the decennial period, found by Mr. C. Chambers for 

 Bombay, holds good for all India. 



Professor M. Williams, in a letter to the London Times of 

 November 7, states that "from his observations of the pres- 

 ent condition of the disk of the sun, in connection with vari- 

 ous atmospheric phenomena, the Madras astronomer Pogson 

 prophesied, in 1876, a recurrence of the drought and famine 

 that occurred in 1877 



hh 5' 



Mr. C. Meldrum has distributed some copies of his article 

 on Sun-spots and Rainfall, extracted from the Mauritius Al- 

 manac and Register, in which he gives a connected account 



I 



