378 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



so nearly anhydrous that such articles as raw hides dry in a tempera- 

 ture just below freezing, without being frozen. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE FALL OF RAIN. 



AT the British Association, Belfast, Col. Sykcs communicated an 

 Analysis of the Mean Daily Temperatures and Fall of Rain at 127 

 Stations in the Bengal Presidency. These observations afforded strik- 

 ing illustrations of the influence of hills and other local and physical 

 causes on the fall of rain ; owing to which the difference in the quan- 

 tities of rain collected at two different stations in the same latitude, 

 and not many miles apart, was often very great. At some stations the 

 enormous quantity of 600 inches were observed in a single year. Col. 

 Sykes also read extracts from a letter from Dr. Buist on four simultaneous 

 experiments in the island of Bombay, to determine the fall of rain at 

 different heights below 200 feet. The results of these observations 

 were indecisive ; but from the discussion which followed it appeared 

 an established fact, that up to a certain height the quantity of rain 

 increased, attained a maximum, and afterwards decreased. Dr. Buist 

 also dwelt upon the numerous exceptions to the admitted rule, that 

 the annular range of the barometer increased, and the diurnal fluctu- 

 ations decreased, as we recede from the equator. In reference to the 

 communication of Col. Sykes, Sir David Brewster showed the influ- 

 ence which the times chosen for observation would have upon the 

 results without regard to this, indeed, the observations might be ut- 

 terly worthless. There are two hours in the day at which the tem- 

 perature is a mean of the day ; the first occurs in these countries at 

 about 9 o'clock, A. M., and the last at about 8 hours 15 minutes, P. M.; 

 the critical interval, as it is called, being thus about 11 hours 15 min- 

 utes. It was of the greatest importance to ascertain whether this 

 interval was the same in India, where the circumstances were so very 

 different. 



EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON CONSUMPTION. 



IT appears that the medical faculty are beginning to question the 

 opinion which has so long prevailed among medical men, that a change 

 of climate is beneficial to persons suffering with the consumption. Sir 

 James Clark, of England, has assailed the doctrine with considerable 

 force, and a French physician, named Carriere, has written against it ; 

 but the most vigorous opponent of it is a Dr. Burgess, of Scotland. 

 Dr. Burgess contends that climate has little or nothing to do with the 

 cure of consumption, and that, if it had, the curative effects would be 

 produced through the skin, and not the lungs. That a warm climate 

 is not in itself beneficial, he shows from the fact that the disease exists 

 in all latitudes. In India and Africa, tropical climates, it is as fre- 

 quent as in Europe and North America. At Malta, right in the heart 

 of the genial Mediterranean, the army reports of England show that 

 one-third of the deaths among the soldiers are by consumption. At Nice, 



