EDITOR'S TABLE. 



3 6 7 



the registered vessels of the United 

 Kingdom (Great Britain) was 17i per 

 cent, greater during the maximum two 

 years in the common cycle than during 

 the minimum two years." 



6. It has been further shown by the 

 observations of Baxendell, Meld rum, 

 Rawson, Jelinck, Wex, Dawson, Hen- 

 nessey, Broun, and Brockelsby, that 

 there is a fluctuation in the fall of rain 

 in which the same law may be traced ; 

 that is, " a connection between the va- 

 riations of the sun-spot area and the 

 annual rainfall ; the rainfall rising above 

 the mean when the sun-spot area is 

 in excess, and falling below the mean 

 when in periods of small sun-spots." 

 The monsoons are the great sources of 

 rain- supply at Madras, in India. The 

 rainfall cycle has been traced out in 

 that country, and the deficiency and 

 excess of rain connected with the great 

 solar periodicities. The writers whom 

 we are following say, for example, that 

 " the water-supply brought to Madras 

 by the southern monsoon is 26 per 

 cent, greater in ordinary years than in 

 the years of minimum sun-spots." And 

 again, " there is a rain-cycle of eleven 

 years at Madras which coincides with 

 the cycle of sun-spots ; the periods of 

 maxima and minima in these two cycles 

 disclosing a striking coincidence." 



7. The variation in the rainfall of 

 India involves the food-supply of that 

 country, and is a question of famine and 

 starvation. Observations on the varia- 

 tion of water-supply, in India, of course 

 go no further back than the introduc- 

 tion of rain-gauges. Commencing the 

 inquiry in the year 1810, Messrs. Lock- 

 yer and Hunter say : " The years of fam- 

 ine in Madras since that date have been 

 1811, 1824, 1833, 1S54, 1866, and 1877. 

 These famines were caused by deficient 

 rainfall in the preceding years, name- 

 ly, in 1810, 1823, 1832, 1853, 1865, and 

 1876. Now, five out of these six years 

 of drought fell within the three years' 

 group of minimum rainfall and sun- 

 spots (shown in the foregoing tables) ; 



the remaining drought (1853-'55) ex- 

 tended over a year immediately preced- 

 ing the minimum group, and two years 

 within that group ; the famine itself 

 resulting within the minimum group. 

 Three of the six years of drought fell 

 exactly in years of minimum sun-spots ; 

 one fell in the year preceding a year 

 of minimum sun-spots ; one fell in the 

 second year preceding a year of mini- 

 mum sun-spots ; the remaining drought, 

 lSSS-^, fell in the first, second, and 

 third years preceding a year of mini- 

 mum sun-spots. . . . No famine in Ma- 

 dras has been recorded from 1810 to 

 1877, caused by a drought lying entire- 

 ly outside the minimum group of sun- 

 spots and rainfall." 



"We have here been able only to 

 hint at the points made in the paper 

 referred to. The case is strong, in fact 

 much of it demonstrative, yet it is, of 

 course, most incomplete. Though im- 

 portant practical conclusions have been 

 reached, the investigation is in its crude, 

 preliminary stage, where the truth is 

 caught vaguely and by glimpses rather 

 than seen clearly and by a steady gaze. 

 Yet it is a magnificent research, with 

 already-assured results and a splendid 

 promise. We commend the subject to 

 the consideration of those who hold 

 that science, to be genuine, must have 

 become exact, certain, and perfect. 



THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY. 



We have taken the ground in this 

 periodical, and we abide by it, that the 

 most important of all subjects for gen- 

 eral consideration, and especially for 

 the American people, is the application 

 of science to questions of society and 

 government. When the Monthly start- 

 ed, we obtained from the foremost 

 thinker of our times in this growing- 

 department of inquiry a series of papers, 

 in popular form, designed to present 

 the character and claims, difficulties, 

 limits, and expectations, of a true social 

 science, so as to fix public attention 



