435 



Mr. Fai-ran exhibited to the Academy a Babylonian brick, 

 with cuneiform characters. 



Rev. H. Lloyd, V.P., read the following extract of a letter 

 from the Rev. Thomas Knox, accompanying a tabular view 

 of the results of rain-guages observed at Toomavara, County 

 of Tipperary, by himself, and at Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, by 

 the Rev. Henry B. Knox, during the year 1839 ; together 

 with plates of the rain curves. 



" River Glebe, Nenagh, May 28, 1840. 



" I send the combined results, for the year 1839, of a rain 

 gauge kept by my cousin Henry and of my own ; they are 

 made on the same principle and construction as that of which 

 I sent the previous account. As Toomavara is about forty 

 miles from the west coast of Ireland, and Monks Eleigh, in 

 Suffolk, (where my cousin Henry resides,) about a similar 

 distance from the east coast of England, we think the 

 comparative view of the direction and amount of rain may, 

 perhaps, prove interesting to the Academy. 



" There are a few points to which we wish to draw more 

 particular attention : In the first place, there is a striking re- 

 semblance between the mean curve of the twelve months, 

 and that from Winter to Summer solstice at each place 

 respectively, so that the latter nearly represents the na- 

 ture of the yearly rain of the place — I mean with regard to 

 the point of the compass from which it comes ; this you will 

 see by comparing plates thirteen and eighteen. 



" Again, in the mean for each season, the gveatest 

 amount of rain, at Toomavara, is invariably from S.W., 

 whereas, at Monks Eleigh, in Winter it is from W., in 

 Spring from N., in Summer E., and in Autumn S. 

 Again, when the year is divided into tv»^o periods, from 

 Autumnal to Spring, and from Spring to Autumnal Equinox, 

 the greatest rain, for each period, is at Toomavara from 

 the S. W., and at Monks Eleigh from W. During the 

 entire year, the greatest amount at Toomavara is from 

 the S. W., but at Monks Eleigh from W.; and, though 



