74 METEOROLOGICAL 



storms of wind, may not, perhaps, be deemed 

 altogether irrelevant to the subject we are treat- 

 ing upon. 



Sea- water is brought into the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Manchester, which is at least thirty 

 miles from the nearest coast, by every violent 

 and long-continued gale from the west; and the 

 exact proportion in given quantities of rain- 

 water, collected on several occasions of this 

 kind, has been determined chemically.* 



That the sea is the principal source whence 

 the salt is derived, with which the rain that falls 

 in this town and its vicinity is occasionally im- 

 pregnated, cannot, I think, be doubted; as I 

 have clearly ascertained, by direct experiment, 

 that its excess or deficiency depends entirely on 

 the direction, force, and duration of the wind. 

 Rain collected in clean glass vessels, a few miles 

 to the north of Manchester, when the wind blows 

 moderately from the N. or N. E., scarcely ever 

 exhibits the slightest trace of muriatic acid, on 

 the application of the most delicate test, (ni- 

 trate of silver,) even when reduced two-thirds 

 or three-fourths by spontaneous evaporation ; 



* Society's Memoirs, New Series, vol. IV. — Essay on the 

 Saline Impregnation of Rain, &c , and Appendix. 



