JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 267 



1857. February 9 2.91 



1858. July 11 • 10 4.18 



" December 4 15 5.00 



1859. June 18-20 30 7.83 



1860. June 2-3 12 3.73 



1861. March 31 10 2.34 



1862. December 13-14 30 4.47 



1863. August 9-10 26 3.86 



1864. May 10 10 2.34 



1865. March 29-30 40 4.90 



These heavy rains are often local, and can then have but little in- 

 fluence on the general humidity of the season, or on the stage of the 

 river ; it is only when they extend over a large district of country, that 

 they materially swell such a large river as the Mississippi ; and the rains 

 of March 2'Jth and 30th last must have been such, as the river at this 

 point rose between five and six feet by April 1st. On the other hand, 

 we find the river not unusually high in 1818, when, here in St. Louis, 

 such enormous quantities of rain fell; while during the high floods of 1844 

 and 1851 no extraordinary rains visited us ; the rains in those years 

 must have more uniformly extended over a large tract of country. 



A few remarkable facts in connection with the falls of rain were noted 

 in examining my records. The heaviest rains and most of them fell in 

 the year 1848, between May 6th and August 15th, when 24 inches de- 

 scended within 38 hours, distributed over five days. 



The severest fall of rain in the shortest time took place on August 15, 

 of the same year, when in 75 minutes 5.05 inches of rain descended. 



The longest continued wet weather I ever observed here occurred in 

 1845, when it rained every day from June 15 to June 28, fourteen days, 

 but altogether not more than 7.91 inches. 



Major James F. Meline, IT. S. Army, was elected a Corre- 

 sponding Member. 



April 17, 1865. 

 The President, Dr. Engelmann, in the chair. 



Mr. Holmes announced the death of Abraham Lincoln, 

 President of the United States, and moved that the 

 Academy adjourn without proceeding to any business, as 

 a proper mark of respect on their part for the memory of the 

 deceased Chief Magistrate, and in sympathy with the uni- 

 versal feeling on this very extraordinary and melancholy 

 occasion. 



The motion was unanimously carried, and the Academy 

 adjourned. 



18 

 [July 27, 1865] 10 



