Chase.J 436 [June. 



Mr. P. E. Chase made some remarks on the fall of rain, as 

 aifected by the moon. 



The discussion of the moon's influence on the weather has 

 been recently revived by European meteorologists, and an arti- 

 cle by George Dines, Esq., in the Proceedings of the Meteor- 

 ological Society, No. 36, contains some valuable tables, which 

 seem to me worthy of special attention. Mr. Dines was in- 

 trusted with the journal of Miss Caroline Molesworth, of Cob- 

 ham Lodge, Surrey, from which he was " enabled to extract 

 the rain which fell during each day of the moon's age, for a 

 period extending (with few interruptions) over forty years." 

 From these extracts he has condensed synopses for five years, 

 ten years, twenty years, and forty years, arranged according 

 to the several days of the moon's age, with two subordinate 

 • tables, one of which contains ''groups of three or four days 

 preceding and following each change of the moon," the other 

 gives the proportionate amounts of rain in the successive quar- 

 ters of the lunar month. There are also statements of the 

 number of daj^s on which .01 inches or more of rain fell, and of 

 the number of days on which .25 inches or more fell, during the 

 entire period. These summaries, as well as the data on which 

 they are based, lead the author to the " decided opinion that 

 the fall of rain is in no way influenced by the changes of the 

 mooni 07' by the m,oon''s age." 



The influence of the moon on the ocean tides, on the fluctu- 

 ations of the barometer and magnetic needle, and on the winds 

 (see Glaisher's Tables, Proc. Met. Soc, No. 30), is so well 

 known that the inference of a similar influence on the rainfall 

 seems almost irresistible. I was therefore naturally startled at 

 Mr. Diues's conclusion, and as his evident impartiality forbade 

 any doubts of the accuracy of his results, I was led to examine 

 into the correctness of his method. The observations cover a 

 period of a little more than two Metonic cycles, and by the 

 tabular arrangement the effects of the revolution of the moon's 

 nodes, as well as those of varying latitude and declination, are 

 almost entirely eliminated.* The station is in a high northern 



* Lubbock found a barometric elevation of nearly .1 inch for 17° in- 

 crease of declination. PhU. Tra7is., 1841, p. 73, He appears to have 



