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of keeping; gauges which ascertain not only the amount of rain 

 which falls from the heavens, but the rain which finds its way- 

 through a certain amount of soil. These observations have been 

 extended over a period of upwards of thirty years, and I am sorry 

 to say that but few other observations of the kind have been made. 

 I should be glad if some member of the Society, taking up meteoro- 

 logy, would also have a certain number of gauges of this kind, and 

 carry on observations simultaneously with ourselves, so that we 

 may have some means of comparing our results with those of 

 others, and be able to place a greater amount of reliance upon 

 them. The instrument is of the simplest kind. In consists of a 

 cast-iron cylinder turned to a knife edge at the top, and with a 

 pipe from the bottom leading to a gauge like an ordinary rain- 

 gauge. The cylinder is sunk so that its top edge is nearly level 

 with the ground, and it is filled with soil, the surface of which is 

 sown with grass, so that it does not appear in any way different 

 from the field or piece of ground in which it is buried. The 

 results of the measurement of the amount of rain which percolates 

 through the soil in the gauge are very different from what might 

 have been supposed. I will not go deeply into the subject, but it 

 appears, generally speaking, that of the whole amount of rain 

 which falls from April to October, in the ordinary soil of this 

 district, hardly a di'op finds its way to a depth of three feet from 

 the surface. A greater amount finds its way through the Chalk in 

 summer, though often not one inch, although seventeen or eighteen 

 inches of rain may fall. In the winter months, when the growth 

 of vegetation is not going on to the same extent, and there is less 

 evaporation, a greater amount finds its way down, and percolates 

 to the springs which feed our rivers ; but stiU, in different years it 

 varies from two or three inches to as much as fourteen or fifteen 

 inches. It is a question which throws a very considerable amount 

 of light on the nature of the streams which flow through the 

 country, and indirectly upon the general water supply. If any one 

 is inclined to take up the subject, I shall be only too happy to put 

 him in the way of carrying out his experiments. 



With regard to microscopic investigations, a considerable number 

 of our members have taken up that branch of study, and anything 

 more interesting than the revelations of the microscope it is 

 certainly impossible to imagine. We find organisms so minute 

 tliat we can hardly conceive the possibility of their existence. 

 "We are able to truce the conditions under Avhicli life is carried on, 



