418 SCIENTIFIC EECOKD FOR 1862. 



of that island. With regard to rainfalls he remarks that there has 

 been aii evident change during the past two hundred years, or since the 

 time of Sir Ilaus Sloaue, the author of the Natural History of Jamaica, 

 but we think it may well be questioned whether the rainfall records of 

 those times are sufficiently full and accurate to form the basis of any 

 comparison. (Nature, xxv, p. 153.) 



Dr. F. J. Studnicka publishes in the Ahhandlungen of the Bohemian 

 Association, complete tables on the observations of rainfalls made at 

 about 300 stations in that country. In addition to these, there are 

 about 500 more established by the Bohemian Foresters' Association, 

 so that this country is one of the best provided for in Europe. (The 

 total number of rain-stations in France is about 1,200, and in Great 

 Britain, 2,000.) {Nature, xxvi, p. 1G4.) 



The London Meteorological Office has published a rainfall table for 

 the British Isles, prepared by Mr. Symons, and giving the monthly re- 

 sults at 307 stations, for which continuous observations are available 

 during the last fifteen years. {Nature, xxv, 140.) 



Professor Dufour gives some estimate of the enormous amount of 

 damage done by several hail-storms, notably the terrible one of Jul}* 13, 

 17S8. He states that, on the strength of encouraging and credible testi- 

 mony from Italy and France, lightning-rOds were erected in the Can- 

 ton Vaud about 1825 "for the puipose of hindering the formation of 

 hail by withdrawing the electricity from the clouds," but he considers 

 it very difficult to admit that there can be any such beneficial result, 

 especially when wo consider that the hail is formed in tops of clouds 

 a long distance from the scenes of its devastation. A forest may be 

 regarded as a collection of lightning-rods; such also is the mass of 

 sharp-pointed rocks forming the bare summit of a mountain or the 

 chimneys or turrets and steeples that abound in the city, but none of 

 these have been shown to have any influence in diminishing the hail 

 although they do slightly diminish the lightning in thunder-storms. 

 {Nature, xxvii, p. 530.) 



Professor Loomis has contributed a first and second edition of a 

 memoir on the distribution of rain-fall over the globe. These maps 

 show unquestionably the broad features of the geographical distribu- 

 tion of rain-fall. {Nature, xxvi, p. 200; American Jour, of Science, Jan., 

 1883.) 



W. J. Black, commenting on Professor Loomis's map, states that to 

 observe rain-fall on a small island is not the same as observing on mid- 

 ocean. The ocean rain-fall can only be made out by observations on board 

 ships, and these require a long time to effect. {Nature, xxvi, p. 222.) 



VII.— Winds. 



Brault has published charts of the Xorth Atlantic, showing curves of 

 equal average wind velocity for the summer, which curves he calls 

 isanemones. These curves almost exactly reproduce the map of mean 



