418 SCIENTIFIC EECOKD FOR 1882. 



t)f tbat island. Witli regard to rainfalls lie remarks that there has 

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

 time of Sir Hans Sloane, the author of the Natural History of Jamaica, 

 l)ut we think it may well be questioned whether the rainfall records of 

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

 comparison. [Natitre, xxv, p. 153.) 



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

 Association, com])lete 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 Lon<lon Meteorological Office has published a rainfall table for 

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

 sults at 3G7 stations, for which continuous observations are available 

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



Professor Hufour gives some estimate of the enormous amount of 

 damage done by several hail-storms, notably the terrible one of July 13, 

 1788. 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 purpose of hindering the formation of 

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

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

 •jcspecially when we consider that the hail is formed in tops of clouds 

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

 Tegarded 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 beeu 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 

 iMemoir 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. 206; 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 

 «3hips, and these require a long time to effect. {Nature, xxvi, p. 222.) 



VII.— Winds. 



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

 <8qual average wind velocity for the summer, which curves he calls 

 isauemones. These curves almost exactly reproduce the map of mean. 



