324 



Mr. B. H. Scott 



[May 4, 



That this assertion cannot well be disputed appears from the 

 figures which follow. 



Winter Half-teae. 



1876-7 



1877-8 



1878-9 



1879-80 



1880-1 



1881-2 



1882-3 



No. of 

 Sun-spot?. 



13 

 8 

 3 

 24 

 44 

 64 

 74 



The second column gives the mean temperature of the entire 

 United Kingdom for the six months October — March, for the last 

 seven years, and the third gives the number of sun-spots observed 

 at Kew during the same period. 



No approach to concordance is traceable between the two columns 

 of figures. 



If we go further afield and compare the general temperature of 

 the globe, at least the closest approximation to it which is attainable, 

 with the sun-spot curve for the thirty-five years ending with 1875, as 

 has been done by Dr. Koppen,* we see that though for some part 

 of the time some of the temperature curves appear to agree with the 

 curve of sun-spots, the accordance in one hemisphere is associated with 

 a striking discordance in the other. (Fig. 1, p. 325.) 



The figures which I have cited therefore support the statement 

 that the precise nature of the relation between what we may call 

 solar and terrestrial weather has not as yet been demonstrated. 



As regards the whole question of prediction of the Seasons, either 

 by sun-spots or by any other means, the same author, Dr. Koppen, has 

 published several papers " On Protracted Periods of Weather," devoting 

 his attention especially to severe winters, and he gives the following 

 summary of his results : — f 



" The main feature of the entire investigation has been to prove 

 that, for certain intervals, strongly marked periodical influences make 

 their appearance and then vanish entirely, at times being replaced by 

 others of a totally diiferent character. No law has as yet been 

 discovered for these changes, and so the outcome of the enquiry is on 

 the whole negative and indicates that all forecasting of the seasons is 

 the merest guesswork. " 



We may therefore conclude that at the present date there is no 



* ' Zeitsclirift der csterreichischen meteorologischen Gesellschaft,' Bd. xvi. 

 p. 149. 



t Ihid. p. 196. 



