METEOROLOGY. 



REMARKS 



QUANTITY OF RAIN AT DIFFERENT HEIGHTS. 



BY PROFESSOR O, W. MORRIS, of NEW YORK. 



At a meeting of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York in 

 1846, and at the meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, at Albany, in 1851, some account was given of 

 the quantity of rain at different heights, with the hope that some 

 other observers would, from the few hints given, take up the subject, 

 and furnish some more definite information than was yet known, 

 especially in this country ; but nothing has yet fallen under my obser- 

 vation. "Absence from the State, and other causes, hindered me from 

 prosecuting the inquiry till 1854, when a gage, such as is used by the 

 observers of the Smithsonian Institution, was placed on the observa- 

 tory of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, in New York city, and 

 a similar one on the surface of the ground ; the upper one eighty-five 

 feet above the lower. 



From observations with these instruments, it has been ascertained 

 that the difference in quantity depends upon a variety of circumstances ; 

 for the quantity is generally increased in a sudden thunder-shower, 

 or violent wind ; while with but little wind or a moist atmosphere 

 preceding the rain, the difference is slight. Thus, in twelve thunder- 

 storms which occurred in twelve months, the lower gage afforded 

 8.33 inches, and the upper 5.35 inches, showing a difference of 1.98 

 inches ; while in twelve storms which occurred with light winds or 

 none at all, the lower gage afforded 4.75 inches, and the upper 4.05 

 inches, showing a difference of only 0.70 of an inch. 



With a moist atmosphere preceding seventeen storms, some of 

 them long, the low^er gage afforded 11.73 inches, the upper 7.97, a 

 difference of 3.76 inches ; and with a dry atmosjihere preceding the 

 storm, thirty-eight storms afforded in the lower gage 31.37 inches, 

 and the upper 23.13 inches, showing a difference of 8.24 inches. In 

 the first instance the average difference for each storm was about 0.21 

 inch ; in the latter, it was 0.22 inch. It would therefore seem that 

 whenever there is much disturbance by winds, &c., there is less abil- 

 ity in the vapor to rise to any considerable height, owing, in part, to 

 the increased weight of the falling fluid ; or else there is a more rapid 

 condensation of the vapor at the surface of the earth, which agrees 

 with the theory of Mr. Russell. 



Whether this theory be the true one or not^ there is much plausi- 



