and Suhtcrranean Water Storage. 



67 



Diagram I. — Illustrating the 

 Difference of Mean Annual 

 Rainfall in different Districts 

 of England on an average of 

 Ten Years, from 1850 to 

 1850, bot/i inclusive. 



9 ^ 



amounted to o8"05 inches per annum during tlie years 1850- 

 1859 already alluded to. For nine places in Cornwall, Devon, 

 Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Sussex — all near the south coast ot 

 England — the average was 34'18 inches. For seven places in 

 Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Lei- 

 cestershire, Derbyshire, and the middle of Yorkshire, the average 

 was 25*49 inches. Lastly, for seven places in Middlesex, Essex, 

 Norfolk, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, the average during 

 the same ten years was 23*70 inches. The result is repre- 

 sented in the annexed Diagram No. L The period assumed 

 was, on the whole, rather drier than 

 usual, but this would not much affect 

 the values of the averages, and relatively 

 they would probably exhibit no change 

 at all. The average of all England 

 during the same years, excluding Sea- 

 thwaite and Coniston, was 29*84 inches, 

 which is about the mean at Cirencester 

 in Gloucestershire ; and it is clear, from 

 a very slight consideration of these figures, 

 that the principal rainfall in England is 

 on and near the west and south coasts ; 

 while in the middle of England there 

 falls a very sensibly larger quantity of 

 rain than on or near the eastern coast. It 

 will also be evident, from a consideration 

 of the general form of the land, that as 

 the gentle slopes face chiefly towards the 

 east, and the steep hill-sides towards the 

 west, such a result is perfectly in accord- 

 ance with the physical configuration and 

 geological structure of the country. The 

 fact itself is well illustrated in the Cots- 

 wold Hills and in the main ranges of the 

 chalk hills, but is not less true elsewhere. 

 So again, the dip or inclination of the 

 strata being generally to the east and 

 south, the drainage of the country is in accordance with the main 

 features of its geology. 



It may be Avell to mention the broad fact that Scotland and 

 Ireland agree generally with England in these respects. In both 

 there is a difference amounting to 15 inches between the rainfall 

 on the west and east coasts. In Ireland the south-west coast, 

 and in Scotland the western islands, are exceedingly wet, while 

 the neighbourhoods of Dublin and Edinburgh are singularly dry. 

 The former averaged only 21*78 inches, and the latter 24*72, 



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