Transactions. 43 



inches, and a total of 9-i;3 in., as compared with an average for 

 these months of 17-12 in. From the 7th of March to the middle 

 of April there was a period of drought, during which no rain to 

 speak of fell, except on the 15th and 16th of March. The num- 

 ber of days on which rain or snow fell was 195 (rain, 183 ; snow, 

 12), on 2G of which, however, the fall did not exceed one hundredth 

 of an inch, and the total amount for the year was 32-39 inches. 

 This is the smallest rainfall of any year since 1887, when it was 

 30-99 in., and is short of the average of the last 7 years by 3-13 

 in., the average being 35-54 in. I see that Mr Dudgeon reports 

 the rainfall at Cargen for 1893 as 37*55 in., exceeding that of 

 Dumfries by more than 5 inches, and as being fully 5 inches below 

 the average of the last 34 years. Over the country at large the 

 rainfall of the year was very unequally distributed. In the north 

 of Scotland it was considerably above the average, with a defi- 

 ciency of sunshine ; but in the centre and south the weather was on 

 the whole finer and drier than usual, while in the Midlands and 

 south of Eng-land the drought of the early spring and summer 

 months was very severe, and occasioned heavy losses to agricul- 

 turists. During the four months from March to June the aggre- 

 gate rainfall in these districts is reported to have amounted to less 

 than half the average, and in many to less than one-third, the 

 period being absolutely the driest on record. 



Hygrometer. — The mean reading of the dry bulb thermo- 

 meter for the year was 48 deg., and of the wet bulb 45-5 deg., 

 giving a mean of 42-8 deg. as the temperature of the dew point, 

 and a relative humidity of 82, saturation being equal to 100. 

 Although the average difference between the dry and wet bulbs 

 for the year is only 2-5 deg., there were times during the dry 

 period when the actual difference was very much greater. For 

 example, on the 21st April a reading- was taken at four P.M., which 

 gave 72 deg. as the reading of the dry, and 58 deg. as that of the 

 wet — a difference of 14 deg. Again, on the 23rd of the same 

 month at 5 P.M. the reading of the dry bulb was 70 deg., and that 

 of the wet 56-7 deg-. — a difference of nearly the same amount. 

 This would give a relative humidity of only 42, showing an ex- 

 tremely dry air. At other times, however, the air was saturated 

 or nearly so, bringing the average humidity for the year to 82, 

 which is still less than the average of six years during which the 



