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several stations more than five inches were recorded, it is not unlikely that that 
depth may be paralleled nearer home. It will be useful to compare the wet 
summer of 1875 with that of 1872, for although there is a tendency in the human 
mind to exaggerate the dimensions of a present calamity and to forget the relative 
proportions of past events, yet these two years are sufficiently near together in our 
memories to admit of being easily judged. In both, the wet summer was ushered 
in by a remarkably fine and dry May ; in fact the first half of that month and the 
latter half of April embraced the best weather we experienced in either year, but 
the autumn of 1872 was in every respect superior to that of 1875. As to the winter, 
there arises the question whether its character confirmed the truth of Gilbert 
White’s statement, “that intense frosts seldom take place till the earth is perfectly 
glutted and chilled with water. Now I do not think that the winter of 1872, or 
that which I hope is now over, were seasons of extreme rigour: we have had cold 
winds and numerous heavy falls of snow, but the average temperature has not 
been abnormally low nor have there been frosts of unusual length and severity. 
It would perhaps be safer to say that after a wet summer there is a probability 
that the early months of the winter will be colder than the later months. It must 
always be borne in mind that wide generalizations frequently conceal more than 
they reveal, and on the other hand that personal experiences when taken alone are 
worth very little. Then, if in the past year we were to take our average of the 
rainfall from the returns of the whole British Isles, it would be found to give 
merely an excess of 7 per cent., for upon the east coast of England, in Lancashire 
and the lake districts, and in many parts of Scotland, there was a considerable 
deficiency of rain, But over a limited area, within which we were unfortunately 
situated, the fall was the largest and the most disastrous experienced within the 
last 20 years. I have ventured to dwell a little upon the subject of weather 
because it is one in which Englishmen are thought to be profoundly interested. It 
certainly occupies a prominent place not only in their conversation but also in the 
journals which they read, May we not hope that upon the data which are being 
so rapidly accumulated a scientific system of meteorology will ere long be based, 
and that at any rate the Woolhope Club will be able in future to select fine days 
for its excursions. 
Our first and most successful field meeting (albeit held within a town and 
amid showers of rain), took place on the 20th May, at Caerleon-upon-Usk, once 
the station of the 2nd Augustan legion, and in a later but more obscure times the 
scene of Arthurian romance. The Club was fortunate in having amongst its 
members one gentleman—Mr. J. E. Lee—who, having devoted many years of his 
life to the study of the antiquities of the place, kindly placed his services at our 
disposal. Under his guidance the interesting contents of the local museum, 
chiefly collected by the zeal and munificence of our cicerone, were carefully 
inspected. We saw a large number of sepulchral and other inscribed stones, a 
 tessellated pavement brought from Caerwent, Tuscan pillars, which once sup- 
ported a temple of Diana, a series of coins dated from the time of Otho to that of 
Augustulus, stone coffins, amphore antefixe, armlets, enamels, and Samian ware 
of foreign and domestic manufacture, The attention of the Club was especially 
