Proceedings. Ixxix. 



■Croydon, and that two courses of lectures would be delivered 

 at the Public Hall this winter. Also read letter from Mr. 

 Stanley, hoping that some of the members would assist the 

 South Norwood Literary and Scientific Society at their soiree 

 -on October 17th, by taking their microscopes. 



Mr CoRDEN then read his report of the Sub-committee on 

 Meteorology, which was illustrated by most carefully executed 

 charts, for the years 1879-80. 



After which the President read a letter from Mr. Mawley, 

 in which, after regretting his inability to be present, the writer 

 ■expressed a hope that Mr. Corden's paper would be published 

 in the Transactions of the Club. It was most desirable that 

 they should have as many, and as full records as possible of 

 the weather phenomena, and their influence upon animal and 

 vegetable life. As an instance of the all-pervading influence 

 of "the weather, the year 1879 was engraved in dark characters 

 upon the memory of every member of society ; and they were 

 probably suffering at the present time from its influence upon 

 the soil, and crops, and here and there on the cattle. There 

 was now a great craving in the public mind for any means of 

 obtaining a better knowledge of the coming weather ; and one 

 of the best and surest keys to the future would be found in the 

 experiences of the past. 



Mr. Baldwin Latham, in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Corden for his able and extremely valuable paper, said— We 

 ought to feel very much indebted to Mr. Corden, not only for 

 this paper, but for his services and research during the long 

 period over which these records extend, the value of such a 

 record depending in a great measure on the extent of the 

 period which it covers. The year 1879 has no doubt been a 

 very disastrous year in the annals of agriculture; and these 

 results show us pretty well that it is not only the question of 

 rainfall, but also of temperature, both of which are intimately 

 connected with each other, that must be taken into considera- 

 tion. You can't have a better exemplification of this than 

 that furnished by last month. We have had a very cold and 

 wet August. Those diagrams of Mr. Corden's show what 

 appears to be a general law, namely, that cold in summer and 

 heat in winter are associated with rainy seasons, while warm 

 summers and cold winters are dry periods. In 1879 the sum- 

 mer months were very cold, and were noted for the constancy 

 of the rainfall over that period. The great point in connection 

 with this subject of course is to find out what is to be the 

 weather. A great many suppositions have been put forward, 

 and many of these seem to be based upon fact. One very 

 recent one has come from France : that the future weather 



