58 C.C. NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



these things which they did not do, and not done that which they 

 ought not to have done, they would have found out that in nine 

 years out of ten the oak always comes out before the ash, and we as 

 often get a soak as a splash following. Since 181 5 the ash has only 

 come out before the oak some dozen times, and the last occasion was 

 in 1859, I believe. Given the same conditions, the ash is always 

 later than the oak in putting forth its leaves. Do not, however, let 

 it be supposed for a moment that I wish to depreciate the efforts of 

 the scanty band of observers who laboured in the cause of meteor- 

 ology in the last century, and early in the present. Far be from me 

 any such intention. On the contrary, the work they did was most 

 valuable. Most of you are doubtless acquainted with Gilbert White 

 of Selborne and his writings. The records of the weather which he 

 left are most interesting and at the same time valuable, as giving us 

 some idea of the weather in those times, more than 100 years ago. 

 Over and over again you hear people talk of old-fashioned winters and 

 summers and the like. But if you will look at White's records you 

 will find that the weather then was not very different to what it is now. 

 In fact changes in climate are so very gradual as to be nearly inap- 

 preciable in so short a space of time as a man's life, although to hear 

 people talk, and especially old people, one would not think so, but 

 their memories on the subject of the weather are very fallacious. I 

 have perhaps said enough to shew that the science of meteorology is 

 a very young science, and will proceed to consider it more in detail. 

 Broadly speaking, meteorology, or the study of the laws that 

 govern the atmosphere, resolves itself under four heads. Wind — 

 Rain — Temperature — Pressure. You may wonder why I do not also 

 mention Sunshine. Undoubtedly the part played by sunshine is very 

 considerable, not only in the growth of vegetables but in the develop- 

 ment of the animal world. Without light and heat no life could 

 continue, and both these essentials are supplied by the sun. But I 

 would remind you that the sun is essentially a thing outside and apart 

 from our atmosphere, and is practically a constant quantity so far as 

 the earth as a whole is concerned, while the excesses and defects of 

 heat and light are mainly due to the atmosphere between the sun and 

 us, whose varying moods are the cause of our being deprived of so much 

 of these necessaries, while on the other hand it mitigates and makes 

 bearable the fierceness of the sun's rays. And it is the laws that 

 govern these varying moods that meteorologists are seeking to 

 ascertain. 



