like manner, speaks in his ■' Diary " of the wet summer of 1G03 ; 

 on the 8th of July, lie says, " we have had hut two fair days these 

 many months," and he does not know what will become of the 

 corn, t 



The above notices are sufficient to show that, bad as our last 

 summer has been, it is by no means without precedent. In fact, 

 periodical alternations of wet and dry, — sometimes weeks or 

 months only, at other times years — intervening between the 

 changes, would seem to be the rule in various countries on both 

 sides of the equator. And if we ask the reason, it would be, I 

 suppose, impossible to assign any cause that would apply to all 

 cases alUce. 



In a late number of " Xature " ; there is a statement respecting 

 " the terrible famine now prevailing in Cashmere, the immediate 

 cause of which " is referred to " the long continued drought" in 

 that country. Tliis drought is said to have " followed upon a 

 snow fall in the winter and spring of 1877-78, in magnitude and 

 duration unprecedented in Cashmere, orprobably any other countrj"." 

 From early in October, 1877, up to May, 1878, the snow fall in 

 the higher mountains and valleys " seems to have been almost 

 incessant ; indeed, in places it frequently snowed -without inter- 

 mission for upwards of ten days at a time." Some of the ravines 

 were still choked with snow in the months of August and 

 September, to the depth of 150 feet or more, which are ordinarily 

 clear from snow some time in June. 



We are well aware, too, of the Indian famines generally, about 

 which so much has been said and written, as well as of those in 

 Cliina. These have all been attributed to droughts, which seem 

 to recur periodically, the famines following in the rear. Is there, 

 then, any fixed cycle of years within which the alternations of 

 wet and dry take place 1 Some would answer this question in 

 the affirmative, and be inclined, moreover, to consider the sunspot 



+ Tlm-s, July 23, 1879. J No. 517, Sept. 25, 1879. 



