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the average yearly rainfall, from its great variation in different 
years, if not in different decades of years, as I shall have further 
to speak of, when I come to that part of the subject. 
The geology of the Bath district and the configuration of the 
ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the city—matters of 
importance in estimating the climate of any place—need not be 
dwelt upon here as they have been so often spoken of by others. 
The course of the river, and the circuit of hills by which Bath is 
nearly surrounded, being open only to the west, are well known 
to all who have ever visited it. And without question both the 
river and the hills have much influence upon its climate. Mr. 
Lowe has remarked “that near Nottingham there is a greater 
range of temperature than in any other part of England,” and he 
considers the “distance from high hills” as one of the chief 
reasons of the “increased heat” in summer “in that neighbour- 
hood.” If-this be so, which there is no reason to doubt, the Bath 
hills may well be supposed to have a contrary effect in moderating 
both the heat of summer and the cold of winter. The interchange 
of heat constantly kept up by radiation between the slopes of the 
hills and the town, would tend to check the cold arising from full 
exposure to the sky, on clear frosty nights, as well as check the 
heat of a bright midday summer’s sun, such as would occur in the 
two cases respectively if the town were situated on an open plain. 
On the other hand these same hills must also have the effect of 
checking a free circulation of the air ; and the town lying as it 
were at the bottom of a bason, the atmosphere—at least in the 
lower parts of the town—necessarily becomes, in still sultry 
weather, close and oppressive, causing the lassitude which is so 
often felt in Bath in the summer season. But to this subject I - 
shall have occasion to return further on. 
The Bath climate, or the tract of country over which it extends, 
would seem to commence, coming from London, on the Bath side 
of the Box-tunnel on the line of the Great Western Railway. Of 
this I had, some years back, a remarkable illustration. On 
i tain 
