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climates of the west and east of England. Though the mean 
annual rainfall at Bath exceeds the fall in Cambridgeshire by seven 
inches or more, this is due to the greater number of wet days, and 
the rain falling more frequently—not to its falling more heavily 
on particular occasions. At Bath, as shown above, a great 
proportion of the rain falls in winter, which is generally the wettest 
season. 
In Cambridgeshire, on the contrary, this season is comparatively 
dry, the chief rains falling in summer and autumn, and oftenest 
in the character of heavy storms at intervals, these being the 
occasions on which occur the greatest falls in short periods of time. 
The atmosphere also in summer, or that portion of it below the 
cloud-region, is more humid in the Western Counties than it is in 
the Eastern Counties; from which arises another circumstance, 
viz., that, as a rule, thunder-storms in Bath are not only less 
frequent than in Cambridgeshire but less intense, the excess of 
moisture in the air often serving to carry off, without any violent 
discharge, the electricity that would otherwise collect overhead, 
Even when thunder-storms have been exceptionally heavy in Bath, 
as the one that occurred in the night of July 22-23, 1873, the 
accompanying rain-fall has not been at all excessive, the rain 
measured at the Institution on the occasion just mentioned having 
been under half an inch. 
It is further noticeable that the thunder-storms which occur in 
this neighbourhood, as they approach Bath and come into collision 
with the hills which everywhere surround the city except to the 
west, often pass to one side or else divide into two portions leading 
off to the right and left respectively, so that a storm passing 
directly over the city is a rare thing. I remember very few 
instances, during a residence of five-and-twenty years, in which 
this has been the case. 
When speaking above of heavy falls of rain in short periods of 
time consideration was had simply to the absolute quantity of rain 
fallen on such occasions. But we get, a better idea of the amount 
