PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 673 
On the other hand, it might be expected, from what was said 
about dampness of soil, that the influence of rainfall would be 
marked ; and accordingly I have collected, in the following table, 
the data on which to found a judgment 
TABLE I. 
Showing the number of days in which rain fell, the amount of 
rainfall, and the mortality from typhoid per 100,000 persons in 
Melbourne, in each of the years 1866-88 :— 
| : 5 Mortality per 
Days of Rain. | Tnches of Rain. 100,000 pacer: 
1866 107 22°41 102°7 
1867 BB? | 25°79 | 70°5 
1868 120 1 18°27 69-2 
1869 129 | 24°59 60°9 
1870 129 33°76 85°8 
1871 125 | 30°17 60.3 
1872 136 | 32°52 49°7 
1873 134 25°61 49°3 
1874 134 28°10 89°6 
1875 158 82°87 81:7 
1876 134 | 24-04 64-7 
1877 124. 24°10 99°3 
1878 116 | 25°36 111°9 
1879 127 19°28 73°6 
1880 147 | 28°48 46°1 
1881 134 | 24°08 aril 
1882 Sil | 22°39 67:5 
1883 130 | 23°71 90°6 
1884 128 | 25°85 68°12 
1885 123 | 26°94. 52°9 
1886 128 | 2400 80-0 
1887 153 32°39 86:3 
1888 123 19°42 Mae 
1889 ace £3) 123°6 
The general impression conveyed by a glance at this table is 
that dry years are by no means uniformly characterised by a high, 
or wet years by a low, mortality. A comparison of the three 
years 1870-72, and of the two last of the series, 1887-88, would 
by itself, indeed, suffice to show that, between the year’s rain and 
the year’s typhoid, there is no approach to uniformity of relation. 
It may be interesting, however, to analyse the data contained in 
the table, and in doing so I propose to give no further considera- 
tion to the number of days on which rain fell. 
In each of three years of the period there was less than 20 
inches of rain, and in each of five years there was more than 
30 inches, and the following tables give the particulars of these 
dry and wet years respectively. 
% 
Q 
