288 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
the top of a shot:tower 162 feet high; another was near the 
ground within the enclosure about the tower; and the interme- 
diate one was the roof of the University. His attention was. 
however ultimately fixed upon the fact that the effect of eddy ‘ 
winds upon the observed phenomena, was by no means a secon- 
dary one in amount, and that no law could be deduced, until this 
disturbing action was prevented. Prof. B. proceeded to make 
experiments on the effects upon the rain-gauges of the currents 
of air deflected by the tower, placing gauges at each angle. The 
results are given in a table, from which it appears that—l. The 
‘quantities of rain collected at the different angles of the tower. 
were very different.. In one>extreme case the quantity collected 
at the S. E. angle was 24 times that at the N. W. angle. -2. In 
general, the gauges to leeward received more rain than those to 
windward. Prof. Stevelly considered. the fact that less rain was 
caught in elevated gauges than in those near the earth, to be due 
to the greater perpendicularity with which the rain falls near the | 
ground, and not to a continued enlargement of the drops, during : 
their descent, by new accessions of condensed moisture. 
Dr. Bantieny read a paper.on the Climate of North America. 
He began by observing, that although the general fact was ad- 
mitted that the E. portions of the New World had a lower tem- 
perature than the W. portions of the Old, yet much remains to 
be done before the relative climate of these two portions of the 
globe can be regarded as in any degree determined. Most of the 
h American observations were not sufliciently accurate. In 
Mr. McCord’s observations at Montreal were the best; 
and in the U. S., those made in N. Y., and published by the Re- 
gents of the University of that State. These results are how- 
ever defective, in not giving the intensity of solar radiation, 
which probably affects the distribution of plants and animals m 
a-manner quite distinct from its accompanying temperature. 
Hence, though many plants which grow in this country are 
killed by the winters of comparatively southern latitudes in 
America ; yet others, which require the warmth of a wall or of 
a southern aspect here, are found in comparatively high latitudes 
in the New World. Sir D. Brewster called attention to the im- 
portant fact, clearly established by the observations recorded in 
the neighborhood of New York, and those of Hansteen and Er- 
man in Siberia, that two points of maximum cold existed in these — 
; ‘ ; : 
a 
