THE WINDS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 441 



]ieiliaps the paradox may disappear. It is held as an established 

 fact by meteorologists that the average amount of precipitation is 

 greater in the northern tlian in the southern hemisphere ; but 

 this, I imagine, applies rather to the land than the sea. On the 

 polar side of 40^ it is mostly water in the southern, mostly land 

 in the northern hemisphere. It is only now and then, and on 

 rare occasions, that ships carry rain-gauges to sea. AVe can 

 determine by quantitive measurements the difference in amount 

 of precipitation on the land of the two hemispheres, and it is the 

 result of this determination, I imagine, that has given rise to the 

 general remark that the rain-fall is greater for the northern than 

 it is for the southern hemisphere. But we have few hyeto- 

 graphic measurements for quantity at sea; there the determina- 

 tions are mostly numerical. Our observers report the "times" 

 of precipitation, which, whether it be in the form of rain, hail, 

 or snow, is called by the charts, and in this discussion, rain. 

 Among such a large corps of observers, rain is sometimes, no 

 doubt, omitted in the log ; so that, in all probability, the charts^ 

 do not show as many " times" with rain as there are " times " 

 actually with rain at sea. This omission, however, is as likely to 

 occur in one hemisphere as in the other. Still, we may safely 

 assume that it rains oftener in all parts of the sea than our 

 observations, or the rain charts that are founded on them, 

 indicate. 



826. Belative frequency of rains and gales at sea. — With the 

 view of comparing the rains at sea between the parallels of 55^ 

 and GO^, both in the North and South Atlantic, w^e have taken 

 fi-om the charts the following figures : 



South Atlantic— Observations, 8410; gales, 1228; rains, 1105 

 North Atlantic— „ 526; „ 135; „ 64 



Gales to tlie 1000 observations . . S. Atlantic, 146 ; N. Atlantic, 256 

 Eains, „ „ . . S. Atlantic, 131 ; N. Atlantic, 121 



That is, for every 10 gales, there are in the southern hemisphere 

 9 rains, and in the northern 4.7. In which hemisphere does 

 most water fall on the average during a rain at sea ? Observa- 

 tions do not tell, but there seems to be a philosophical reason 

 why it should rain not only oftener, but more copiously at sea, 

 especially in the extra-tropical regions, in the southern hemi- 

 sphere than in those of the northern. On the polar side of 

 40^ N., for example, the land is stretched out in continental 

 masses, upon the thirsty bosom of which, when the air drops 



