PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. XC111. 



bulletin with valuable information about the climate. But much 

 seems to have been known before about the rainfall, as it has 

 been calculated that 22 sheep can in Australia be grazed per 

 square mile for every inch of rain above nine inches, together 

 with other similar deductions about wheat, &c. Perhaps I ought 

 not to quote here the address of the President of the Anthropo- 

 logical section of the British Association, but it deals very fully 

 with the effect of climate on the races of man and animals, 

 especially horses, and is to my mind one of the most suggestive 

 and instructive lectures in that section that I have met with. 

 The temperatures of the year 1908 seem to have been about 

 average ones, that at the beginning of October, however, going 

 up to 80 degrees in parts of the Midlands. The rainfall was 

 somewhat deficient, and for 32 days at Chickerell, between 

 July iyth and August i9th, there was absolutely no rain, 

 except a few drops on July 2 1 st. Under the new regulations 

 these would, I believe, be neither counted nor entered, so that 

 statements of this sort from most stations would be untrust- 

 worthy. The investigation of the upper atmosphere continues, 

 and on certain days appointed by an International Committee 

 balloons and kites are sent up from about 30 stations in different 

 parts of the world. A German expedition sent to Central Africa 

 has made many valuable experiments with balloons and kites, 

 chiefly from Lake Nyanza. The highest point registered was 

 65,000 feet with a temperature of minus 119 degrees Fah., which 

 is lower than has ever been recorded at this or a greater height 

 over Europe. Experiments have been made to determine the 

 wind pressure upon various sized plates of wind travelling at 

 different speeds, which show that the rate of pressure on plates 

 increases with their size up to 10 square feet ; thus the pressure 

 on two plates of 5 square feet each would be less than on one of 

 i o square feet, but for larger surfaces the pressure is in propor- 

 tion to the surface. Attempts have been lately made in New- 

 Zealand, in accordance with a common belief, to induce rain by 

 firing heavy charges in guns ; but, so far as could be judged, the 

 explosions had no effect. Brilliant sky glows of different colours 



