PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 13 



building may sink to about the same extent in all parts. 

 After this continued heat a very cold winter seemed to be 

 generally expected, but the contrary has been the case, and 

 there has been only one winter, 1898-9, as warm in the last 

 35 years, whilst the rainfall has been above the average. 

 This hot summer weather was by no means universal, for in 

 Egypt the temperature was below the average and excessive 

 rains fell in the regions of China, Japan, and the Philippines. 

 A few available records of the temperature in the upper air 

 during this hot period shew that the heat was confined to 

 the portions near the earth, for the excess above the average 

 diminishes with the height, until at 7' 5 kilometres the tem- 

 perature became normal, whilst at 12-5 kilometres it was 7 

 centigrade less than the average. From observations on 

 Ben Nevis extending over 15 summer months in different 

 years, it is found that diurnal variations in wind force occur 

 with extraordinary regularity, the maximum being always 

 bet\veen 1 and 2 a.m., the minimum at from 3 to 5 p.m. 

 in different months. Storm frequency shews a regular 

 daily variation with two maxima and minima occurring at 

 different times in different seasons of the year. These 

 double daily periods have also been observed elsewhere. 

 Risks from rain can now be insured against, but one would 

 think that a large margin would be allowed for by the insurers 

 on account of the uncertainty. Last summer would have 

 been most profitable to them. An extraordinary hailstorm 

 occurred in the Pyrenees on August 16th. Hailstones of the 

 size of marbles fell in a thick shower, mixed with some almost 

 as large as golf balls. A second storm followed, in which a 

 similar shower was experienced, followed suddenly by a 

 shower of hailstones of the size of lawn tennis balls, all the 

 mountains round appearing as if covered with snow in the 

 height of summer. A storm of almost equal dimensions 

 occurred in the Orkneys in 1890. A fall of explosive hail, in 

 which the hail stones, from half an inch to one inch in dia- 

 meter, exploded with a sharp report on striking the ground, 

 is recorded from America on November 11, 1911. 



