ENGLAND. 



695 



Statistics. 





Counties Maritime. 

 Gloucestershire, . 

 Somersetshire, . . 



Quantity of 

 dew that 



tion. 



Northumberland, 

 Lincolnshire, . . 

 Sussex, 



Counties Inland. 

 Middlesex, 



Hertfordshire, . . . 

 Huntingdonshire, 

 Derbyshire, . . . . 

 Rutlandshire, 



Mean an- 



f'laces. nual depth. 



Bristol, 3 years, 29.2 



Bridgewater, 3 years, .... 29.3 



Minehead, 31.3 



Cornwall, Ludguan, near Mounts- 

 bay, 5 years, 



Another place, 1 year, . . . 29.9 



Devonshire, .... Plymouth, 2 years, 46.5 



Exeter, 33.2 



Hampshire, .... Selbourne, 9 years, ..... 37-2 



Fyfield, 7 years, ...... 25.9 



Kent, Dover, 5 years, 37-5 



Essex, Upminster,' 19-5 



Norfolk, Norwich, 13 years, 25.5 



Dip, 1 year, 25 



Yorkshire, Barrowby, near Leeds, 6 years, 27-5 



Ferrybridge, 26.6 



Garsdale, near Sedburgh, ? <ro o 



3 years, J 



Sheffield, 33 



Hull, 2 years, 26.98 



Widdrington, 1 year, . . . 21.2 



Horncastle, 1 year, 26 



Chichester, 26.8 



Places. Means. 



London, 7 years, 23 



Surrey, S. Lambeth, 9 years, .... 22.7 



Chertsey, 1 year, 25 



Near Ware, 5 years, .... 25 



Kimbolton, 5 years, 25 



Chatsworth, 15 years, . . . 27.8 



Lyndon, 45 years, 22.21 



Northamptonshire, Oundle, 14 years, 23 



Brecon, 1 year, 'Mi.->~> 



Staffordshire, 36 



Worcestershire, 'M 



Nottinghamshire, . Nottingham, 1 year, .... 25 

 West Bridgfford, 27 



The observations of attentive meteorologists have as- 

 certained, that in this country it generally rains less in 

 March than in November, in the proportion, on a me- 

 dium, of 7 to 12 ; less in April than in October, in the 

 proportion of I to 2 ; and less in May than in Septem- 

 ber, at least the chances for this are as 4 to 3. 



The nature of the climate of England, with regard 

 to moisture, cannot, however, be accurately determi- 

 ned, unless the quantity of clew that falls annually be 

 also ascertained. On this point there are few observa- 

 tions or experiments of sufficient accuracy and dura- 

 tion to In- relied upon. l)r Hales think-;, that the 

 quantity of dew that falls on moist earth in this coun- 

 try is :>.2S inches ; but Mr Dalton justly remarks, that 

 this quantity is too small, as the dew which is deposi- 

 ted on grass is much more copious than what falls on 

 moist earth. Hence, he is disposed to take the dew at 

 5 incites annually, and thus to reckon that 36 inches of 

 w~.ter is deposited, at a medium, annually on the sur- 

 face of the earth in England and Wales, reckoning ;>1 

 for rain, and 5 for dew, which is equal to 28 cubic 

 miles, or 115 thousand millions of tons in weight 

 nearly. 



Closely connected with this branch of the meteoro- 

 logy of England and Wales, is that which regards the 

 evaporation, which takes place from the surface of the 

 ground. As it is evident, that all the water which falls 

 in the fonn of rain or dew, must either be carried into 

 the sea by some river, or be raised in vapour, Mr Dal- 



ton has endeavoured to ascertain what proportion is 

 disposed of by the former means, in order that he may 

 be able to determine the quantity of evaporation. Ac- 

 cording to his calculations, the Thames carries annual- 

 ly into the ocean, 166,624,128,000 cubic feet of water, 

 or little more than T V part of all the rain and dew in 

 England and Wales in a year. According to the same 

 author, the Severn and the Humber cany down as much 

 water respectively as the Thames. The counties of Kent, 

 Sussex, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, 

 and Somersetshire, from the Medway to the Lower' A- 

 von inclusively, do not contain many rivers ; but as 

 they are supplied by an extent of country equal to 

 11,000 square miles, whereas the extent of country 

 from which the waters of the Thames are drawn is on- 

 ly 600 square miles, it may be concluded, that the 

 quantity of water which the rivers in these counties 

 carry into the ocean is 1^ times the quantity that the 

 Thames carries. Mr Dalton supposes, that the riveiy 

 of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, from the 

 Humber to the Thames, (as the quantity of rain that 

 falls in this district is comparatively small, and as the 

 country through which they flow is very flat,) do not 

 amount to more than half the size of the Thames, al- 

 though they are drawn from 7000 square miles. In 

 Wales, from the Wye to the Dee, including the latter, 

 there are about 6000 square miles, from which the wa- 

 ters of the rivers of this district are drawn ; and in the 

 northern counties of Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cum- 

 berland, Northumberland, and Durham, with part of 

 Cheshire, and a small part of Yorkshire, from the Mer- 

 sey, round by the Tweed, to the Tees, there are about 

 8000 square miles, from which the rivers in this dis- 

 trict are supplied with water. As there are, in both 

 these districts, a great number of considerable rivers, 

 and as the rains, it is probable, on an average, are dou- 

 ble what they are in the south-eastern counties of the 

 kingdom, Mr Dalton thinks they cannot be estimated 

 at less than four times the Thames. 



It appears, then, by this estimation, that the water 

 carried oft' by all the rivers in England and Wales may 

 amount to nine times that carried off by the Thames ; 

 or 13 inches of rain. Hence it follows, that the annual 

 evaporation in this country is equal to 23 inches of wa- 

 ter. 



With respect to the second branch of the meteorology 

 of England, the temperature of the atmosphere, as as- 

 certained by the thermometer, it may be remarked in 

 general, that over the whole of the country, the heat of 

 the months of July and August is greater than the heat 

 of any other month ; and that a greater degree of cold 

 commonly prevails towards the end of December and 

 the beginning of January, than at any other period of 

 the year. Perhaps the district of England in which the 

 thermometer rises to the greatest height during the 

 summer, is that in the immediate vicinity of the metro- 

 polis, rather, however, to the west than to the east of it. 

 With respect to cold, during the winter, the north- 

 eastern counties are more liable to great degrees of it 

 than the north-western ; and it may generally be re- 

 marked, that there is not nearly so great a difference 

 between the north and south of England, in the tempera- 

 ture of the winter, as in the temperature of the sum- 

 mer months. 



Having premised these general observations, we shall 

 now proceed to follow the same plan, with regard to 

 the state of the thermometer in different parts of the 

 kingdom, as we have already done with respect to the 

 quantity of rain. 



Statistics. 



Quantity of 

 water dis- 

 charged 

 from the 

 principal 

 rivers. 



Tempera- 

 ture. 



General 

 remarks. 



Tempera- 

 ture in dif- 

 ferent 



