THE USEFULNESS OF EARTHQUAKES. 227 



and its greatest ascertained height above the original 

 level of the delta is ten feet an elevation which ap- 

 pears to the eye to be very uniform throughout.' 



(From Chambers' s Journal, Nov. 7, 1868.) 



THE FORCING POWER OF RAIN. 



THERE is an old proverb which implies that England 

 need never fear drought ; and we have had clear evi- 

 dence this year that an exceptionally dry summer is 

 not necessarily followed by a bad harvest. But we 

 believe that when a balance is carefully struck between 

 the good and the evil effects resulting from excessive 

 drought in England, it will be found that the latter 

 largely prevail. In fact, it is only necessary to observe 

 the effects which have followed the recent wet weather 

 to recognise the fact that rain has a forcing power, the 

 very diminished supply of which at the due season 

 cannot fail to have seriously injurious effects. In 

 various parts of England we see evidences of the action 

 of such a power during the present autumn in the 

 blossoming of trees, in the flowering of primroses and 

 other spring plants, in rich growths of fungi, and in 

 various other ways. It cannot be doubted that there 

 is here a comparative waste of powers, which, ex- 

 pended in due season, would have produced valuable 

 results. 



The modern theories of the correlation of force 

 suffice to show how enormous a loss a country suffers 



Q 2 



