\Qvstt Jtlouthl}) fUinfall, 1856-95, 



By HENRY STORKS EATON 



(Past President of the Royal Meteorological Society). 



JTIHE rainfall of Dorset for the 40 years, 1856-95, is 

 estimated to be barely one-half of 1 per cent. 

 (0'5) above the average of the 45 years 1848-92. 

 In the last-mentioned period it was 0'31 greater 

 over England generally than in the 165 years 

 terminating in 1892. It may, therefore, be 

 assumed with some degree of confidence that the 

 annual rainfall from 1856 to 1895 is within 1 per 

 cent, of the average of a long and indefinite 

 period. 



The object of the present paper is to place on record the monthly 

 rainfall at various stations where it has been observed for several 

 years in succession ; and by converting the average results of all the 

 gauges into percentages or ratios of the annual fall year by year for 

 the 40 years 1856-95, and taking the mean of the whole, to ascertain 

 the proportionate fall due to every month of the year apart from 

 the total amount of rain collected. 



Previous to 1856 the monthly registers are inadequate and have 

 not been used. In that year five were established. The number 

 then increased somewhat irregularly to 20 in 1878, and 36 in 1894. 

 The reduction includes every station from 1856 to 1895 where the 



