102 



DISCOVliUY 



more of rain had fallen. It is ])<jiiUcd out, however, 

 in British Rain /nil for 1919, just published, that this 

 value is gradually becoming obsolete, and for the follow- 

 ing reasons : The recognised " rain day " for observers 

 measuring in millimetres is a day on which 0-2 mm. 

 or more is recorded. If the inch be the unit employed, 

 a fall of o-oi inch or more constitutes a " rain day." 

 In a 5-inch rain-gauge these amounts are represented 

 by 3-2 c.c. and 2-5 c.c. of water respectively, and this 

 discrepancy in these units of measurement is added to 

 the already existing sources of uncertainty given in 

 the previous article. 



The obvious remedy for this state of affairs is to 

 increase the value to a larger quantity, provided, of 

 course, that the amount is not iinduly large. The 

 smallest value on the respective rainfall scales at which 

 the inch and millimetre virtually coincide is, as we 

 have previously stated, i millimetre, which equals 

 0-04 inch almost exactly. Now, i mm. of rain in a 

 5-inch gauge means 127 c.c. of water, and 0-04 inch 

 means i2-g c.c. This amount is sufficiently large to 

 eliminate the small errors occasioned hy the difficulty 

 of accurate measurement, and small enough to include 

 all days of significant rainfall. 



It is not, however, at present proposed to do away 

 with the present definition of a rain day, but to supple- 

 ment it by another term, a " wet day," which shall be 

 considered as a day ending at 9 a.m. on which i mm., 

 or 0-04 inch, or more of rain is recorded. 



Moreover, it has been decided that a " dry spell " 

 shall be a period of fifteen, or more, consecutive days 

 no one of which is a " wet day " according to the 

 foregoing definition ; and a " wet spell " shall be a 

 like period each one of which is a " wet day." 



Till recently it has been the practice to take a period 

 of more than fourteen consecutive daj's every one of 

 which is a " rain day," that is, a day on which o-oi inch 

 or more fell, and to call it a " rain spell " ; and to take 

 a similar duration of time without measurable rainfall 

 and term it an "absolute drought." It has been 

 found, however, from figures published in British 

 Rainjall during seventeen years, that the " rain spells " 

 greatly outnumber the " absolute droughts." It is 

 hoped that the new definitions will tend to eliminate 

 this undesirable disparity. 



Improvements are still being made in these instru- 

 ments. Messrs. Negretti and Zambra w'ill shortly 

 introduce a Recording Rain-gauge with a natural 

 siphon action, and also an instrument for recording 

 the actual rate of fall of rain at any given moment. 

 The Meteorological Office has one of each of these 

 instruments under test at the present time, and the 

 results of its investigations will be awaited with 

 interest by meteorologists. 



In conclusion, it must be remarked, before leaving 



the subject of rain-gauges, that whatever kind we 

 employ they must be set up pcrjcdly level. Especially 

 is this the case with self-recording instruments, whose 

 level it is necessary from time to time to test with a 

 spirit-level. If, however, the instrument is set up 

 originally in a cement-concrete bed, and levelled up 

 accurately, further trouble in this respect is unlikely. 



The Elder Edda' 



The Great Cold that they had dreaded has fallen upon 

 the Scandinavian gods : the winter that knows no 

 spring. The Grey Wolf has devoured Woden and 

 stands on the high places of Asgerd, a deadlier than the 

 breed of Fenri that the Sibj-l prophesied, the Grey 

 Wolf of forgetfulness. For there has been a twofold 

 Doom of the Gods. There was the coming of that 

 Other whom the Sibyl dared not name, and for the 

 sacred ash Igdrasil the uplifting of the Holy Rood. 

 And again, long after, when the wheel had come full 

 circle and the pagan years returned, it was to find 



" Many a fallen old Divinity 

 Wandering in vain about bewildered shores." 



It was not the Giants that held their inheritance, but 

 the Olympians. Olympus had conquered Asgerd, for 

 " first in beauty should be first in might," and few 

 have eyes for Freya riding on her Boar, however 

 golden his bristles, when thej' have 



" Hailed thee re-risen, O Thalassian, 

 Foam-white from the foam." 



Thor and Woden, Loki and Frigg, one looks for them in 

 vain among the " damned crew " in Milton's Ode on 

 the Morning of Christ's Xativity. Moloch and mooned 

 Ashtaroth are there, but these have escaped the bale 

 of hell, because their very memory was forgotten. 



It was, curiously, in the eighteenth century, the 

 century of the spiritual cast wind, that the frost began 

 to \-ield, and Gray, with his shy scholar's passion for 

 wild earth, discovered again its gods. For gods of 

 wild earth they are. The Greek gods have captured 

 the world of the imagination, and the " di\-erse far-olf 

 image of delight " clothes itself in their radiant names ; 

 but they are fair-weather gods at best. Always 

 behind Apollo and Aphrodite one sees sun-stained 

 marble and a sickle-sweep of warm sand and the blue 

 Greek sea. But in the northern islands it is Thor who 



> The Elder Edda and Ancient Scandinavian Drama. By 

 Bertha S. Philpotts, O.B.E.. Litt.D. (Cambridge University 

 Press: 21s. net.) LThe Elder Edda is the very oldest collec- 

 tion of Scandinavian Myths.] 



