ON THE RAINFALL. 301 



" It would be rash to conclude, from the fact that no permanent 

 change in the direction spoken of has been proved to have occurred 

 in the west of Europe, that no alteration of the kind has taken place 

 in the interior of the continent ; and there are certain pluviometrical 

 records made at continental stations which do not indeed go so far 

 back, bat which also, so far as they go, ai*e not unfavourable to the sup- 

 position of some such diminution having occurred.* 



" Blodget arrived at a similar conclusion from an examination of 

 pluviometrical observations in North America ; although the destruc- 

 tion of forests had been carried out there to such an extent that a 

 change in the rainfall might have been expected. 



" In reference to the older observations of the rainfall we must 

 observe that their value is very much diminished by the circumstance 

 that the observations were not made every day, but sometimes at long 

 intervals ; besides which, the rain-gauges were often placed in unsuit- 

 able localities, as on roofs and on towers, &c. Both of these circum- 

 stances would produce an effect in the same direction, giving returns 

 of less than the actual rainfall at the time at which ^they were 

 made.- 



" In view of all the facts of the case, although the actual measure- 

 ments of the rainfall, extending back for 200 years, cannot be adduced 

 as evidence of any progressive diminution in the quantity of the rain- 

 fall, it would not be right to attach no weight to the facts brought 

 forward by the author, more especially from Milne Home's paper in 

 the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, (vol. III. p. 35) 

 from Becquerel, (Atlas meteor ologiq^iie de V Observatoire de Paris, pour 

 1867) and from a great many other sources, which tend to prove a 

 deterioration in climate to have taken place in consequence of the 

 extensive destruction of forests. 



" The Commission agrees with him in considering thai it is pro- 

 bable, forests have an i?ijluence on the quantity of the rainfall, and 

 especially on the distribution of the rainfall over the year, although 

 the direct observations in our possession do not as yet seem sufficient 

 to determine the extent of that influence." 



I am quite aware that there are facts recorded which appear to 



* In the Imperial Central- Amtalt fiir meteorologie have the obervations in abou* 

 120 stations in Europe and North America, been examined on this point. 



*0n the effect of altitude on the returns of the rain-gauge there are numerous state 

 ments. In Mijllendorfs works (p. 102) it is shown that at different stations the lower 

 rain-gauge received from 13 to 60 per can',, mora rain than on a higher place one did, 



