294 REPORT—1862. 
gauge has been visited and tested by some person well acquainted with the 
subject, and provided with the necessary apparatus. This examination, 
involving as it does the testing of more than 500 instruments, scattered far 
and wide over the British Isles, from Galway on the west to Norwich on 
the east, from the Shetland Isles to Guernsey, cannot be completed for 
several years, and is, moreover, not indispensable; for adjacent stations will 
generally enable us to determine if any large error attaches to either the 
instrument or its position. For the present, then, it is a matter, not of 
choice, but necessity to take the readings as recorded by the observers ; and 
as the majority of the gauges already tested have borne the examination 
satisfactorily, it is presumed that this may be safely done. 
In the next place, it is almost needless to say, that unless the height of 
the rain-gauge above the ground and above sea-level be known, the records 
are not comparable with other stations; for every foot of elevation above the 
round is believed materially to diminish the amount collected, and every 
increase in the height above the sea-level to increase it. These particulars 
are therefore given wherever they are known; but the values must be re- 
ceived, subject to revision when the stations have been visited and the 
elevations accurately determined. 
It is, of course, almost impossible to secure perfect accuracy in such an 
extended series of returns as are combined in the following Tables, but I 
- believe they are very nearly perfect. The information was sent to me by the 
observers in reply to circulars issued at the close of each year; the returns, 
as received from them, were classified into counties and districts, examined, 
all errors being sent back for explanation, and copied into the following 
Tables, which have finally been checked against the observers’ MS. returns. 
The excessiye rainfall in the Lake District of England haying caused 
considerable interest, not to say incredulity, it may be well to add a few 
words in entire confirmation of the perfect veracity of the returns, 
The gauges were mostly erected in 1844 or 1845, by Dr. Miller of White- 
haven, whose known accuracy might alone be a sufficient guarantee; but, 
besides this, there is the personal experience of those who, like myself, have 
studied the rainfall of that district, as alone it can be properly studied, dwelling 
amid the mountains and watching the effect of each summit on the drifting 
clouds, whether driven by a heavy gale or merely floating on a gentle breeze. 
To make certain that the gauges were as accurate as when originally 
erected, I recently lent my friend Mr. G. H. Simmonds the necessary ap- 
paratus; he has carefully tested several of the gauges, and, so far as the 
calculations are concluded, we find them strictly accurate. 
The stations have been arranged on the plan employed in the Reports of 
the Registrars-General of England and Scotland, except that the ordinary 
county boundaries are maintained, and that the stations in each county are 
arranged in the order of latitude from south to north. In Ireland, the 
arrangement is merely according to latitude. : 
The counties comprised in each district are enumerated in the following 
List, so that the fall at any station may be referred to in the general Tables 
with the greatest facility. 
ENGLAND AND WALES. 
Division I. Middlesex.—Middlesex. 
» I. South-eastern Counties.—Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hants, Berks. 
», III. South Midland Counties.—Hertford, Bucks, Oxford, North- 
ampton, Bedford, Cambridge. ; 
» IY. Eastern Counties.—Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk. 
