ON THE EAINFALL IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



371 



Table {continued). 



Stations. 



Conway . - 



Bala 



Dolgelley 



Aberdaron — Sam . . 



Anglesea — Menaifron . 



Llanfair-yn-nghornwy 



Height of 

 Eain-gauge. 



Above 

 Ground. 



ft. 



m. 



o 



I 



4 

 5 



Above 

 Sea-level. 



ft. 

 15 



43 



340 



17 

 120 



It cannot bnt be very gratifying to all those who are interested in the im- 

 portant practical question of the fall of rain in this country to find Captain 

 Mathew ready to take, single-handed, both the trouble and expense of 

 organizing this extensive cordon of stations, almost, if not quite as extensive 

 as those supported for some years in the Lake District by the Eoyal Society ; 

 but he, like Colonel Ward and the Rev. J. Chadwick Bates, spare neither 

 trovible nor expense in working out their several branches of rainfall investi- 

 gations, so that there is good ground to expect that many questions hitherto 

 unsolved -vntLI be completely settled in the coiirse of a very few more years. 



Further examination has been made of the gauges actually at work, up- 

 wards of 100 having been visited and tested in situ, a most important matter ; 

 far more so than the examination of gauges before they are sent off into the 

 country, inasmuch as the former eusui'es the knowledge of the accuracy or 

 otherwise of the instrument, and also the suitability of its position, while the 

 latter object is of course only to be attained by actually visiting each station. 

 Although this requires both laboiu', time, and expense, its paramount impor- 

 tance demands its speedy accomplishment. In the interim every endeavour 

 is made to check the erection of any but accurate instruments, upwards of 

 150 having been tested last year previous to their despatch to various parts 

 of the United Kingdom, as well as some for foreign countries. 



Details respecttug the fall of rain in 1862-63 can only be given advanta- 

 geously in tables, whereof are appended to this Report such as will render 

 evident the variations and particulars most worthy of interest ; but the broad 

 outlines characterizing the distribution of rain during 1862 and 1863 may be 

 thus briefly sketched. Taking, first, the whole of the stations in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, we find the average fall in each of the years 1860, 

 1861, and 1862 about 10 per cent, above the average of the last half- 

 century*; but on closely examining Table I., it will be found that the ex- 

 cess thus shown is apparent rather than real, being due maiuly to the enor- 

 mous excesses in the Lake District — averaging about 30 inches per year. 

 We find moreover that the fall in the three years 1860, 1861, and 1862 was 

 nearly equal, the difference in fact being less than half an inch, while 1863, 

 which was rather drier than the others, differed only by 5 per cent. These 

 uniform results are very surprising, considering that in some districts the 

 fluctuation has been nearly 100 per cent. ; for instance, Holkham, 1860, was 

 35 inches, 1863, was only 18 inches. Torosay Castle, 1860, was 70 inches, 



* See Brit. Assoc. Report, 1862, p. 296, Table II., whence it appears that the rainfall 

 during the ten years 1850-59 was 5 per cent, below the mean of the .50 years ending 1861. 

 Therefore the mean value Sl'OS has been i-aised to 36'73 before making these deductions. 



