783 REPORT—1874. 
would be much improved if it were possible to provide a travelling inspector. 
At present the demands upon the time of our Secretary have been such that 
he has not been able to visit any of these stations; but he is still hoping 
shortly to do so. With a view to lessening as far as possible the heavy cost 
of travelling, your Committee purpose applying to the railway companies for 
a free pass for their Secretary when travelling for such an essentially national 
urpose. 
: oe Case presented to the Scottish Meteorological Society—We are glad 
to say that Mr. Buchan has made very good use of the above ; the pressure 
on his time has prevented his yet forwarding us the details of the examina- 
tions of 35 stations visited and tested by him, and of numerous gauges tested 
before issue; but the work has been done, and the results are promised for 
our next Report. 
Rainfall of the British Isles during the years 1872 and 1873.—The very 
exceptional character of the rainfall of 1872 was mentioned in our last 
Report; but in accordance with a custom which has now prevailed for twelve 
years, it was only incidentally referred to, the details being deferred until 
the two years 1872 and 1873 could be published together. This course, 
which was originally adopted with a view to economy in printing, has, in 
the present instance, had the fortunate result of bringing together two very 
remarkable features, of each of which we must speak separately. 
Rainfall of 1872.—Records of rainfall have been collected and discussed 
in our previous Reports, which enable us to compare the total fall in any year 
or years from 1726 to the present time with the mean fall. One of these 
Tables (that facing page 286, British-Association Report, 1866) contains nine 
long registers, extending over 140 consecutive years ; but the greatest excess 
above the mean, even at a single station, was only 58 per cent. (at Oxford 
in 1852). In 1872 this value was largely exceeded at a number of stations, 
as is shown by Tables I. and II., whence it appears that at 14 stations out 
of 115 (or 12 per cent.), it exceeded this previously unparalleled value. At 
13 the excess was greater than 60 per cent., and it reached or exceeded 7 
per cent. at the following stations :— 
Shropshire ...... Shitinagl “senses oe Rainfall 77 per cent. above average 1860-69, 
at Set Mae Shrewsbury ........ aD B » 9 
ig atsis' sis 5 Hengoed, Oswestry... ,, 70 “ » ” 
Northumberland .. Bywell ............ apes i + 4 ra 
Haddingtonshire.. East Linton ...... 5 70 i. os A 
Aberdeenshire .... Braemar ...,...... iy eG ar ” ” 
No similar fall has occurred since 1726, and there is no evidence of such a 
fall since rainfall observations were commenced nearly two centuries since. 
Full details respecting the monthly fall of rain in this very remarkable year 
are given in the Appendix to this Report; and we think it may be regarded 
as fortunate that so extraordinary a fall has occurred at a period when (owing 
largely to the operations of this Committee) the system of observation is in a 
state unprecedentedly near perfection. 
The Rainfall of 1873.—If this year had stood by itself, it would merely 
have been classed as a rather dry year, and would have soon passed into 
oblivion. Coming, howeyer,-immediately after such an exceptionally wet 
year, it has produced the unusual result of giving two consecutive years, one 
with twice the rainfall of the other, and in many instances with much more 
than twice. How rare is this occurrence may be judged from the fact that 
there is no case in the 140-years Table just referred to. The nearest ap- 
proaches are, Chatsworth, in 1788 19°86 inches, in 1789 36-31 inches, the 
