278 eeport— 1879. 



far as it goes indicates a preference for the sestival rather than for the hyemal 

 character. 



5. Rainy years tend to be either very cold or very warm, whilst years of drought 

 tend to assume an average temperature. — The dry year is not (as we might expect 

 if the summer synchronism prevailed) a veiy warm one, nor is it a very cold year (as 

 would be the case if the winter tendency preponderated), but the two tendencies 

 seem in each instance to balance one another. On the other hand, if the year be 

 wet, either it will be also cold, as if it were the law of summer that chiefly 

 affected it, or it will be warm, as though the temperature depended principally 

 upon the winter synchronism. 



So far as my reading has extended, I am not aware that these striking laws 

 hare been made public before. It would be an interesting subject for further 

 inquiry to ascertain if they prevail for other parts of the globe, or whether they are 

 peculiar to our insular position. 



9. Experiments on the Influence of the Angle of the Lip of Bain Gauges on 

 the Quantity of Water Collected. By Baldwin Latham, G.E., M. Inst 

 G.E., F.O.S., F.M.S., 8fc. 



The author having observed that, in the ordinary pattern of the Glaisher gauge, 

 in high winds the rain was often driven up the sloping lip and into the gauge, 

 thought that if the rim of the gauge were made very acute, having a sharp knife 

 edge and equal angles both inside and outside the gauge, any rain which might 

 strike upon the outer angle on one side of the gauge might be thrown into the 

 gauge. Rain striking upon the inner and opposite side of the gauge would be 

 thrown out, and so an equilibrium rim would be constructed, as the gain on one 

 side would be balanced by the loss on the other side. 



With this view, the author had an 8- inch gauge made and tested alongside of 

 an 8-inch Glaisher gauge. The sloping lip of the Glaisher gauere had an angle of 

 45° from the perpendicular, and the rim of the equilibrium gauge was -8 in. deep, 

 •18 in. in thickness, sloping off on both sides at an angle of 3° from the perpen- 

 dicular. Both gauges were fixed at Croydon, 4 feet above the ground, and 259 feet 

 above the Ordnance datum. These gauges had been working side by side for 551 

 days, from January 5, 1878, to July 5, 1879, during which period rain or snow has 

 fallen upon 806 occasions. Upon 43 occasions it was found that the rain collected 

 in the Glaisher gauge exceeded, by a small amount, the rain in the equilibrium 

 rim-gauge, and on two occasions the quantity in the new gauge exceeded that in 

 the Glaisher gauge. Upon 261 occasions the rain in both gauges was absolutely 

 equal. On all occasions, it should be observed, the rain from both gauges was 

 invariably measured in the same graduated measuring glass. On the 45 occasions 

 when the Glaisher gauge collected most rain, the wind without exception was 

 high. On the two occasions when the equilibrium rim-gauge collected more rain 

 than the Glaisher gauge, it was probably due to dew, the equilibrium gauge pre- 

 senting a larger surface for condensation than the other gauge. As the Glaisher 

 gauge was not calculated to contain snow, all falls of snow are recorded in the 

 equilibrium rim-gauge, which is constructed to hold about one foot in depth of 

 snow. 



The total quantity of rain collected in the Glaisher gauge during' the period of 

 observation, plus the snow as caught in the equilibrium rim-gauge, was 46-68 in., 

 and the quantity collected in the equilibrium rim-gauge was 46-45 in., showing 

 a difference of but half per cent. In all probability, however, the small excess 

 measured by the Glaisher gauge would tend to compensate for the losses by 

 evaporation in periods of small rainfall and at other times, and therefore, as a 

 measuring gauge, the Glaisher pattern of gauge, when tested by a gauge of the: 

 description mentioned, gives results in practice which may be taken as correct. 



