62 METEOROLOGY. 



was 2° above the mean of 18 years, and the barometer was generally high ; 

 yet the humidity was decidedly greater than its average for 18 years past ; 

 and such humidity is certainly one of the most important conditions of the 

 atmosphere in its relations to life and growth. September, a month strikingly 

 similar to June in most of the other points referred to, contrasts with it in 

 having a humidity much below the average. The two months serve to 

 illustrate the distinction between rainfall and dampness, on which, as one 

 not sufficiently appreciated, I have dwelt on former occasions. 



I will conclude this summary with a very brief notice of a few of the 

 meteorological results lately published which apply to this climate generally, 

 although subject probably to some slight limitations. Mr. Glaisher has in- 

 ferred from the analysis of six years of the continuous self registration of 

 rainfall in connexion with Osier's Anemometer at the Greenwich Observatory, 

 that rain falls most frequently in winter- (November, December, and January) 

 in the 6 hours preceding, and the 3 hours following, noon ; in spring in the 3 

 hours following noon ; in summer in the 3 hours following 6 p.m. ; in autumn 

 in the 6 hours following noon, the most frequently of any in the year. It 

 falls the least frequently in vnnter in the 3 hours preceding midnight ; in 

 spring in the 3 hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. ; in summer in the 6 hours 

 before noon, the least frequently in the year ; in atitumn in the 3 hours 

 preceding noon, and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mr. Glaisher also treats of 

 the quantity of rain at different hours, which by no means corresponds 

 with the frequency of its fall. Speaking generally, the period of heaviest 

 rainfalls is in winter after midnight and the early morning hours ; in spring 

 in the hours immediately following noon, and those about midnight ; in 

 summer in the hours both preceding and foUov/ing midnight ; and in 

 autumn in the 3 or 4 hours following 2h. or 3h., both in the afternoon 

 and early morning. Two interesting inquiries have been published by Mr. 

 Symons ; one by himself, on the proportion of the greatest single falls of 

 rain to the total yearly quantity, from which it appears that, although the 

 greatest daily falls are at wet stations, the greatest percentages are at dry 

 stations ; so that while the former have seldom more than 5 per cent, of 

 their yearly fall in 24 hours, the latter often have 10, and sometimes 15 per 

 cent. The other investigation is by Mr. F. Gaster, on the monthly per- 

 centage of the annual rainfall in different localities. One important result 

 is, that stations where little rain falls have their maximum in the summer, 

 but those where the fall is large in the winter months. As regards the west 

 of England, I have drawn attention to this law for many years, and that 

 moreover in relation to the effects of elevation above the sea. The lateness 

 of the issue of this Number of the " Journal " enables me to mention a 

 most valuable contribution to our climatology, — Mr. Whitley's Paper on the 

 " Temperature of the Sea," recently published in the " Journal of the Eoyal 

 Agricultural Society of England." He has added largely to the extent and 

 precision of our knowledge of the great ocean stream which conveys to us 

 the warmth of the tropics, and has handled materials accumulated through 

 many years with his accustomed force and practical usefulness. 



C. BAEHAM. 



